In Mahabharatha war which they say dharma yuddha, so many charioteers, horses, elephants were killed.
They say that in dharma yuddha, only enemies who are fighting with weapons in their hands must be killed.
Those bereft of weapons must not be killed.
charioteers don't take weapons and fight. They just drive the chariot.
Neither horses and elephants do fight with weapons.
Why did Lord Krishna allow innocent charioteers and animals get killed in the war?
Why didn't He forbid the use of animals in the war ?
Is it not righteous to kill them?
Replies
!!.. Hare Rama Hare Krishna ..!!
मत्त: स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च ।
वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो
वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम् ॥ १५ ॥
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham
Synonyms
sarvasya — of all living beings; ca — and; aham — I; hṛdi — in the heart; sanniviṣṭaḥ — situated; mattaḥ — from Me; smṛtiḥ — remembrance; jñānam — knowledge; apohanam — forgetfulness; ca — and; vedaiḥ — by the Vedas; ca — also; sarvaiḥ — all; aham — I am; eva — certainly; vedyaḥ — knowable; vedānta-kṛt — the compiler of the Vedānta; veda-vit — the knower of the Vedas; eva — certainly; ca — and; aham — I.
Translation
I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
Purport
The Supreme Lord is situated as Paramātmā in everyone’s heart, and it is from Him that all activities are initiated. The living entity forgets everything of his past life, but he has to act according to the direction of the Supreme Lord, who is witness to all his work. Therefore he begins his work according to his past deeds. Required knowledge is supplied to him, and remembrance is given to him, and he forgets, also, about his past life. Thus, the Lord is not only all-pervading; He is also localized in every individual heart. He awards the different fruitive results. He is worshipable not only as the impersonal Brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the localized Paramātmā, but as the form of the incarnation of the Vedas as well. The Vedas give the right direction to people so that they can properly mold their lives and come back to Godhead, back to home. The Vedas offer knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa in His incarnation as Vyāsadeva is the compiler of the Vedānta-sūtra. The commentation on the Vedānta-sūtra by Vyāsadeva in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the real understanding of Vedānta-sūtra. The Supreme Lord is so full that for the deliverance of the conditioned soul He is the supplier and digester of foodstuff, the witness of his activity, and the giver of knowledge in the form of the Vedas and as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the teacher of the Bhagavad-gītā. He is worshipable by the conditioned soul. Thus God is all-good; God is all-merciful.
Antaḥ-praviṣṭaḥ śāstā janānām. The living entity forgets as soon as he quits his present body, but he begins his work again, initiated by the Supreme Lord. Although he forgets, the Lord gives him the intelligence to renew his work where he ended his last life. So not only does a living entity enjoy or suffer in this world according to the dictation from the Supreme Lord situated locally in the heart, but he receives the opportunity to understand the Vedas from Him. If one is serious about understanding the Vedic knowledge, then Kṛṣṇa gives the required intelligence. Why does He present the Vedic knowledge for understanding? Because a living entity individually needs to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedic literature confirms this: yo ’sau sarvair vedair gīyate. In all Vedic literature, beginning from the four Vedas, Vedānta-sūtra and the Upaniṣads and Purāṇas, the glories of the Supreme Lord are celebrated. By performance of Vedic rituals, discussion of the Vedic philosophy and worship of the Lord in devotional service, He is attained. Therefore the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Kṛṣṇa. The Vedas give us direction by which to understand Kṛṣṇa and the process of realizing Him. The ultimate goal is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vedānta-sūtra (1.1.4) confirms this in the following words: tat tu samanvayāt. One can attain perfection in three stages. By understanding Vedic literature one can understand his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by performing the different processes one can approach Him, and at the end one can attain the supreme goal, who is no other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this verse the purpose of the Vedas, the understanding of the Vedas, and the goal of the Vedas are clearly defined.
Seeing that Vaikartana was about to shoot an arrow, the great-spirited king of the Madras said to him, "This arrow, O Karna, cannot reach Arjuna's neck; try to take another one, one that is really capable of taking off the enemy's head!" And Karna, whose eyes were filled with blood from anger, made, despite his words, a bow to shoot and answered the ruler of Madra:
"Know, O Shalya, that Karna never takes aim twice! Cheating doesn't suit heroes like me!
Having said this, O king, he shot from the bow that mighty arrow to which he had been paying homage for so many years; and, sending it at the target with the hope of victory, he cried out: Death to you, Phalguna! Seeing that Karna had released from the bowstring that terrible hissing arrow resembling a ray of the sun, which was actually the serpent Ashvasena, cutting through the air with a fiery flame, Madhava, the destroyer of Kamsa, the most powerful of the strong, pressed the bottom of the chariot with his foot, and the chariot sank an elbow into the ground.
At the same time, His horses, white as the moon and decorated with gold, fell to their knees. Madhava, knowing that a fierce serpent was hiding in this arrow of Karna, pressed the chariot into the ground, and therefore the arrow knocked off only the diadem from Arjuna's head. And then the loud praises of Vasudeva were heard from heaven. The celestials showered Krishna with a shower of flowers and let out lion roars.
And so the son of the suta, with an arrow shot with force, anger and great diligence, knocked off Arjuna's head the diadem, famous on earth, in heaven, in the heavens and in the waters, the decoration of the top of his body, which shone like a flame, the sun or the moon, which was richly decorated with many gems, pearls and silver, which was once with Brahma himself created it with great care for Purandara. This precious, awe-inspiring, brightly shining, beneficial to its owner, fragrant diadem was bestowed by the lord of the gods himself to Arjuna, who then exterminated the enemies of the celestials.
Neither Rudra, nor the lord of the waters, nor the keeper of treasures, together with Pinaka, lasso, lightning and arrows, could have harmed this diadem, but Karna knocked it down with that powerful arrow concealing the power of a serpent. Radiating radiance, burning in the fire of snake venom, Partha's beloved diadem flew to the ground, struck by the most excellent of arrows, as if the blazing sun had rolled down from the sunset mountain. A snake arrow forcefully knocked off Arjuna's head a tiara decorated with many gems, just as the vajra of the great Indra tore down the top of a mountain with trees, flowers and greenery growing on it.
And it seemed as if thunder struck the earth, the heavens and the waters at once - such a sound was heard in the worlds, hearing which people froze in place or, shocked, fell to the ground, O Bharata. Stripped of his diadem, the swarthy-skinned Partha, radiant with youthful beauty, resembled a bluish mountain. Then, having tied his hair with a white piece of cloth, Arjuna calmly appeared before his enemy; and thanks to this ornament on his head, which seemed to radiate light, he shone like a sunrise mountain illuminated by the rays of the sun.
Mahabharata, Karna parva, chapter 79
Similarly, Krishna Himself received many wounds during the 18 days of battle while driving a chariot. The most egregious case is described in the Karna Parva of the Mahabharata, where it is described how Karna shot at Krishna when He pulled out Arjuna's chariot, which He had plunged all four wheels into the ground before this kick in the bottom, saving his friend from deadly weapons.
Thanq Prabhuji,
But He is too powerful to be killed. Others are mortals. So, they don't have any choice than getting killed.
Why can't Krishna say, You Pandavas and Kauravas fight and settle ?
Why can't He say ? Let's not involve these poor charioteers who don't carry weapons.
He could have said, anyone who is desireous to fight, come lets fight on foot.
Let's not involve these poor animals who don't carry weapons.
In war, esp. of such proportions like in Mbh, one can't avoid hurting and killing those on the battlefield, even if they themselves don't fight.
Hari Hari
ys J.
Right,
But this seems unfair.
Why they involve noncombatants in the first place ?
Lord Krishna knows everything.
He could say, let us not involve charioteers and animals .
That's caturanga, the Vedic military setup (you can see it in chess). Arjuna couldn't fight and drive the chariot at the same time. They also didn't use mechanical machinery like tanks but animals.
Hari Hari
ys J.
No,
But Why can't they fight on foot ?
Why can't Krishna say, You Pandavas and Kauravas fight and settle ?
Why they involved somany people ?