News has just beamed on television screens that Putin has called off the war, expressed remorse at what he has done, deeply regretted the horror he unleashed. He has also publicly apologised for mass murders and for the suffering he has caused to survivors. This has a tremendous impact on other modern warrior politicians. George Bush and Tony Blair both apologise for the devastation they caused in Iraq. Suddenly, we, humans, are on the verge of a dramatic, revolutionary change in our perspective on the world and the way we think about ourselves. This is a genuine step towards a peaceful world; one in which wars have no place and violent conquests are a thing of the past.
I have allowed my utopian imagination to take flight despite an ongoing brutal war that impacts the entire world — hardly a good time for moral self-indulgence. Yet, I feel justified because something like this has occurred at least once when around 260 BCE, Ashoka famously renounced war and conquest. Ordinary people have railed against war ever since. Massive popular protests against wars have been witnessed in our own times. But there is no other instance, to my knowledge, when a conqueror denounces his own actions and takes humankind in a new moral direction.
It took a cataclysmic act to transform Ashoka. For until then, he was himself a follower of the warrior ethic. In pre-Ashokan elite culture, hyper masculine virtues were eulogised. In the Rig Veda, Indra, the god of sky, rain and thunder, who, being strong and violent, is also the god of war. Blessed with a muscular physique and terrifying demeanour, he, through sheer brawn, is able to push apart the world into two halves (heaven and earth), release primordial waters, split open the cosmic mountain so as to free imprisoned sunlight and cattle. With his ojas, a Sanskrit word signifying both physical strength and the power to dominate, Indra pulverises rivals. To politically subjugate the enemy, he happily destroys, crushes, splits apart, slays, and breaks his spirit. Real men take Indra, the most important Vedic god, as the role model and are called śūra (“big/strong man; champion”). They are skilled in horse and chariot combat. They flex muscles in cattle raiding expeditions and glorify warfare. Here, violence and conquest are a way of life. Invasion of someone else’s territory and its occupation are considered entirely legitimate.
