ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the centrality of the agent in the Mahābhārata’s understanding of violence. The chapter notes the paradox of upholding both ahimsā and state-sanctioned war. However, the author detects a severe critique of violence in the laments of the Strī Parvan. The chapter traces the Mahābhārata’s awareness of limits of the instrumental efficacy of violence along the lines of some contemporary theorists of war. The author detects a bridge to a non-martial (and non-violent) ideal in the trope of the Ideal Warrior who is armed not only with fancy weaponry but with effective virtues. In Yudhiṣṭhira’s anguished quest to configure sovereignty without the taint of violence, the author sees the possibility of the ‘war-function’ being replaced by more constructive aspirations for social justice through peace and the outlines of a fine-tuned political agency for using violence in statecraft.
