page_title: Kurukshetra War
section_title: Rules of Engagement
hierarchical_section_title: Kurukshetra War / Mahabharata account of the war / War preparations / Rules of Engagement
caption_attribution_description: English: Jakarta, Indonesia: Arjuna Wijaya monument
context_page_description: The Kurukshetra War, also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the Hindu epic poem Mahābhārata. The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura. It involved several ancient kingdoms participating as allies of the rival groups.
  The location of the battle is described as having occurred in Kurukshetra in North India. Despite only referring to these eighteen days, the war narrative forms more than a quarter of the book, suggesting its relative importance within the epic, which overall spans decades of the warring families. The narrative describes individual battles and deaths of various heroes of both sides, military formations, war diplomacy, meetings and discussions among the characters, and the weapons used. The chapters dealing with the war are considered amongst the oldest in the entire Mahabharata.
  The historicity of the war remains subject to scholarly discussions. Attempts have been made to assign a historical date to the Kurukshetra War.
context_section_description: The two supreme commanders met and framed "rules of ethical conduct", dharmayuddha, for the war. The rules included:
  Fighting must begin no earlier than sunrise and end exactly at sunset.
  No more than one warrior may attack a single warrior.
  Two warriors may "duel", or engage in prolonged personal combat, only if they carry the same weapons and they are on the same type of mount (on foot, on a horse, on an elephant, or in a chariot).
  No warrior may kill or injure a warrior who has surrendered.
  One who surrenders becomes a prisoner of war and will then be subject to the protections of a prisoner of war.
  No warrior may kill or injure an unarmed warrior.
  No warrior may kill or injure an unconscious warrior.
  No warrior may kill or injure a person or animal not taking part in the war.
  No warrior may kill or injure a warrior whose back is turned away.
  No warrior may attack a woman.
  No warrior may strike an animal not considered a direct threat.
  The rules specific to each weapon must be followed. For example, it is prohibited to strike below the waist in mace warfare.
  Warriors may not engage in any unfair warfare.
  Most of these rules were broken in the course of the war after the fall of Bhishma. For example, the second and sixth rules were violated on the 13th day, when Abhimanyu was slain.
caption: Arjuna Wijaya monument in Jakarta, Indonesia.
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