War Ethics in Tamil Literature

Abstract

The war has been going on from the Sangam age to the modern day. However, there are certain rules that are followed for waging war. There are many more ethics followed in the Sangam warfare systems than in the methods of warfare of the 21st century. Tamil literature describes the war tradition of the Tamils as a number of morals. Among them, literary works such as Tolkappiyam, Purananooru, Purapporul, Venba Maalai, Pathiruppathu, and Thirukkural deal with the war tradition and ideology. The ancient scriptures bear testimony to the fact that the Tamils lived as incomparable in love and character. Ethics for waging war, protocols, and all war crimes that exist among nations today deserve attention. This article seeks to examine how battlefields, warriors, warfare processes, combat management, and the suffering caused by war are mentioned in the Sangam war stories, and how the principles of global warfare exist in today's times.