Rishis of the yore are known to be propagators of peace (shanti) and balance (santulan). This is not to say, they did not pick up the weapons, when the need arose. There is a lore that one such Rishi was travelling across the country with his students, when they stopped for rest in a small village. They were told that there was a split in the ruling clan of the area and a fierce power battle was going on. It was very old and established clan, both the sides possessed volumes of invaluable shastras. A war was impending, and if it happened, the clan would have been wiped out and with them, also the shastras. That night, Rishi along with his students went and exterminated the weaker of the two parties, seized the shastras from them and handed them over to the leader of the strong-er side.
Rishi asked him to take care of the shastras and establish the rule of dharma. He also warned him that if in case they started fighting among themselves, their fate would be no different from the other group. The shastras, that is the gyan, which has been received by the rishis and munis, is the basis of civilisation. Around 300-400 years ago, when invaders came to India, they were well aware of the power of the shastras. They plundered our country, took away the shastras they could lay their hands on and destroyed others. Today, most ancient texts available to us are concocted renditions by foreign “Indologists”, the originals are lost... Chaos and corruption, increasing crimes against humanity, pollution and destruction of natural resources of our country, are direct results.
