Violence is the one of the most basic instincts of human beings. Love is also an equal contender as most people believe, however, no other human instinct has shaped the course of human history as visibly as violence. It is the most reactionary element that has altered the path of human development in countless ways both good and bad.

Survival instinct is the key for most of life’s existence on earth, and it is the element of violence that aids this instinct. Man is the only animal that has managed to carve a living in almost all the terrains of the planet, and it is his survival instinct which has helped him in the process, mostly in the form of ‘constructive violence’ which helped him to survive the extremes.

It has been such an influential factor that most institutions in human civilization can be viewed as spawned to control and regulate this brute force. Particularly the state, law, and religion. In any society, the state claims to be the only user of violence, barring the subjects from indulging in it. Knowing the renegade tendency of humans, the law was created by the state for regulating and prosecuting the transgressors. However ironic it may sound today, all major world religions advocate abandoning of violence, at least formally. Buddhism and Jainism have ‘ahimsa’ or non violence as their foundational tenet. However, one must consider why it came to be so. Both Buddha and Mahavira lived in some of the most turbulent times of Indian history, when the early Iron age kingdoms of the the Gangetic plains were involved in perpetual wars of expansion and consolidating themselves in the 8th to 6th century B.C. Warfare and bloodshed were a daily affair. Being from the Kshatriya or warrior clans, both had observed this violence from a close quarter , and it had a deep impact on their pensive minds. As the Newtonian law states ‘every action has equal and opposite reaction ‘ so did happened with them. when they embarked on their spiritual journey emphasizing heavily on non violence. One of the earliest acts of Buddha after his enlightenment was when he stopped a war between his clan of the Shakyas and their neighbors, the Koliyas on a dispute over the waters of Rohini river by convincing both to engage in dialogue instead of bloodshed. The story of emperor Ashoka turning to the spiritual path after witnessing the slaughter at Kalinga is another well known anecdote.

Indian philosophy classifies violence into three types viz. ‘kayik’ or physical violence, ‘vachik’ or verbal violence, and ‘mansik’ or mental violence. All people indulge in any or all of the three forms on a daily basis. There are numerous instances in history to demonstrate how violence mainly in the form of warfare has shaped and transformed our society since times immemorial.

No matter however checks are balance are invented to counter its proliferation, violence always overwhelms us. Thus, societies must strive for finding ways to push the violent instinct deep into the abyss of the subconscious where it can be forgotten as much as possible. One of the primary steps towards that should be an increased social interaction at all levels thereby decreasing the mutual ignorance among the people as Gandhi once rightly said, “The enemy is fear. We think its hate; but its fear.” Examples should be made of those who perpetuate violence. The recent conviction of Ratok Mladich, who butchered about eight thousand Serbian Muslims is a recent example. Such judgements are yet to be seen in India for the numerous atrocities that have been committed on particular sections of society.

Even though violence surfaces instantly in society during any upheaval, all we can do is keep fighting it perhaps with the zeal of our survival instinct.