The final verdict has yet to be pronounced whether the pen or the sword is mightier. The supporters of each viewpoint have their own logic to present. Both the pen and the sword are very powerful weapons of offence and defense and can make, or mar a person or a country. One can easily ask how the pen can bring physical harm to anyone.
In spite of looking harmless and dumb, the pen has the power to mould public opinion and raise the masses to revolt. It was with the power of the pen of a number of poets and writers that we got many young boys and girls to fight for India’s freedom and even sacrifice their lives with a smile on face.
The pen is still in great use and people utilize it to express their opinion on any minor or major incident. This is important for making the government aware of the viewpoint of the masses and influence important policies of the country. This is something that can never be achieved from a sword.
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It is by virtue of the pen that we express our preferences to important events. For example, communal feelings can be roused to cause communal violence. On the other hand, social harmony can be established by using the power of the pen. After the violence and bloodshed, caused by the sword, it is the pen that signs peace treaties, and gives people the wisdom to abide by them.
And finally, it is the pen that brings to us the ideas, philosophy and thoughts of great thinkers all over the world. It has preserved for us the wisdom of poets and philosophers of by-gone ages.
We have inherited the spiritual books the Gita, the Bible, the Quran, the beautiful poetry by great poets like Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot, Keats and others and the wisdom of Carlye, Marx, Kautilya and Chanakya because of pen. These achievements have guided and brought solace to innumerable people all over the world.
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Thus the achievements of the pen are of a permanent nature. They have been with us for centuries in the past and shall remain in the society for centuries, after we are no more in this world.
The pen is mainly an instrument of peace, but the sword is an instrument of war. It is a weapon of violence whether it is used for offence or defense. It is the cause of innumerable deaths of innocent men, women and children in war. This is evident from the causalities suffered in the two World Wars and in our own time, the Iran-Iraq War, which was fought for so many years.
It is sad that the sword is being used almost blindly without any positive results. Again, the sword is madly and repeatedly used for senseless killings, when communal tensions flare up.
But even then, it is unwise and impossible to condemn the sword totally. Its use is totally justified in self-defense. We have to use it in times of aggression by an enemy. The sword also has ‘achievements’ to its credit. It has helped to conquer empires.
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The conquerors of the past, like Alexander the Great, and Napoleon depended solely on the power of their sword.
Thus, both the pen and the sword have their positive and negative aspects, but the question is which of them is mightier. To this, there can be no definite answer, as both have their uses, and a place in our present-day set-up.
The pen is, without any doubt, to be preferred to the sword. But till we reach an ideal state of life where no threat of war or force is required, the sword will continue commanding a powerful place in society.