Kshatriya (kṣatriya)

A kshatriya is a member of the ruling and warrior class, whose dharma is to protect, to govern and to fight without turning away. The Mahabharata is above all a book about this class and its code, and about how completely that code fails everyone in the end. Krishna appeals to it when Arjuna hesitates, arguing that a warrior who refuses a righteous war earns only disgrace, while the same epic shows Karna denied the standing his skill deserves because he was raised by a charioteer.