“Trust, you have appointed eighteen officials in each neighbouring state, such as: chief minister, family priest, crown prince, General, chief warder, chamberlain, warden of prison, chief treasurer, herald, minister of justice, judge, assessor, officer discharging salaries of army, civilian paymaster, city watchman, forester, magistrate, officer of water, hills, fords. I am sure you have chosen fifteen functionaries, except the first three in your state, and you watch their functions through three undetectable spies working in each state.
“Bharata, don’t be friendly with lokayatikas, bauddhas, and carvakas, though they are born in the family of brahmana. Frivolously arguing on the authority of perception by senses, they harm the peoples’ faith on the highest truth. With no knowledge of the other world, they oppose the vedas.”
nastikyam iti 2.100.65-70
There are fourteen failings, viz. atheism, falsehood, anger, inattention, procrastination, shunning the wise, sloth, sensual indulgence, solitary determination of political thought, counsel with the wise, failure to execute projects undertaken, failure to keep secrets, failure to perform sacred rites, and indiscriminate courtesy.
Manu mentions ten evils, born of lust, viz. gambling, hunting, day-dream, censure, woman, passion, instrumental music, travelling for pleasure etc. There are eight evils engendered by wrath. They are: wickedness, violence, treachery, envy, indignation, prodigality, abusive words, and harsh punishment. An attentive king should avoid them.
Manu refers to five kinds of fortifications, such as audaka, parvata, varksya, airina, and dhanvana, which are impassable and difficult to access. Kamandaka states the four means of success against enemy, which are termed as saman, dana, bheda, and danda. The scriptures assert that the kingdom consists of seven parts, viz. king, minister, treasury, territory, fortresses, allies etc. The king must go ahead with them.
The king should strenuously cultivate the three highest human pursuits, such as dharma, artha, and kama, and possess the three vidyas or sciences, viz. Trayi, Varta, and Dandaniti or the knowledge of the three vedas, of agriculture and so on, and of political wisdom.
“Prince, actively adopt six strategic expedients against the enemy, viz. sandhi or treaty , vigraha or waging war against him, yana or marching against him, asana or seeking favourable opportunity, dvaidha or causing dissension in enemy’s rank, and asraya or seeking protection of a mighty friend. Are you aware of six prakrtis or basic elements of conquest, viz. minister, territory, fortress, treasury, and government?
“Brother, you are aware of divine and human adversities. The former are fire, flood, famine, disease, and plague, while the latter spring from the official, thief, enemy, king’s favourite and king activated by greed” says Rama. According to Kamandaka, an alert king may split the enemy’s men who are greedy, haughty, dishonoured, deprived of salary, angry, irritated, fearful, and frightened.
Kamandaka, further, expounds twenty types of monarchs who are not worthy of friendship, viz. child-king, aged, bed-ridden, expelled from kin, fearful, cowardly, greedy, with greedy allies, with disaffected subjects, voluptuous, counselling with the fickle-minded, speaking ill of gods and brahmanas, ill-fated, fatalist, afflicted by famine, in the company of military reverses, away from territory for a long time, having numerous foes, in clutches, and disinterested in truthful dharma.
A king wishing victory in the battlefield must be surrounded by twelve-fold commanders. Enemy, ally, friend of the enemy, friend of the friend, and friend of the enemy’s friend remain in front of a king. Parsnigraha attacking in the rear of the army will stay behind a king, and akranda or the king of neighbouring state will follow the former. Both are the kings whose dominions are separated by other states, and are allies in the war.
Behind both of them, the madhyama and udasina princes stand. The madhyama or the middlemost king will remain at a distance from the enemy and the victorious king. He controls the united group, and the individual warriors of the rear guard. The udasina or the chief with a huge army stays beyond the circle of the rear guards. His territory lies between a king seeking conquest and a king of his foe. Keeping watch over two groups, he is not directly involved in the war.
The expedition of a king is six kinds. 1. On separating the rear guards of the enemy, a king makes an attack. 2. He draws his army after terms of peace with his rivals. 3. Forming alliance with his feudatory princes, he sets forth his attack. 4. He marches at different directions, and incidentally attacks his foe. 5. Disregarding the mightiest foe, he proceeds to the friend of the foe. 6. He arranges his troops in a military array.
Further, a king makes treaty of peace with the enemy, negotiating the latter’s alliances. He wages war against him in proper time or when a friend of the former is assaulted by the foe. These measures are called sandhi and vigraha, respectively. Some of them are to be avoided, while others are to be strictly adopted.
The mention of these terms occurs in connection with six strategies of expedition. Here sandhi refers to dvaidhibhava where a king behaves as though unseen in the quarrel between hostile foes, like an eye of a crow. An asraya means that he seeks refuge of a strong ally at the terrible assault of a foe.
kaccid iti 2.100.39
“Trust, you have appointed eighteen officials in each neighbouring state, such as: chief minister, family priest, crown prince, General, chief warder, chamberlain, warden of prison, chief treasurer, herald, minister of justice, judge, assessor, officer discharging salaries of army, civilian paymaster, city watchman, forester, magistrate, officer of water, hills, fords. I am sure you have chosen fifteen functionaries, except the first three in your state, and you watch their functions through three undetectable spies working in each state.
“Bharata, don’t be friendly with lokayatikas, bauddhas, and carvakas, though they are born in the family of brahmana. Frivolously arguing on the authority of perception by senses, they harm the peoples’ faith on the highest truth. With no knowledge of the other world, they oppose the vedas.”
nastikyam iti 2.100.65-70
There are fourteen failings, viz. atheism, falsehood, anger, inattention, procrastination, shunning the wise, sloth, sensual indulgence, solitary determination of political thought, counsel with the wise, failure to execute projects undertaken, failure to keep secrets, failure to perform sacred rites, and indiscriminate courtesy.
Manu mentions ten evils, born of lust, viz. gambling, hunting, day-dream, censure, woman, passion, instrumental music, travelling for pleasure etc. There are eight evils engendered by wrath. They are: wickedness, violence, treachery, envy, indignation, prodigality, abusive words, and harsh punishment. An attentive king should avoid them.
Manu refers to five kinds of fortifications, such as audaka, parvata, varksya, airina, and dhanvana, which are impassable and difficult to access. Kamandaka states the four means of success against enemy, which are termed as saman, dana, bheda, and danda. The scriptures assert that the kingdom consists of seven parts, viz. king, minister, treasury, territory, fortresses, allies etc. The king must go ahead with them.
The king should strenuously cultivate the three highest human pursuits, such as dharma, artha, and kama, and possess the three vidyas or sciences, viz. Trayi, Varta, and Dandaniti or the knowledge of the three vedas, of agriculture and so on, and of political wisdom.
“Prince, actively adopt six strategic expedients against the enemy, viz. sandhi or treaty , vigraha or waging war against him, yana or marching against him, asana or seeking favourable opportunity, dvaidha or causing dissension in enemy’s rank, and asraya or seeking protection of a mighty friend. Are you aware of six prakrtis or basic elements of conquest, viz. minister, territory, fortress, treasury, and government?
“Brother, you are aware of divine and human adversities. The former are fire, flood, famine, disease, and plague, while the latter spring from the official, thief, enemy, king’s favourite and king activated by greed” says Rama. According to Kamandaka, an alert king may split the enemy’s men who are greedy, haughty, dishonoured, deprived of salary, angry, irritated, fearful, and frightened.
Kamandaka, further, expounds twenty types of monarchs who are not worthy of friendship, viz. child-king, aged, bed-ridden, expelled from kin, fearful, cowardly, greedy, with greedy allies, with disaffected subjects, voluptuous, counselling with the fickle-minded, speaking ill of gods and brahmanas, ill-fated, fatalist, afflicted by famine, in the company of military reverses, away from territory for a long time, having numerous foes, in clutches, and disinterested in truthful dharma.
A king wishing victory in the battlefield must be surrounded by twelve-fold commanders. Enemy, ally, friend of the enemy, friend of the friend, and friend of the enemy’s friend remain in front of a king. Parsnigraha attacking in the rear of the army will stay behind a king, and akranda or the king of neighbouring state will follow the former. Both are the kings whose dominions are separated by other states, and are allies in the war.
Behind both of them, the madhyama and udasina princes stand. The madhyama or the middlemost king will remain at a distance from the enemy and the victorious king. He controls the united group, and the individual warriors of the rear guard. The udasina or the chief with a huge army stays beyond the circle of the rear guards. His territory lies between a king seeking conquest and a king of his foe. Keeping watch over two groups, he is not directly involved in the war.
The expedition of a king is six kinds. 1. On separating the rear guards of the enemy, a king makes an attack. 2. He draws his army after terms of peace with his rivals. 3. Forming alliance with his feudatory princes, he sets forth his attack. 4. He marches at different directions, and incidentally attacks his foe. 5. Disregarding the mightiest foe, he proceeds to the friend of the foe. 6. He arranges his troops in a military array.
Further, a king makes treaty of peace with the enemy, negotiating the latter’s alliances. He wages war against him in proper time or when a friend of the former is assaulted by the foe. These measures are called sandhi and vigraha, respectively. Some of them are to be avoided, while others are to be strictly adopted.
The mention of these terms occurs in connection with six strategies of expedition. Here sandhi refers to dvaidhibhava where a king behaves as though unseen in the quarrel between hostile foes, like an eye of a crow. An asraya means that he seeks refuge of a strong ally at the terrible assault of a foe.