Chapter 2 - Concerning Peace and Exertion

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Acquisition and security (of property) are dependent upon peace and industry.

Effort to achieve the results of works undertaken is industry (vyāyāma).

Absence of disturbance to the enjoyment of the results achieved from works is peace.

The application of the six-fold royal policy is the source of peace and industry.

Deterioration, stagnation, and progress are the three aspects of position.

Those causes of human make which affect position are policy and impolicy (naya and apanaya); fortune and misfortune (aya and anaya) are providential causes. Causes, both human and providential, govern the world and its affairs.

What is unforeseen is providential; here, the attainment of that desired end which seemed almost lost is (termed) fortune.

What is anticipated is human; and the attainment of a desired end as anticipated is (due to policy).

What produces unfavourable results is impolicy. This can be foreseen; but misfortune due to providence cannot be known.

The king who, being possessed of good character and best-fitted elements of sovereignty, is the fountain of policy, is termed the conqueror.

The king who is situated anywhere immediately on the circumference of the conqueror’s territory is termed the enemy.

The king who is likewise situated close to the enemy, but separated from the conqueror only by the enemy, is termed the friend (of the conqueror).

A neighbouring foe of considerable power is styled an enemy;,and when he is involved in calamities or has taken himself to evil ways, he becomes assailable; and when he has little or no help, he becomes destructible; otherwise (i.e. when he is provided with some help), he deserves to be harassed or reduced. Such are the aspects of an enemy.

In front of the conqueror and close to his enemy, there happen to be situated kings such as the conqueror’s friend, next to him the enemy’s friend, and next to the last, the conqueror’s friend, and next, the enemy’s friend’s friend.

In the rear of the conqueror, there happen to be situated a rearward enemy (pārṣṇigrāha), a rearward friend (ākranda), an ally of the rearward enemy (pārṣṇigrāhāsāra), and an ally of the rearward friend (ākrandāsāra).

That foe who is equally of high birth and occupies a territory close to that of the conqueror is a natural enemy; while he who is merely antagonistic and creates enemies to the conqueror is a factitious enemy.

He whose friendship is derived from father and grandfather, and who is situated close to the territory of the immediate enemy of the conqueror is a natural friend; while he whose friendship is courted for self-maintenance is an acquired friend.

The king who occupies a territory close to both the conqueror and his immediate enemy in front and who is capable of helping both the kings, whether united or disunited, or of resisting either of them individually is termed a Madhyama (mediatory) king.

He who is situated beyond the territory of any of the above kings, and who is very powerful and capable of helping the enemy, the conqueror, and the Madhyama king, together or individually, or of resisting any of them individually, is a neutral king (udāsīna)—these are the (twelve) primary kings.

The conqueror, his friend, and his friend’s friend are the three primary kings constituting a circle of states. As each of these three kings possesses the five elements of sovereignty, such as the minister, the country, the fort, the treasury, and the army, a circle of states consists of eighteen elements. Thus, it needs no commentary to understand that the (three) Circles of States having the enemy (of the conqueror), the Madhyama king, or the neutral king at the centre of each of the three circles, are different from that of the conqueror. Thus there are four primary Circles of States, twelve kings, sixty elements of sovereignty, and seventy-two elements of states.^[1]

Each of the twelve primary kings shall have their elements of sovereignty, power and end. Strength is power, and happiness is the end.

Strength is of three kinds: power of deliberation is intellectual strength; the possession of a prosperous treasury and a strong army is the strength of sovereignty; and martial power is physical strength.

The end is also of three kinds: that which is attainable by deliberation is the end of deliberation; that which is attainable by the strength of sovereignty is the end of sovereignty; and that which is to be secured by perseverance is the end of martial power.

The possession of power and happiness in a greater degree makes a king superior to another; in a less degree, inferior; and in an equal degree, equal. Hence a king shall always endeavour to augment his power and elevate his happiness.

A king who is equal to his enemy in the matter of his sovereign elements shall, in virtue of his own righteous conduct or with the help of those who are hostile or conspiring against his enemy, endeavour to throw his enemy’s power into the shade; or if he thinks:

“That my enemy, possessed as he is of immense power, will yet in the near future hurt the elements of his own sovereignty, by using contumelious language, by inflicting severe punishments, and by squandering his wealth; that though attaining succeess for a time yet he will blindly take himself to hunting, gambling, drinking and women; that as his subjects are disaffected, himself powerless and haughty, I can overthrow him; that when attacked, he will take shelter with all his paraphernalia into a fort or elsewhere; that possessed as he is of a strong army, he will yet fall into my hands, as he has neither a friend nor a fort to help him; that a distant king is desirous to put down his own enemy, and also inclined to help me to put down my own assailable enemy when my resources are poor, or that I may be invited as a Madhyama king”—for these reasons the conqueror may allow his enemy to grow in strength and to attain success for the time being.

* Throwing the circumference of the Circle of States beyond his friends’ territory, and making the kings of those states as the spokes of that circle, the conqueror shall make himself as the nave of that circle.

* A reducible or a conquerable enemy will, when placed between a conqueror and the conqueror’s friend, appear to be growing in strength.

[Thus ends Chapter II, “Concerning Peace and Exertion,” in Book VI, “The Source of Sovereign States” of the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya. End of the ninety-eighth chapter from the beginning.

With this ends the Sixth Book, “The Source of Sovereign States” of the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya.]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

(1) The conqueror’s circle of states; (2) the enemy’s circle of states; (3) the Madhyama king’s circle of states; (4) the neutral king’s circle of states. As each of the twelve primary kings has five elements of sovereignty, the total number of elements is sixty. These sixty elements with the twelve kings amount to seventy-two elements. See Ka. VIII.