The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c28.160

v1.c28.160

It is in foreign policy that we find the culmination of the Indian genius for systematic exposition, the principles being those of Machiavelli⁷. Policy has not large aims; the mainspring is the rivalry of kings and the much applauded desire for glory and imperial rule. Already we find worked out in pedantic detail the not unreasonable principle that the neighbouring state is the enemy and the alternate one the ally. The varying circumstances decide in which of the six *guṇas*, or situations, the monarch finds himself, whether aggressor, defender, or *tertius gaudens*, and to which of the four expedients, war, conciliation, bribery, or dissension, he must have recourse. Here the arts of treachery and overreaching attain a climax: even in war there is a whole science of sowing suspicion among allies, treason in armies, disaffection or revolt in kingdoms (Manu, VII, 199 sqq.; *Mbh.* XII, 103).