War in Ancient India c11.67

c11.67

Ṣāḍguṇyam³⁶ has been translated in different ways, such as sixfold incidents, sixfold policy, and sixfold action or method.³⁷ These six methods are Sandhi or peace, Vigraha or war, Āsana or maintaining a post against an enemy, Yāna or preparedness for attack, Samśraya or friendship, and lastly Dvaidībhāva or double-dealing or duplicity. There are differences of opinion among political theorists with regard to their number and classification. For instance, Vātavyādhi says that Sandhi and Vigraha—peace and war—form the basis of the sixfold policy. But Kauṭalya’s theory comprehended all the six methods. The conditions that determine the course of action are Daiva (providential) and Mānuṣa (human). The former is either naya or anaya (favourable or otherwise), whilst the latter is either naya or apanaya (equitable or otherwise).³⁸ These circumstances must be weighed in the balance of Kṣaya (low ebb), Sthāna (inactivity), and Vṛddhi (high tide), before a course of action is determined upon.³⁹ It is laid down that the invading monarch should set out for conquest when the enemy is slack and when his own State is in a condition of prosperity, with soldiers and animals in good condition.⁴⁰ He must influence the movements of the madhyama and udāsīna kings also, by any of the four expedients of statecraft such as Sāma (conciliation), Dāna (gift), Bheda (dissension), and Daṇḍa (coercion), or by using all of them simultaneously. It must be his endeavour to bring other kings under his dominion by such diplomatic methods.⁴¹ For it is realised that war is an evil and full of horrors and that it should be avoided as far as possible. Kauṭalya, who is actuated by honest motives, does not see anything dishonest or immoral in the employment of diplomacy and he naturally assigns to it a large place in the scheme of his work. This he seeks to achieve, statesman as he is, by any kind of entente. The nature of the entente rests upon the strength and resources of the parties concerned. Alliance (āśraya) should be sought with good kings and must be kept up to the end. Rāma allied himself with Sugrīva against the unrighteous Vāli and with Vibhīṣaṇa against the immoral Rāvaṇa. Of the six expedients to be pursued in foreign policy by a conqueror, the first is that peace may be concluded with equals and superiors.