War in Ancient India c11.t1.26

c11.t1.26

Kautalya defines the Madhyama thus: ‘He is the king who occupied 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.’ The Udāsīna is that king ‘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.’⁵⁷ Thus both the Madhyama and the Udāsīna occupied interior zones, apart from diplomatic zones. It is not quite possible to draw a clear line of distinction between them. But still it has been said by some scholars that the Madhyama is more a mediator than a pronounced neutral. In certain cases it is true that the conqueror entered the Madhyama territory, but there is no precedent for the invasion of the Udāsīna kingdom.⁵⁸ The Udāsīna pursued the policy of non-intervention accepted by the diplomatic code of the maṇḍala.⁵⁹