War in Ancient India c11.t1.30

c11.t1.30

To return to the term āsana with which we are at present concerned, it occurs in the Tālgunda pillar inscription.⁶⁰ According to this epigraph the Kadamba king Kākusthavarman observed the state of āsana, and was yet a terror to sāmantas and other chieftains. For he possessed the three śaktis (prabhu, utsāha and mantra), and hence he had gained a spirit of mastery. In the case of Kākusthavarman, it was a question of armed neutrality. It is reasonable to conjecture that Kauṭalya also envisages a condition of armed neutrality, though these kings strictly remained neutral.⁶¹