War in Ancient India c9.s3.t1.4

c9.s3.t1.4

A messenger should speak highly of his omniscient and supernatural powers and of his close association with several deities, and thus evoke a sort of awe and reverence in the enemy towards him. Again, heretics and jugglers may be specially employed to seduce the enemy's subjects from their loyalty to their lord by playing upon their humour through the display of various kinds of magical tricks. Or again, officials in the employ of the invader should pretend to have been dismissed by their master and seek employment with the defending sovereign. And after they gained his confidence they were to aim at his life. Further, the would-be conqueror, to ensure eventual success, should win over guilds of merchants and other public corporations, and thus weaken the enemy. These and other methods prescribed by Kauṭalya may appear to laymen as unscrupulous, but they could be justified on the ground that his work is a treatise of expediency, and therefore these various means recommended for winning over the enemy's subjects or reducing his strength have indeed an ethical character, for it is the svadharma of a kṣatriya king to conquer the enemy though it might cost his life.