A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c8.s3.102

c8.s3.102

In Bhāradvāja, then, the Machiavellian creed of the old Arthaśāstra is, as it were, incarnated. It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that this represents the universal or even general attitude of the early Arthaśāstra. Even in its existing fragmentary condition we can specify at least one individual teacher who made a stand against the wickedness and baseness of Bhāradvāja's statecraft. In the same chapter in which Kauṭilya quotes the suggestion of Bhāradvāja relating to the secret punishment of undutiful princes, he quotes the views of other teachers of the Arthaśāstra. From this we learn that Viśālākṣa rejected the opinion of Bhāradvāja on the ground that the latter's suggestion involved cruelty, loss of fortune, and extinction of the seed of the Kṣatriyas. Again we learn from Kauṭilya how Viśālākṣa, unlike Bhāradvāja, counselled the weak king to fight with all his strength against a powerful aggressor, for, as Viśālākṣa remarks, the display of prowess dispels calamities, while fighting is the particular duty of the Kṣatriya.