A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c9.61

c9.61

Although the rules for the preservation of dominion form in Kauṭilya's work the most important branch of his philosophy, he mentions in one short section‡ his ideas relating to the acquisition of territory. The territory, Kauṭilya thinks, may be either newly acquired, or recovered from a usurper, or, lastly, inherited from an ancestor. It is most important to note that in all these cases the author urges kind and considerate treatment of the subjects. The king who acquires new territory, we are told, should put to the shade the enemy's vices by means of his own virtues, and the latter's virtues by doubling his own. He should bestow rewards according to his promise upon those who deserted the enemy's side for his own. For, says Kauṭilya with true insight into human nature, he who fails to fulfil his promise forfeits the confidence of his own and his enemy's people. The king should follow the friends and leaders of the people, for, as Kauṭilya urges in a later passage, he who acts against the will of the people becomes unreliable. The king, moreover, is asked to favour learned men and orators as well as the charitable and the brave, to release all prisoners, and to relieve the miserable, the helpless and the diseased. In the same spirit Kauṭilya advises that the king who recovers a lost territory should give up those faults of his which caused him to lose the throne and increase those virtues through which he regained it. Of the king who inherits a kingdom Kauṭilya likewise says that he should put to the shade his father's vices and display his own virtues.