The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c13.s1.11

c13.s1.11

It would seem that this is the central issue of the *Arthaśāstra*. At the same time, however, this issue presents an insoluble dilemma. The king has to win his independence of action at the price of renouncing worldly interests, for it is the renunciatory value of indriyajaya that enables him truly to transcend the community. But what can then motivate the king, whose hard-won conquest of the senses has placed him above worldly interests, to acquire and increase his worldly power, in brief to act as a *vijigīṣu*, a conquerer?