Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c15.93

c15.93

The Buddha condemns the methods of military aggression wholesale.² Once in the Śāntiparvan of the Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma counsels Yudhiṣṭhira to follow righteousness in warfare. " A king should never desire to subjugate the earth by unrighteous means even if such subjugation would make him master of the whole earth. What king is there that would rejoice after obtaining victory by unfair means ? A victory attained by unrighteousness is uncertain and never leads to heaven."³ But the Āpaddharma sections of the epic constitutes the quintessence of Machiavellianism.