The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c14.71

c14.71

The idea is further subjected to mechanical and mathematical treatment until it gives rise to jig-saw puzzles which stray from reality as they advance in ingenuity. But from all that one thing emerges very clearly. Every state stood in all sorts of relationships with others ranging from complete indifference to deadly hostility or close alliance. In Kauṭalya, interstated diplomacy knows no morality. Neither unprovoked aggression, nor the violation of the neutrality of other states seems to cause any surprise. Spies and other secret agents revel in falsehood or immorality and freely resort to treachery, poison and the dagger. A strong power is expressly enjoined to embark on a career of conquest, subdue state after state and stand forth as the one all-embracing sovereign. Kauṭalya makes one approach to principle in diplomacy. He unfolds the idea of a balance of power. A king might represent to the neighbouring circle of states that a particular sovereign was growing too powerful, that he might destroy them all and that all should, therefore, march against him. Even this idea of balance, however, is only part of the general calculation which dominates the whole theory of interstatal relationships.