The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c14.s9.t3.16

c14.s9.t3.16

In most treatises the *upāyas* or policies *vis-à-vis* other states are known to be four (*sāma*, *dāna*, *bheda* and *daṇḍa*). Vaiśampāyana gives the number 7. And this figure is given also by Mitra-Miśra in the *Rājanītiprakāśikā* (pp. 304-306). The additional three are *upekṣā*, *māyā* and *indrajāla*. It is to be observed, further, that Mitra-Miśra's authority for the three new *upāyas* is the *Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa*. The doctrine of seven *upāyas* thus brings Vaiśampāyana chronologically somewhere in the neighbourhood of this *Purāṇa* and Mitra-Miśra.