Kautilya's Arthashastra, translated by R. Shamasastry

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CHAPTER IV. SPIES WITH WEAPONS, FIRE, AND POISON; AND DESTRUCTION OF SUPPLY, STORES AND GRANARIES.

THE conqueror's spies who are residing as traders in the enemy's forts, and those who are living as cultivators in the enemy's villages, as well as those who are living as cowherds or ascetics in the district borders of the enemy's country may send through merchants, information to another neighbouring enemy, or a wild chief, or a scion of the enemy's family, or an imprisoned prince that the enemy's country is to be captured. When their secret emissaries come as invited, they are to be pleased with rewards of wealth and honour and shewn the enemy's weak points; and with the help of the emissaries, the spies should strike the enemy at his weak points.

Or having put a banished prince in the enemy's camp; a spy disguised as a vintner in the service of the enemy, may distribute as a toast hundreds of vessels of liquor mixed with the juice of the madana plant; or, for the first day, he may distribute a mild or intoxicating variety of liquor, and on the following days such liquor as is mixed with poison; or having given pure liquor to the officers of the enemy's army, he may give them poisoned liquor when they are in intoxication.

A spy, employed as a chief officer of the enemy's army, may adopt the same measures as those employed by the vintner.

Spies, disguised as experts in trading in cooked flesh, cooked rice, liquor, and cakes, may vie with each other in proclaiming in public the sale of a fresh supply of their special articles at cheap price and may sell the articles mixed with poison to the attracted customers of the enemy.

Women and children may receive in their poisoned vessels, liquor, milk, curd, ghee, or oil from traders in those articles, and pour those fluids back into the vessels of the traders, saying that at a specified rate the whole may be sold to them. Spies, disguised as merchants, may purchase the above articles, and may so contrive that servants, attending upon the elephants and horses of the enemy, may make use of the same articles in giving rations and grass to those animals. Spies, under the garb of servants, may sell poisoned grass and water. Spies, let off as traders in cattle for a long time, may leave herds of cattle, sheep, or goats in tempting places so as to divert the attention of the enemy from the attack which they (the enemy) intend to make; spies as cowherds may let off such animals as are ferocious among horses, mules, camels, buffaloes and others beasts, having smeared the eyes of those animals with the blood of a musk-rat (chuchundari); spies as hunters may let off cruel beasts from traps; spies as snake charmers may let off highly poisonous snakes; those who keep elephants may let off elephants (near the enemy's camp); those who live by making use of fire may set fire (to the camp, etc.). Secret spies may slay from behind the chiefs of infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants, or they may set fire to the chief residences of the enemy. Traitors, enemies and wild tribes, employed for the purpose, may destroy the enemy's rear or obstruct his reinforcement; or spies, concealed in forests, may enter into the border of the enemy's country, and devastate it; or they may destroy the enemy's supply, stores, and other things, when those things are being conveyed on a narrow path passable by a single man.

Or in accordance with a preconcerted plan, they may, on the occasion of a night-battle, go to the enemy's capital, and blowing a large number of trumpets, cry aloud: "We have entered into the capital, and the country has been conquered." After entering into the king's (the enemy's) palace, they may kill the king in the tumult; when the king begins to run from one direction to another, Mlechchhas, wild tribes, or chiefs of the army, lying in ambush (sattra), or concealed near a pillar or a fence, may slay him; or spies, under the guise of hunters, may slay the king when he is directing his attack, or in the tumult of attack following the plan of treacherous fights. Or occupying an advantageous position, they may slay the enemy when he is marching in a narrow path passable by a single man, or on a mountain, or near the trunk of a tree, or under the branches of a banian tree, or in water; or they may cause him to be carried off by the force of a current of water let off by the destruction of a dam across a river, or of a lake or pond; or they may destroy him by means of an explosive fire or poisonous snake when he has entrenched himself in a fort, in a desert, in a forest, or in a valley. He should be destroyed with fire when he is under a thicket; with smoke when he is in a desert; with poison when he is in a comfortable place; with crocodile and other cruel beasts when he is in water; or they may slay him when he is going out of his burning house.

* By means of such measures as are narrated in the chapter, "Enticement of the Enemy by Secret Means" or by any other measures, the enemy should be caught hold of in places to which he is confined or from which he is attempting to escape.

[Thus ends Chapter IV, "Spies with Weapons, Fire and Poison; and Destruction of Supply, Stores and Granaries,” in Book XII, “Concerning a Powerful Enemy,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and thirty-ninth chapter from the beginning.]

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CHAPTER V. CAPTURE OF THE ENEMY BY MEANS OF SECRET CONTRIVANCES OR BY MEANS OF THE ARMY; AND COMPLETE VICTORY.

CONTRIVANCES to kill the enemy may be formed in those places of worship and visit, which the enemy, under the influence of faith, frequents on occasions of worshipping gods, and of pilgrimage.

A wall or a stone, kept by mechanical contrivance, may, by loosening the fastenings, be let to fall on the head of the enemy when he has entered into a temple; stones and weapons may be showered over his head from the topmost storey; or a door-panel may be let to fall; or a huge rod kept over a wall or partly attached to a wall may be made to fall over him; or weapons kept inside the body of an idol may be thrown over his head; or the floor of those places where he usually stands, sits, or walks may be be sprinkled with poison mixed with cow-dung or with pure water; or under the plea of giving him flowers, scented powders, or of causing scented smoke, he may be poisoned; or by removing the fastenings made under a cot or a seat, he may be made to fall into a pit containing pointed spears; or when he is eager to escape from impending imprisonment in his own country, he may be led away to fall into the hands of a wild tribe or an enemy waiting for him not far from his country; or when he is eager to get out of his castle he may be like- wise misled or made to enter an enemy's country which is to be restored (to the conqueror); the enemy's people should also be kept under the protection of sons and brothers (of the conqueror) in some forts on a mountain, or in a forest, or in the midst of a river separated from the enemy's country by wild tracts of lands.

Measures to obstruct the movements of the enemy are explained in the chapter, "The Conduct of a Conquered King."

Grass and firewood should be set on fire as far as a yojana (5 5/44 miles); water should be vitiated and caused to flow away; mounds, wells, pits and thorns (outside the fort wall) should be destroyed; having widened the mouth of the underground tunnel of the enemy's fort, his stores and leaders may be removed; the enemy may also be likewise carried off; when the underground tunnel has been made by the enemy for his own use, the water in the ditch outside the fort may be made to flow into it; in suspicious places along the parapet (of the enemy's fort) and in the house containing a well outside the fort, empty pots or bronze vessels may be placed in order to find out the direction of the wind (blowing from the underground tunnel); when the direction of the tunnel is found out, a counter-tunnel may be formed; or having opened the tunnel, it may be filled with smoke or water.

Having arranged for the defence of the fort by a scion of his family, the enemy may run in an opposite direction where it is possible for him to meet with friends, relatives, or wild tribes, or with his enemy's treacherous friends of vast resources, or where he may separate his enemy from the latter's friends, or where he may capture the enemy's rear, or country, or where he may prevent the transport of supplies to his enemy, or whence he may strike his enemy by throwing down trees at hand, or where he can find means to defend his own country or to gather reinforcements for his hereditary army; or he may go to any other country whence he can obtain peace on his own terms.

His enemy's (the conqueror's) allies may send a mission to him, saying: "This man, your enemy, has fallen into our hands; under the plea of merchandise or some presentation, send gold and a strong force; we shall either hand over to you your enemy bound in chains, or banish him." If he approves of it, the gold and the army he may send may be received (by the conqueror).

Having access to the enemy's castle, the officer in charge of the boundaries (of the enemy's country) may lead a part of his force and slay the enemy in good faith under the plea of destroying a people in some place, he may take the enemy to an inimical army; and having led the enemy to the surrounded place, he may slay the enemy in good faith.

A pretending friend may send information to an outsider: "Grains, oil and jaggery and salt stored in the fort (of the enemy) have been exhausted; a fresh supply of them is expected to reach the fort at such and such a place and time; seize it by force." Then traitors, enemies, or wild tribes, or some other persons, specially appointed for the purpose, may send a supply of poisoned grains, oil, jaggery, and salt to the fort. This explains the seizure of all kinds of supply.

Having made peace with the conqueror, he may give the conqueror part of the gold promised and the rest gradually. Thus he may cause the conqueror's defensive force to be slackened and then strike them down with fire, poison or sword; or he may win the confidence of the conqueror's courtiers deputed to take the tribute.

Or if his resources are exhausted, he may run away abandoning his fort; he may escape through a tunnel or through a hole newly made or by breaking the parapet.

Or having challenged the conqueror at night, he may successfully confront the attack; if he cannot do this, he may run away by a side path; or disguised as a heretic, he may escape with a small retinue; or he may be carried off by spies as a corpse; or disguised as a woman, he may follow a corpse (as it were, of her husband to the cremation ground); or on the occasion of feeding the people in honour of gods or of ancestors or in some festival, he may make use of poisoned rice and water, and having conspired with his enemy's traitors, he may strike the enemy with his concealed army; or when he is surrounded in his fort, he may lie concealed in a hole bored into the body of an idol after eating sacramental food and setting up an altar; or he may lie in a secret hole in a wall, or in a hole made in the body of an idol in an underground chamber; and when he is forgotten, he may get out of his concealment through a tunnel, and, entering into the palace, slay his enemy while sleeping, or loosening the fastenings of a machine (yantra), he may let it fall on his enemy; or when his enemy is lying in a chamber which is besmeared with poisonous and explosive substances or which is made of lac, he may set fire to it. Fiery spies, hidden in an underground chamber, or in a tunnel, or inside a secret wall, may slay the enemy when the latter is carelessly amusing himself in a pleasure park or any other place of recreation; or spies under concealment may poison him; or women under concealment may throw a snake, or poison, or fire or poisonous smoke over his person when he is asleep in confined place; or spies, having access to the enemy's harem, may, when opportunities occur, do to the enemy whatever is found possible on the occasion, and then get out unknown. On such occasions, they should make use of the signs indicative of the purpose of their society.

* Having by means of trumpet sounds called together the sentinels at the gate as well as aged men and other spies stationed by others, the enemy may completely carry out the rest of his work.

[Thus ends Chapter V, "Capture of the Enemy by Means of Secret Contrivances or by Means of the Army; and Complete Victory," in Book XII, "Concerning a Powerful Enemy,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and fortieth chapter from the beginning. With this ends the twelfth Book, “Concerning a Powerful Enemy,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya.]

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Kautilya's Arthashastra: Book XIII, "Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress"

CHAPTER I. SOWING THE SEEDS OF DISSENSION.

WHEN the conqueror is desirous of seizing an enemy's village, he should infuse enthusiastic spirit among his own men and frighten his enemy's people by giving publicity to his power of omniscience and close association with gods.

Proclamation of his omniscience is as follows:--rejection of his chief officers when their secret, domestic and other private affairs are known; revealing the names of traitors after receiving information from spies specially employed to find out such men; pointing out the impolitic aspect of any course of action suggested to him; and pretensions to the knowledge of foreign affairs by means of his power to read omens and signs invisible to others when information about foreign affairs is just received through a domestic pigeon which has brought a sealed letter.

Proclamation of his association with gods is as follows:--Holding conversation with, and worshipping, the spies who pretend to be the gods of fire or altar when through a tunnel they come to stand in the midst of fire, altar, or in the interior of a hollow image; holding conversation with, and worshipping, the spies who rise up from water and pretend to be the gods and goddesses of Nágas (snakes); placing under water at night a mass of sea-foam mixed with burning oil, and exhibiting it as the spontaneous outbreak of fire, when it is burning in a line; sitting on a raft in water which is secretly fastened by a rope to a rock; such magical performance in water as is usually done at night by bands of magicians, using the sack of abdomen or womb of water animals to hide the head and the nose, and applying to the nose the oil, prepared from the entrails of red spotted deer and the serum of the flesh of the crab, crocodile, porpoise and otter; holding conversation, as though, with women of Varuna (the god of water), or of Nága (the snake-god) when they are performing magical tricks in water; and sending out volumes of smoke from the mouth on occasions of anger.

Astrologers, sooth-sayers, horologists, story-tellers, (Pauránika), as well as those who read the forebodings of every moment, together with spies and their disciples, inclusive of those who have witnessed the wonderful performances of the conqueror should give wide publicity to the power of the king to associate with gods throughout his territory. Likewise in foreign countries, they should spread the news of gods appearing before the conqueror and of his having received from heaven weapons and treasure. Those who are well versed in horary and astrology and the science of omens should proclaim abroad that the conqueror is a successful expert in explaining the indications of dreams and in understanding the language of beasts and birds. They should not only attribute the contrary to his enemy, but also show to the enemy's people the shower of firebrand (ulká) with the noise of drums (from the sky) on the day of the birth-star of the enemy.

The conqueror’s chief messengers, pretending to be friendly towards the enemy, should highly speak of the conqueror's respectful treatment of visitors, of the strength of his army, and of the likelihood of impending destruction of his enemy's men. They should also make it known to the enemy that under their master, both ministers and soldiers are equally safe and happy, and that their master treats his servants with parental care in their weal or woe.

By these and other means, they should win over the enemy's men as pointed out above, and as we are going to treat of them again at length:--

They should characterise the enemy as an ordinary donkey towards skilful persons; as the branch of lakucha (Artocarpus Lacucha) broken to the officers of his army; as a crab on the shore to anxious persons; as a downpour of lightnings to those who are treated with contempt; as a reed, a barren tree, or an iron ball, or as false clouds to those who are disappointed; as the ornaments of an ugly woman to those who are disappointed in spite of their worshipful service; as a tiger's skin, or as a trap of death to his favourites; and as eating a piece of the wood of pílu (Careya-Arborea), or as churning the milk of a she-camel or a she-donkey (for butter) to those who are rendering to him valuable help.

When the people of the enemy are convinced of this, they may be sent to the conqueror to receive wealth and, honour. Those of the enemy who are in need of money and food should be supplied with an abundance of those things. Those who do not like to receive such things may be presented with ornaments for their wives and children.

When the people of the enemy are suffering from famine and the oppression of thieves and wild tribes, the conqueror's spies should sow the seeds of dissension among them, saying: "Let us request the king for favour and go elsewhere if not favoured."

* When they agree to such proposals, they should be supplied with money, grains, and other necessary help: thus, much can be done by sowing the seeds of dissension.

[Thus ends Chapter I, “Sowing the Seeds of Dissension,” in Book XIII, “Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress” of the Arthasástra, of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-first chapter from the beginning.]

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CHAPTER II. ENTICEMENT OF KINGS BY SECRET CONTRIVANCES.

AN ascetic, with shaved head or braided hair and living in the cave of a mountain, may pretend to be four hundred years old, and, followed by a number of disciples with braided hair, halt in the vicinity of the capital city of the enemy. The disciples of the ascetic may make presentations of roots and fruits to the king and his ministers and invite them to pay a visit to the venerable ascetic. On the arrival of the king on the spot, the ascetic may acquaint him with the history of ancient kings and their states, and tell him: "Every time when I complete the course of a hundred years, I enter into the fire and come out of it as a fresh youth (bála). Now, here in your presence, I am going to enter into the fire for the fourth time. It is highly necessary that you may be pleased to honour me with your presence at the time. Please request three boons." When the king agrees to do so, he may be requested to come and remain at the spot with his wives and children for seven nights to witness the sacrificial performance. When he does so, he may be caught hold of.

An ascetic, with shaved head or braided hair, and followed by a number of disciples with shaved heads or braided hair, and pretending to be aware of whatever is contained in the interior of the earth, may put in the interior of an ant-hill either a bamboo stick wound round with a piece of cloth drenched in blood and painted with gold dust, or a hollow golden tube into which a snake can enter and remain. One of the disciples may tell the king: "This ascetic can discover blooming treasure trove." When he asks the ascetic (as to the veracity of the statement), the latter should acknowledge it, and produce a confirmatory evidence (by pulling out the bamboo stick); or having kept some more gold in the interior of the ant-hill, the ascetic may tell the king: "This treasure trove is guarded by a snake and can possibly be taken out by performing necessary sacrifice. When the king agrees to do so, he may be requested to come and remain. . . (as before).

When an ascetic, pretending to be able to find out hidden treasure trove, is seated with his body burning with magical fire at night in a lonely place, his disciples may bring the king to see him and inform the king that the ascetic can find out treasure trove. While engaged in performing some work at the request of the king, the latter may be requested to come and remain at the spot for seven nights . . . (as before).

An accomplished ascetic may beguile a king by his knowledge of the science of magic known as jambhaka, and request him to come and remain . . . (as before).

An accomplished ascetic, pretending to have secured the favour of the powerful guardian deity of the country, may often beguile the king's chief ministers with his wonderful performance and gradually impose upon the king.

Any person, disguised as an ascetic and living under water or in the interior of an idol entered into through a tunnel or an underground chamber, may be said by his disciples to be Varuna, the god of water, or the king of snakes, and shown to the king. While going to accomplish whatever the king may desire, the latter may be requested to come and remain . . . (as before.)

An accomplished ascetic, halting in the vicinity of the capital city, may invite the king to witness the person (of his enemy) when he comes to witness the invocation of his enemy's life in the image to be destroyed, he may be murdered in an unguarded place.

Spies, under the, guise of merchants come to sell horses, may invite the king to examine and purchase any of the animals. While attentively examining the horses, he may be murdered in the tumult or trampled down by horses.

Getting into an altar at night in the vicinity of the capital city of the enemy and blowing through tubes or hollow reeds the fire contained in a few pots, some fiery spies may shout aloud: "We are going to eat the flesh of the king or of his ministers; let the worship of the gods go on." Spies, under the guise of sooth-sayers and horologists may spread the news abroad.

Spies, disguised as Nagas (snake-gods and with their body besmeared with burning oil (tejánataila), may stand in the centre of a sacred pool of water or of a lake at night, and sharpening their iron swords or spikes, may shout aloud as before.

Spies, wearing coats formed of the skins of bears and sending out volumes of smoke from their mouth, may pretend to be demons, and after circumambulating the city thrice from right to left, may shout aloud as before at a place full of the horrid noise of antelopes and jackals; or spies may set fire to an altar or an image of a god covered with a layer of mica besmeared with burning oil at night, and shout aloud as before. Others may spread this news abroad; or they may cause (by some contrivance or other) blood to flow out in floods from revered images of gods. Others may spread this news abroad and challenge any bold or brave man to come out to witness this flow of divine blood. Whoever accepts the challenge may be beaten to death by others with rods, making the people believe that he was killed by demons. Spies and other witnesses may inform the king of this wonder. Then spies, disguised as sooth-sayers and astrologers may prescribe auspicious and expiatory rites to avert the evil consequences which would otherwise overtake the king and his country. When the king agrees to the proposal he may be asked to perform in person special sacrifices and offerings with special mantras every night for seven days. Then (while doing this, he may be slain) as before.

In order to delude other kings, the conqueror may himself undertake the performance of expiatory rites to avert such evil consequences as the above and thus set an example to others.

In view of averting the evil consequences of unnatural occurrences, he (the conqueror) may collect money (from his subjects).

When the enemy is fond of elephants, spies may delude him with the sight of a beautiful elephant reared by the officer in charge of elephant forests. When he desires to capture the elephant, he may be taken to a remote desolate part of the forest, and killed or carried off as a prisoner. This explains the fate of kings addicted to hunting.

When the enemy is fond of wealth or women, he may be beguiled at the sight of rich and beautiful widows brought before him with a plaint for the recovery of a deposit kept by them in the custody of one of their kinsmen; and when he comes to meet with a woman at night as arranged, hidden spies may kill him with weapons or poison.

When the enemy is in the habit of paying frequent visits to ascetics, altars, sacred pillars (stúpa), and images of gods, spies hidden in underground chambers or in subterranean passages, or inside the walls, may strike him down.

* Whatever may be the sights or spectacles which the king goes in person to witness; wherever he may engage himself in sports or in swimming in water;

* Wherever he may be careless in uttering such words of rebuke as "Tut" or on the occasions of sacrificial performance or during the accouchement of women or at the time of death or disease (of some person in the palace), or at the time of love, sorrow, or fear;

* Whatever may be the festivities of his own men, which the king goes to attend, wherever he is unguarded or during a cloudy day, or in the tumultuous concourse of people;

* Or in an assembly of Bráhmans, or whenever he may go in person to see the outbreak of fire, or when, he is in a lonely place, or when he is putting on dress or ornaments, or garlands of flower, or when he is lying in his bed or sitting on a seat;

* Or when he is eating or drinking, on these and other occasions, spies, together with other persons previously hidden at those places, may strike him down at the sound of trumpets.

*And they may get out as secretly as they came there with the pretence of witnessing the sights; thus it is that kings and other persons are enticed to come out and be captured.

[Thus ends Chapter II, "Enticement of Kings by Secret Contrivances," in Book XIII, "Strategic means to Capture a Fortress," of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-second chapter from the beginning.]

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CHAPTER III. THE WORK OF SPIES IN A SIEGE.

THE conqueror may dismiss a confidential chief of a corporation. The chief may go over to the enemy as a friend and offer to supply him with recruits and other help collected from the conqueror's territory or followed by a band of spies, the chief may please the enemy by destroying a disloyal village or a regiment or an ally of the conqueror and by sending as a present the elephants, horses, and disaffected persons of the conqueror's army or of the latter's ally; or a confidential chief officer of the conqueror may solicit help from a portion of the territory (of the enemy), or from a corporation of people (sreni) or from wild tribes; and when he has gained their confidence, he may send them down to the conqueror to be routed down on the occasion of a farcical attempt to capture elephants or wild tribes.

This explains the work of ministers and wild chiefs under the mission of the conqueror.

After making peace with the enemy, the conqueror may dismiss his own confidential ministers. They may request the enemy to reconcile them to their master. When the enemy sends a messenger for this purpose, the conqueror may rebuke him and say: "Thy master attempts to sow the seeds of dissension between myself and my ministers; so thou should not come here again." Then one of the dismissed ministers may go over to the enemy, taking with him a band of spies, disaffected people, traitors, brave thieves, and wild tribes who make no distinction between a friend and a foe. Having secured the good graces of the enemy, the minister may propose to him the destruction of his officers, such as the boundary-guard, wild chief, and commander of his army, telling him: "These and other persons are in concert with your enemy." Then these persons may be put to death under the unequivocal orders of the enemy.

The conqueror may tell his enemy: "A chief with a powerfu1 army means to offend us, so let us combine and put him down; you may take possession of his treasury or territory." When the enemy agrees to the proposal and comes out honoured by the conqueror, he may be slain in a tumult or in an open battle with the chief (in concert with the conqueror). Or having invited the enemy to be present as a thick friend on the occasion of a pretended gift of territory, or the installation of the heir-apparent, or the performance of some expiatory rites, the conqueror may capture the enemy. Whoever withstands such inducements may be slain by secret means. If the enemy refuses to meet any man in person, then also attempts may be made to kill him by employing his enemy. If the enemy likes to march alone with his army, but not in company with the conqueror, then he may be hemmed in between two forces and destroyed. If, trusting to none, he wants to march alone in order to capture a portion of the territory of an assailable enemy, then he may be slain by employing one of his enemies or any other person provided with all necessary help. When he goes to his subdued enemy for the purpose of collecting an army, his capital may be captured. Or he may be asked to take possession of the territory of another enemy or a friend of the conqueror; and when he goes to seize the territory, the conqueror may ask his (the conqueror's) friend to offend him (the conqueror), and then enable the friend to catch hold of the enemy. These and other contrivances lead to the same end.

When the enemy is desirous of taking possession of the territory of the conqueror's friend, then the conqueror may, under the pretence of compliance, supply the enemy with army. Then having entered into a secret concert with the friend, the conqueror may pretend to be under troubles and allow himself to be attacked by the enemy combined with the neglected friend. Then, hemmed from two sides, the enemy may be killed or captured alive to distribute his territory among the conqueror and his friend.

If the enemy, helped by his friend, shuts himself in an impregnable fort, then his neighbouring enemies may be employed to lay waste his territory. If he attempts to defend his territory by his army, that army may be annihilated. If the enemy and his ally cannot be separated, then each of these may be openly asked to come to an agreement with the conqueror to seize the territory of the other. Then they will, of course, send such of their messengers as are termed friends and recipients of salaries from two states to each other with information: "This king (the conqueror), allied with my army, desires to seize thy territory." Then one of them may, with enragement and suspicion, act as before (i.e., fall upon the conqueror or the friend).

The conqueror may dismiss his chief officers in charge of his forests, country parts, and army, under the pretence of their intrigue with the enemy. Then going over to 'the enemy, they may catch hold of him on occasions of war, siege, or any other troubles; or they may sow the seeds of dissension between the enemy and his party, corroborating the causes of dissension by producing witnesses specially tutored.

Spies, disguised as hunters, may take a stand near the gate of the enemy's fort to sell flesh, and make friendship with the sentinels at the gate. Having informed the enemy of the arrival of thieves on two or three occasions, they may prove themselves to be of reliable character and cause him to split his army into two divisions and to station them in two different parts of his territory. When his villages are being plundered or besieged, they may tell him that thieves are come very near, that the tumult is very great, and that a large army is required. They may take the army supplied, and surrendering it to the commander laying waste the villages, return at night with a part of the commander's army, and cry aloud at the gate of the fort that the thieves are slain, that the army has returned victorious, and that the gate may be opened. When the gate is opened by the watchmen under the enemy’s order or by others in confidence, they may strike the enemy with the help of the army.

Painters, carpenters, heretics, actors, merchants, and other disguised spies belonging to the conqueror's army may also reside inside the fort of the enemy. Spies, disguised as agriculturists, may supply them with weapons taken in carts loaded with firewood, grass, grains, and other commodities of commerce, or disguised as images and flags of gods. Then spies, disguised as priests, may announce to the enemy, blowing their conch shells and beating their drums, that a besieging army, eager to destroy all, and armed with weapons, is coming closely behind them. Then in the ensuing tumult, they may surrender the fort-gate and the towers of the fort to the army of the conqueror or disperse the enemy’s army and bring about his fall.

Or taking advantage of peace and friendship with the enemy, army and weapons may be collected inside the enemy's fort by spies disguised as merchants, caravans, processions leading a bride, merchants selling horses, peddlers trading in miscellaneous articles, purchasers or sellers of grains, and as ascetics. These and others are the spies aiming on the life of a king.

The same spies, together with those described in "Removal of thorns" may, by employing thieves, destroy the flock of the enemy's cattle or merchandise in the vicinity of wild tracts. They may poison with the juice of the madana plant, the food-stuffs and beverage kept, as previously arranged, in a definite place for the enemy's cowherds, and go out unknown. When the cowherds show signs of intoxication in consequence of their eating the above food-stuffs, spies, disguised as cowherds, merchants, and thieves, may fall upon the enemy's cowherds, and carry off the cattle.

Spies disguised as ascetics with shaved head or braided hair and pretending to be the worshippers of god, Sankarshana, may mix their sacrificial beverage with the juice of the madana plant (and give it to the cowherds), and carry off the cattle.

A spy, under the guise of a vintner, may, on the occasion of procession of gods, funeral rites, festivals, and other congregations of people, go to sell liquor and present the cowherds with some liquor mixed with the juice of the madana plant. Then others may fall upon the intoxicated cowherds (and carry off the cattle).

* Those spies, who enter into the wild tracts of the enemy with the intention of plundering his villages, and who, leaving that work, set themselves to destroy the enemy, are termed spies under the garb of thieves.

[Thus ends Chapter III, “The Work of Spies in a Siege,” in Book XIII, “The Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-third chapter from the beginning.]

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CHAPTER IV. THE OPERATION OF A SIEGE.

REDUCTION (of the enemy) must precede a siege. The territory that has been conquered should be kept so peacefully that it might sleep without any fear. When it is in rebellion, it is to be pacified by bestowing re- wards and remitting taxes, unless the conqueror means to quit it. Or he may select his battle fields in a remote part of the enemy's territory, far from the populous centres; for, in the opinion of Kautilya, no territory deserves the name of a kingdom or country unless it is full of people. When a people resist the attempt of the conqueror, then he may destroy their stores, crops, and granaries, and trade.

* By the destruction of trade, agricultural produce, and standing crops, by causing the people to run away, and by slaying their leaders in secret, the country will be denuded of its people.

When the conqueror thinks: "My army is provided with abundance of staple corn, raw materials, machines, weapons, dress, labourers, ropes and the like, and has a favourable season to act, whereas my enemy has an unfavourable season and is suffering from disease, famine and loss of stores and defencive force, while his hired troops as well as the army of his friend are in a miserable condition,"--then he may begin the siege.

Having well guarded his camp, transports, supplies and also the roads of communication, and having dug up a ditch and raised a rampart round his camp, he may vitiate the water in the ditches round the enemy's fort, or empty the ditches of their water or fill them with water if empty, and then he may assail the rampart and the parapets by making use of underground tunnels and iron rods. If the ditch (dváram) is very deep, he may fill it up with soil. If it is defended by a number of men, he may destroy it by means of machines. Horse soldiers may force their passage through the gate into the fort and smite the enemy. Now and then in the midst of tumult, he may offer terms to the enemy by taking recourse to one, two, three, or all of the strategic means.

Having captured the birds such as the vulture, crow, naptri, bhása, parrot, máina, and pigeon which have their nests in the fort-walls, and having tied to their tails inflammable powders (agniyoga), he may let them fly to the forts. If the camp is situated at a distance from the fort and is provided with an elevated post for archers and their flags, then the enemy's fort may be set on fire. Spies, living as watchmen of the fort, may tie inflammable powder to the tails of mongooses, monkeys, cats and dogs and let them go over the thatched roofs of the houses. A splinter of fire kept in the body of a dried fish may be caused to be carried off by a monkey, or a crow, or any other bird (to the thatched roofs of the houses).

Small balls prepared from the mixture of sarala (Pinus Longifolia), devadáru (deodár), pútitrina (stinking grass), guggulu (Bdellium), sriveshtaka (turpentine), the juice of sarja (Vatica Robusta), and láksha (lac) combined with dungs of an ass, camel, sheep, and goat are inflammable (agnidharanah, i.e., such as keep fire.)

The mixture of the powder of priyala (Chironjia Sapida), the charcoal of avalguja (oanyza, serratula, anthelmintica), madhúchchhishta (wax), and the dung of a horse, ass, camel, and cow is an inflammable powder to be hurled against the enemy.

The powder of all the metals (sarvaloha) as red as fire, or the mixture of the powder of kumbhí (gmelia arberea, sísa (lead), trapu (zinc), mixed with the charcoal powder of the flowers of páribhadraka (deodar), palása (Butea Frondosa), and hair, and with oil, wax, and turpentine, is also an inflammable powder.

A stick of visvásagháti painted with the above mixture and wound round with a bark made of hemp, zinc, and lead, is a fire-arrow (to be hurled against the enemy).

When a fort can be captured by other means, no attempt should be made to set fire to it; for fire cannot be trusted; it not only offends gods, but also destroys the people, grains, cattle, gold, raw materials and the like. Also the acquisition of a fort with its property all destroyed is a source of further loss. Such is the aspect of a siege.

When the conqueror thinks: "I am well provided with all necessary means and with workmen whereas my enemy is diseased with officers proved to be impure under temptations, with unfinished forts and deficient stores, allied with no friends, or with friends inimical at heart," then he should consider it as an opportune moment to take up arms and storm the fort.

When fire, accidental or intentionally kindled, breaks out; when the enemy's people are engaged in a sacrificial performance, or in witnessing spectacles or the troops, or in a quarrel due to the drinking of liquor; or when the enemy's army is too much tired by daily engagements in battles and is reduced in strength in consequence of the slaughter of a number of its men in a number of battles; when the enemy's people wearied from sleeplessness have fallen asleep; or on the occasion of a cloudy day, of floods, or of a thick fog or snow, general assault should be made.

Or having concealed himself in a forest after abandoning the camp, the conqueror may strike the enemy when the latter comes out.

A king pretending to be the enemy's chief friend or ally, may make the friendship closer with the besieged, and send a messenger to say: "This is thy weak point; these are thy internal enemies; that is the weak point of the besieger; and this person (who, deserting the conqueror, is now coming to thee) is thy partisan." When this partisan is returning with another messenger from the enemy, the conqueror should catch hold of him and, having published the partisan's guilt, should banish him, and retire from the siege operations. Then the pretending friend may tell the besieged: "Come out to help me, or let us combine and strike the besieger." Accordingly, when the enemy comes out, he may be hemmed between the two forces (the conqueror's force and the pretending friend's force) and killed or captured alive to distribute his territory (between the conqueror and the friend). His capital city may be razed to the ground; and the flower of his army made to come out and destroyed.

This explains the treatment of a conquered enemy or wild chief.

Either a conquered enemy or the chief of a wild tribe (in conspiracy with the conqueror) may inform the besieged: "With the intention of escaping from a disease, or from the attack in his weak point by his enemy in the rear, or from a rebellion in his army, the conqueror seems to be thinking of going elsewhere, abandoning the siege." When the enemy is made to believe this, the conqueror may set fire to his camp and retire. Then the enemy coming out may be hemmed . . . as before.

Or having collected merchandise mixed with poison, the conqueror may deceive the enemy by sending that merchandise to the latter.

Or a pretending ally of the enemy may send a messenger to the enemy, asking him: "Come out to smite the conqueror already struck by me." When he does so, he may be hemmed . . . as before.

Spies, disguised as friends or relatives and with passports and orders in their hands, may enter the enemy's fort and help to its capture.

Or a pretending ally of the enemy may send information to the besieged: "I am going to strike the besieging camp at such a time and place; then you should also fight along with me." When the enemy does so, or when he comes out of his fort after witnessing the tumult and uproar of the besieging army in danger, he may be slain as before.

Or a friend or a wild chief in friendship with the enemy may be induced and encouraged to seize the land of the enemy when the latter is besieged by the conqueror. When accordingly any one of them attempts to seize the enemy's territory, the enemy's people or the leaders of the enemy's traitors may be employed to murder him (the friend or the wild chief); or the conqueror himself may administer poison to him. Then another pretending friend may inform the enemy that the murdered person was a fratricide (as he attempted to seize the territory of his friend in troubles). After strengthening his intimacy with the enemy, the pretending friend may sow the seeds of dissension between the enemy and his officers and have the latter hanged. Causing the peaceful people of the enemy to rebel, he may put them down, unknown to the enemy. Then having taken with him a portion of his army composed of furious wild tribes, he may enter the enemy's fort and allow it to be captured by the conqueror. Or traitors, enemies, wild tribes and other persons who have deserted the enemy, may, under the plea of having been reconciled, honoured and rewarded, go back to the enemy and allow the fort to be captured by the conqueror.

Having captured the fort or having returned to the camp after its capture, he should give quarter to those of the enemy's army who, whether as lying prostrate in the field, or as standing with their back turned to the conqueror, or with their hair dishevelled, with their weapons thrown down or with their body disfigured and shivering under fear, surrender themselves. After the captured fort is cleared of the enemy's partisans and is well guarded by the conqueror's men both within and without, he should make his victorious entry into it.

Having thus seized the territory of the enemy close to his country, the conqueror should direct his attention to that of the madhyama king; this being taken, he should catch hold of that of the neutral king. This is the first way to conquer the world. In the absence of the madhyama and neutral kings, he should, in virtue of his own excellent qualities, win the hearts of his enemy's subjects, and then direct his attention to other remote enemies. This is the second way. In the absence of a Circle of States (to be conquered), he should conquer his friend or his enemy by hemming each between his own force and that of his enemy or that of his friend respectively. This is the third way.

Or he may first put down an almost invincible immediate enemy. Having doubled his power by this victory, he may go against a second enemy; having trebled his power by this victory, he may attack a third. This is the fourth way to conquer the world.

Having conquered the earth with its people of distinct castes and divisions of religious life, he should enjoy it by governing it in accordance with the duties prescribed to kings.

* Intrigue, spies, winning over the enemy's people, siege, and assault are the five means to capture a fort.

[Thus ends Chapter IV, "The Operation of a Siege and Storming a Fort," in Book XIII, "Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress," of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-fourth chapter from the beginning.]

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CHAPTER V. RESTORATION OF PEACE IN A CONQUERED COUNTRY.

THE expedition which the conqueror has to undertake may be of two kinds: in wild tracts or in single villages and the like.

The territory which he acquires may be of three kinds: that which is newly acquired, that which is recovered (from an usurper) and that which is inherited.

Having acquired a new territory, he should cover the enemy's vices with his own virtues, and the enemy's virtues by doubling his own virtues, by strict observance of his own duties, by attending to his works, by bestowing rewards, by remitting taxes, by giving gifts, and by bestowing honours. He should follow the friends and leaders of the people. He should give rewards, as promised, to those who deserted the enemy for his cause; he should also offer rewards to them as often as they render help to him; for whoever fails to fullfil his promises becomes untrustworthy both to his own and his enemy's people. Whoever acts against the will of the people will also become unreliable. He should adopt the same mode of life, the same dress, language, and customs as those of the people. He should follow the people in their faith with which they celebrate their national, religious and congregational festivals or amusements. His spies should often bring home to the mind of the leaders of provinces, villages, castes, and corporations the hurt inflicted on the enemies in contrast with the high esteem and favour with which they are treated by the conqueror, who finds his own prosperity in theirs. He should please them by giving gifts, remitting taxes, and providing for their security. He should always hold religious 1ife in high esteem. Learned men, orators, charitable and brave persons should be favoured with gifts of land and money and with remission of taxes. He should release all the prisoners, and afford help to miserable, helpless, and diseased persons. He should prohibit the slaughter of animals for half a month during the period of Cháturmásya (from July to September), for four nights during the full moon, and for a night on the day of the birth-star of the conqueror or of the national star. He should also prohibit the slaughter of females and young ones (yonibálavadham) as well as castration. Having abolished those customs or transactions which he might consider either as injurious to the growth of his revenue and army or as unrighteous, he should establish righteous transactions. He should compel born thieves as well as the Mlechchhas to change their habitations often and reside in many places. Such of his chief officers in charge of the forts, country parts, and the army, and ministers and priests as are found to have been in conspiracy with the enemy should also be compelled to have their habitations in different places on the borders of the enemy's country. Such of his men as are capable to hurt him, but are convinced of their own fall with that of their master, should be pacified by secret remonstrance. Such renegades of his own country as are captured along with the enemy should be made to reside in remote corners. Whoever of the enemy's family is capable to wrest the conquered territory and is taking shelter in a wild tract on the border, often harassing the conqueror, should be provided with a sterile portion of territory or with a fourth part of a fertile tract on the condition of supplying to the conqueror a fixed amount of money and a fixed number of troops, in raising which he may incur the displeasure of the people and may be destroyed by them. Whoever has caused excitement to the people or incurred their displeasure should be removed and placed in a dangerous locality.

Having recovered a lost territory, he should hide those vices of his, owing to which he lost it, and increase those virtues by which he recovered it.

With regard to the inherited territory, he should cover the vices of his father, and display his own virtues.

* He should initiate the observance of all those customs, which, though righteous and practised by others, are not observed in his own country, and give no room for the practice of whatever is unrighteous, though observed by others.

[Thus ends Chapter V, "Restoration of Peace in a Conquered Country,” in Book XIII, “Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-fifth chapter from the beginning. With this ends the thirteenth Book “Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya.]

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Kautilya's Arthashastra: Book XIV, "Secret Means"

CHAPTER I. MEANS TO INJURE AN ENEMY.

IN order to protect the institution of the four castes, such measures as are treated of in secret science shall be applied against the wicked. Through the instrumentality of such men or women of Mlechchha class as can put on disguises, appropriate to different countries, arts, or professions, or as can put on the appearance of a hump-backed, dwarfish, or short-sized person, or of a dumb, deaf, idiot, or blind person, kálakúta and other manifold poisons should be administered in the diet and other physical enjoyments of the wicked. Spies lying in wait or living as inmates (in the same house) may make use of weapons on occasions of royal sports or musical and other entertainments. Spies, under the disguise of night-walkers (rátrichári) or of fire-keepers (agni-jívi) may set fire (to the houses of the wicked).

The powder (prepared from the carcass) of animals such as chitra (?), bheka (frog), kaundinyaka (?), krikana (perdix sylvatika), panchakushtha (?), and satapadi, (centipede); or of animals such as uchchitinga (crab), kambali (?), krikalása (lizard) with the powder of the bark of satakanda (Phyalis Flexuosa); or of animals such as grihagaulika (a small house-lizard), andháhika (a blind snake), krakanthaka (a kind of partridge), pútikíta (a stinking insect), and gomárika (?) combined with the juice of bhallátaka (Semecarpus Anacardium), and valgaka (?);--the smoke caused by burning the above powders causes instantaneous death.

* Any of the (above) insects may be heated with a black snake and priyangu (panic seed) and reduced to powder. This mixture, when burnt, causes instantaneous death.

The powder prepared from the roots of dhámárgava (lufta foetida) and yátudhána (?) mixed with the powder of the flower of bhallátaka (Semecarpus Anacardium) causes, when administered, death in the course of half a month. The root of vyágháta (casia fistula) reduced to powder with the flower of bhallátaka (Semecarpus A nacardium) mixed with the essence of an insect (kíta) causes, when administered, death in the course of a month.

As much as a kalá (16th of a tola) to men; twice as much to mules and horses; and four times as much to elephants and camels.

The smoke caused by burning the powder of satakardama (?), uchchitinga (crab), karavira (nerium odorum), katutumbi (a kind of bitter gourd), and fish together with the chaff of the grains of madana (?) and kodrava (paspalam scrobiculatum), or with the chaff of the seeds of hastikarna (castor oil tree) and palása (butea frondosa) destroys animal life as far as it is carried off by the wind.

The smoke caused by burning the powder of pútikita (a stinking insect), fish, katutumbi (a kind of bitter gourd), the bark of satakardama (?), and indragopa (the insect cochineal), or the powder of pútikita, kshudrárála (the resin of the plant, shorea robusta), and hemavidári (?) mixed with the powder of the hoof and horn of a goat causes blindness.

The smoke caused by burning the leaves of pútikaranja (guilandina bonducella), yellow arsenic, realgar, the seeds of gunja (abrus precatorius), the chaff of the seeds of red cotton, ásphota (a plant, careya arborea), khácha (salt ?), and the dung and urine of a cow causes blindness.

The smoke caused by burning the skin of a snake, the dung of a cow and a horse, and the head of a blind snake causes blindness.

The smoke caused by burning the powder made of the mixture of the dung and urine of pigeons, frogs, flesh-eating animals, elephants, men, and boars, the chaff and powder of barley mixed with kásísa (green sulphate of iron), rice, the seeds of cotton, kutaja (nerium antidysentericum), and kosátaki (lufta pentandra), cow's urine, the root of bhándi (hydroeotyle asiatica), the powder of nimba (nimba meria), sigru (hyperanthera morunga), phanirjaka (a kind of tulasi plant), kshíbapíluka (ripe coreya arborea), and bhánga (a common intoxicating drug), the skin of a snake and fish, and the powder of the nails and tusk of an elephant, all mixed with the chaff of madana and kodravá (paspalam scrobiculatum), or with the chaff of the seeds of hastikarna (castor oil tree) and palása (butea frondosa) causes instantaneous death wherever the smoke is carried off by the wind.

When a man who has kept his eyes secure with the application of ointment and medicinal water burns, on the occasion of the commencement of a battle and the assailing of forts, the roots of káli (tragia involucrata), kushtha (costus), nada (a kind of reed) and satávari (asperagus racemosus), or the powder of (the skin of) a snake, the tail of a peacock, krikana (a kind of partridge), and panchakushtha (?), together with the chaff as previously described or with wet or dry chaff, the smoke caused thereby destroys the eyes of all animals.

The ointment prepared by mixing the excretion of sáriká (maina), kapota (pigeon), baka (crane), and baláka (a kind of small crane) with the milk of kákshiva (hyperanthera morunga), píluka (a species of careya arborea) and snuhi (euphorbia) causes blindness and poisons water.

The mixture of yavaka (a kind of barley), the root of sála (achyrantes triandria), the fruit of madana (dattúra plant?), the leaves of játí (nutmeg?), and the urine of a man mixed with the powder of the root of plaksha (fig tree), and vidári (liquorice), as well as the essence of the decoction of musta (a kind of poison), udumbara (glomerous fig tree), and kodrava (paspalam scrobiculatum) or with the decoction of hastikarna (castor oil tree) and palása (butea frondosa) is termed the juice of madana (madanayoga).

The mixture of the powders of sringi (atis betula), gaumevriksha (?), kantakára (solanum xanthocarpum), and mayúrapadi (?), the powder of gunja seeds, lánguli (jusseina repens), vishamúlika (?), and ingudi (heart-pea), and the powder of karavira (oleander), akshipiluka (careya arborea), arka plant, and mrigamáríni (?) combined with the decoction of madana and kodrava or with that of hastikarna and palása is termed madana mixture (madanayoga).

The combination of (the above two) mixtures poisons grass and water when applied to them.

The smoke caused by burning the mixture of the powders of krikana (a kind of partridge), krikalása (lizard), grihagaulika (a small house-lizard) and andháhika (a blind snake) destroys the eyes and causes madness.

The (smoke caused by burning the) mixture of krikalása and grihagaulika causes leprosy.

The smoke caused by burning the same mixture together with the entrails of chitrabheka (a kind of frog of variegated colour), and madhu (celtis orientalis?) causes gonorrhœa.

The same mixture, wetted with human blood causes consumption.

The powder of dúshívisha (?), madana (dattúra plant ?), and kodrava (paspalam scrobiculatum) destroys the tongue.

The mixture of the powder of mátriváhaka (?), jalúka (leech), the tail of a peacock, the eyes of a frog, and píluká (careya arborea) causes the disease known as vishúchika.

The mixture of panchakushtha (?), kaundinyaka (?), rájavriksha (cassia fistula), and madhupushpa (bassia latifolia) and madhu (honey?) causes fever.

The mixture prepared from the powder of the knot of the tongue of bhája (?), and nakula (mongoose) reduced to a paste with the milk of a she-donkey causes both dumbness and deafness.

The proportion of a dose to bring on the desired deformities in men and animals in the course of a fortnight or a month is as laid down before.

Mixtures become very powerful when, in the case of drugs, they are prepared by the process of decoction; and in the case of animals, by the process of making powders; or in all cases by the process of decoction.

Whoever is pierced by the arrow prepared from the grains of sálmali (bombax heptaphyllum) and vidári (liquorice) reduced to powder and mixed with the powder of múlavatsanábha (a kind of poison) and smeared over with the blood of chuchundari (musk-rat) bites some ten other persons who in their turn bite others.

The mixture prepared from the flowers of bhallátaka (semecarpus anacardium), yátudhána (?), dhámárgava (achyranthes aspera), and bána (sal tree) mixed with the powder of elá (large cardamom), kákshi (red aluminous earth), guggulu (bdellium), and háláhala (a kind of poison) together with the blood of a goat and a man causes biting madness.

When half a dharana of this mixture together with flour and oil-cakes is thrown into water of a reservoir measuring a hundred bows in length, it vitiates the whole mass of water; all the fish swallowing or touching this mixture become poisonous; and whoever drinks or touches this water will be poisoned.

No sooner does a person condemned to death pull out from the earth an alligator or iguana (godhá) which, with three or five handfuls of both red and white mustard seeds, is entered into the earth than he dies at its sight.

When, on the days of the stars of krittiká or bharaní and following the method of performing fearful rites, an oblation with a black cobra emitting froth at the shock of lightning or caught hold of by means of the sticks of a tree struck by lightning and perfumed is made into the fire, that fire continues to burn unquenchably.

* An oblation of honey shall be made into the fire fetched from the house of a blacksmith; of spirituous liquor into the fire brought from the house of a vintner; of clarified butter into the fire of a sacrificer (?);

* Of a garland into the fire kept by a sacrificer with one wife; of mustard seeds into the fire kept by an adulterous woman; of curds into the fire kept during the birth of a child; of rice-grain into the fire of a sacrificer;

* Of flesh into the fire kept by a chandala; of human flesh into the fire burning in cremation grounds; an oblation of the serum of the flesh of a goat and a man shall be made by means of a sacrificial ladle into the fire which is made of all the above fires;

* Repeating the mantras addressed to the fire, an oblation of the wooden pieces of rájavriksha (cassia fistula) into the same fire. This fire will unquenchably burn deluding the eyes of the enemies.

Salutation to Aditi, salutation to Anumati, salutation to Sarasvati and salutation to the Sun; oblation to Agni, oblation to soma, oblation to the earth, and oblation to the atmosphere.

[Thus ends Chapter I, “Means to Injure an Enemy,” in Book XIV, “Secret Means,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-sixth chapter from the beginning.

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CHAPTER II. WONDERFUL AND DELUSIVE CONTRIVANCES.

A DOSE of the powder of sirísha (mimosa sirísa), udumbara (glomerous fig-tree), and sami (acacia suma) mixed with clarified butter, renders fasting possible for half a month; the scum prepared from the mixture of the root of kaseruka (a kind of water-creeper), utpala (costus), and sugar-cane mixed with bisa (water-lily), dúrva (grass), milk, and clarified butter enables a man to fast for a month.

The powder of másha (phraseolus radiatus), yava (barley), kuluttha (horse-gram) and the root of darbha (sacrificial grass) mixed with milk and clarified butter; the milk of valli (a kind of creeper) and clarified butter derived from it and mixed in equal proportions and combined with the paste prepared from the root of sála (shorea robusta) and prisniparni (hedysarum lagopodioides), when drunk with milk; or a dose of milk mixed with clarified butter and spirituous liquor, both prepared from the above substances, enables one to fast for a month.

The oil prepared from mustard seeds previously kept for seven nights in the urine of a white goat will, when used (externally) after keeping the oil inside a large bitter gourd for a month and a half, alter the colour of both biped and quadruped animals.

The oil extracted from white mustard seeds mixed with the barley-corns contained in the dung of a white donkey, which has been living for more than seven nights on a diet of butter, milk and barley, causes alteration in colour.

The oil prepared from mustard seeds which have been previously kept in the urine and fluid dung of any of the two animals, a white goat and a white donkey, causes (when applied) such white colour as that of the fibre of arka plant or the down of a (white) bird.

The mixture of the dung of a white cock and ajagara (boa-constrictor) causes white colour.

The pastry made from white mustard seeds kept for seven nights in the urine of a white goat mixed with butter-milk, the milk of arka plant, salt, and grains (dhánya), causes, when applied for a fortnight, white colour.

The paste, prepared from white mustard seeds which have been previously kept within a large bitter gourd and with clarified butter prepared from the milk of valli (a creeper) for half a month, makes the hair white.

* A bitter gourd, a stinking insect (pútikíta), and a white house-lizard; when a paste prepared from these is applied to the hair, the latter becomes as white as a conch-shell.

When any part of the body of a man is rubbed over with the pastry (kalka) prepared from tinduka (glutinosa) and arishta (soap-berry), together with the dung of a cow, the part of the body being also smeared over with the juice of bhallátaka (semecarpus anacardium), he will catch leprosy in the course of a month.

(The application of the paste prepared from) gunja seeds kept previously for seven nights in the mouth of a white cobra or in the mouth of a house-lizard brings on leprosy.

External application of the liquid essence of the egg of a parrot and a cuckoo brings on leprosy.

The pastry or decoction prepared from priyála (chironjia sapida or vitis vinifera ?) is a remedy for leprosy.

Whoever eats the mixture of the powders of the roots of kukkuta (marsilia dentata), kosátaki (duffa pentandra), and satávari (asparagus racemosus) for a month will become white.

Whoever bathes in the decoction of vata (banyan tree) and rubs his body with the paste prepared from sahachara (yellow barleria) becomes black.

Sulphuret of arsenic and red arsenic mixed with the oil extracted from sakuna (a kind of bird) and kanka (a vulture) causes blackness.

The powder of khadyota (fire-fly) mixed with the oil of mustard seeds emits light at night.

The powder of khadyota (fire-fly) and gandúpada (earth-worm) or the powder of ocean animals mixed with the powder of bhringa (malabathrum), kapála (a pot-herb), and khadira (mimosa catechu), and karnikára (pentapetes acerifolia), combined with the oil of sakuna (a bird) and kanka (vulture), is tejanachúrna (ignition powder).

When the body of a man is rubbed over with the powder of the charcoal of the bark of páribhadraka (erythrina indica) mixed with the serum of the flesh of mandúka (a frog), it can be burnt with fire (without causing hurt).

The body which is painted with the pastry (kalka) prepared from the bark of páribhadraka (erythrina indica) and sesamum seeds burns with fire.

The ball prepared from the powder of the charcoal of the bark of pílu (careya arborea) can be held in hand and burnt with fire.

When the body of a man is smeared over with the serum of the flesh of a frog, it burns with fire (with no hurt).

When the body of a man is smeared over with the above serum as well as with the oil extracted from the fruits of kusa (ficus religiosa), and ámra (mango tree), and when the powder prepared from an ocean frog (samdura mandúki), phenaka (sea-foam), and sarjarasa (the juice of vatica robusta) is sprinkled over the body, it burns with fire (without being hurt).

When the body of a man is smeared over with sesamum oil mixed with equal quantities of the serum of the flesh of a frog, crab, and other animals, it can burn with fire (without hurt).

The body which is smeared over with the serum of the flesh of a frog burns with fire.

The body of a man, which is rubbed over with the powder of the root of bamboo (venu) and saivála (aquatic plant), and is smeared over with the serum of the flesh of a frog, burns with fire.

Whoever has anointed his legs with the oil extracted from the paste prepared from the roots of páribhadraka (erythrina indica), pratibala (?), vanjula (a kind of ratan or tree), vajra (andropogon muricatum or euphorbia), and kadali (banana), mixed with the serum of the flesh of a frog, can walk over fire (without hurt).

* Oil should be extracted from the paste prepared from the roots of pratibala, vanjula and páribhadraka, all growing near water, the paste being mixed with the serum of the flesh of a frog.

* Having anointed one's legs with this oil, one can walk over a white-hot mass of fire as though on a bed of roses.

When birds such as a hamsa (goose), krauncha (heron), mayúra (peacock) and other large swimming birds are let to fly at night with a burning reed attached to their tail it presents the appearance of a fire-brand falling from the sky (ulká).

Ashes caused by lightning quench the fire.

When, in a fireplace, kidney beans (másha) wetted with the menstrual fluid of a woman, as well as the roots of vajra (andropogon muricatum) and kadali (banana), wetted with the serum of the flesh of a frog are kept, no grains can be cooked there.

Cleansing the fire place is its remedy.

By keeping in the mouth a ball-like piece of pilu (careya arberea) or a knot of the root of linseed tree (suvarchala) with fire inserted within the mass of the ball and wound round with threads and cotton (pichu), volumes of smoke and fire can be breathed out.

When the oil extracted from the fruits of kusa (ficus religiosa) and ámra (mango) is poured over the fire, it burns even in the storm.

Sea-foam wetted with oil and ignited keeps burning when floating on water.

The fire generated by churning the bone of a monkey by means of a bamboo stick of white and black colour (kalmáshavenu) burns in water instead of being quenched.

There will burn no other fire where the fire generated by churning, by means of a bamboo stick of white and black colour, the left side rib-bone of a man killed by a weapon or put to the gallows; or the fire generated by churning the bone of a man or woman by means of the bone of another man is circumambulated thrice from right to left.

* When the paste prepared from the animals such as chuchundari (musk-rat), khanjaríta (?) and khárakíta (?), with the urine of a horse is applied to the chains with which the legs of a man are bound, they will be broken to pieces.

The sun-stone (ayaskánta) or any other stone (will break to pieces) when wetted with the serum of the flesh of the animals kulinda (?), dardura (?), and khárakíta (?).

The paste prepared from the powder of the rib-bone of náraka (?), a donkey, kanka (a kind of vulture), and bhása (a bird), mixed with the juice of water-lily, is applied to the legs of bipeds and quadrupeds (while making a journey).

When a man makes a journey, wearing the shoes made of the skin of a camel, smeared over with the serum of the flesh of an owl and a vulture and covered over with the leaves of the banyan tree, he can walk fifty yojanas without any fatigue.

(When the shoes are smeared over with) the pith, marrow or sperm of the birds, syena, kanka, káka, gridhra, hamsá, krauncha, and vichiralla, (the traveller wearing them) can walk a hundred yojanas (without any fatigue).

The fat or serum derived from roasting a pregnant camel together with saptaparna (lechites scholaris) or from roasting dead children in cremation grounds, is applied to render a journey of a hundred yojanas easy.

* Terror should be caused to the enemy by exhibiting these and other wonderful and delusive performances; while anger causing terror is common to all, terrification by such wonders is held as a means to consolidate peace.

[Thus ends Chapter II, "Wonderful and Delusive Contrivances," in Book XIV, "Secret Means,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-seventh chapter from the beginning.]

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CHAPTER III. THE APPLICATION OF MEDICINES AND MANTRAS.

HAVING pulled out both the right and the left eye-balls of a cat, camel, wolf, boar, porcupine, váguli (?), naptri (?), crow and owl, or of any one, two, or three, or many of such animals as roam at nights, one should reduce them to two kinds of powder. Whoever anoints his own right eye with the powder of the left eye and his left eye with the powder of the right eye-ball can clearly see things even in pitch dark at night.

* One is the eye of a boar; another is that of a khadyota (fire-fly), or a crow, or a mina bird. Having anointed one's own eyes with the above, one can clearly see things at night.

Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the day of the star, Pushya, catch hold of the skull of a man who has been killed with a weapon or put to the gallows. Having filled the skull with soil and barley seeds, one should irrigate them with the milk of goats and sheep. Putting on the garland formed of the sprouts of the above barley crop, one can walk invisible to others.

Having fasted for three nights and having afterwards pulled out on the day of the star of Pushya both the right and the left eyes of a dog, a cat, an owl, and a váguli (?), one should reduce them to two kinds of powder. Then having anointed one's own eyes with this ointment as usual, one can walk invisible to others.

Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the day of the star of Pushya, prepare a round-headed pin (saláká) from the branch of purushagháti (punnága tree). Then having filled with ointment (anjana) the skull of any of the animals which roam at nights, and having inserted that skull in the organ of procreation of a dead woman, one should burn it. Having taken it out on the day of the star of Pushya and having anointed one's own eyes with that ointment, one can walk invisible to others.

Wherever one may happen to see the corpse burnt or just being burnt of a Bráhman who kept sacrificial fire (while alive), there one should fast for three nights; and having on the day of the star of Pushya formed a sack from the garment of the corpse of a man who has died from natural causes, and having filled the sack with the ashes of the Bráhman's corpse, one may put on the sack on one's back, and walk invisible to others.

The slough of a snake filled with the powder of the bones and marrow or fat of the cow sacrificed during the funeral rites of a Bráhman, can, when put on the back of cattle, render them invisible.

The slough of prachaláka (a bird?) filled with the ashes of the corpse of a man dead from snake-bite, can render beasts (mriga) invisible.

The slough of a snake (ahi) filled with the powder of the bone of the knee-joint mixed with that of the tail and dung (purísha) of an owl and a váguli (?), can render birds invisible.

Such are the eight kinds of the contrivances causing invisibility.

* I bow to Bali, son of Virochana; to Sambara acquainted with a hundred kinds of magic; to Bhandírapáka, Naraka, Nikumbha, and Kumbha.

* I bow to Devala and Nárada; I bow to Sávarnigálava; with the permission of these I cause deep slumber to thee.

* Just as the snakes, known as ajagara (boa-constrictor) fall into deep slumber, so may the rogues of the army who are very anxious to keep watch over the village;

* With their thousands of dogs (bhandaka) and hundreds of ruddy geese and donkeys, fall into deep slumber; I shall enter this house, and may the dogs be quiet.

* Having bowed to Manu, and having tethered the roguish dogs (sunakaphelaka), and having also bowed to those gods who are in heaven, and to Bráhmans among mankind;

* To those who are well versed in their Vedic studies, those who have attained to Kailása (a mountain of god Siva) by observing penance, and to all prophets, I do cause deep slumber to thee.

The fan (chamari) comes out; may all combinations retire. Oblation to Manu, O Aliti and Paliti.

The application of the above mantra is as follows:--

Having fasted for three nights, one should, on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, the day being assigned to the star of Pushya, purchase from a low-caste woman (svapáki) vilikhávalekhana (finger nails?). Having kept them in a basket (kandolika), one should bury them apart in cremation grounds. Having unearthed them on the next fourteenth day, one should reduce them to a paste with kumári (aloe ?) and prepare small pills out of the paste. Wherever one of the pills is thrown, chanting the above mantra, there the whole animal life falls into deep slumber.

Following the same procedure, one should separately bury in cremation grounds three white and three black dart-like hairs (salyaka) of a porcupine. When, having on the next fourteenth day taken them out, one throws them together with the ashes of a burnt corpse, chanting the above mantra, the whole animal life in that place falls into deep slumber.

* I bow to the goddess Suvarnapushpi and to Brahmáni, to the god Bráhma, and to Kusadhvaja; I bow to all serpents and goddesses; I bow to all ascetics.

* May all Bráhmans and Kshattriyas come under my power; may all Vaisyas and, Súdras be at my beck and call,

Oblation to thee, O, Amile, Kimile, Vayujáre, Prayoge, Phake, Kavayusve, Vihále, and Dantakatake, oblation to thee.

* May the dogs which are anxiously keeping watch over the village fall into deep and happy slumber; these three white dart-like hairs of the porcupine are the creation of Bráhma.

* All prophets (siddha) have fallen into deep slumber. I do cause sleep to the whole village as far as its boundary till the sun rises. Oblation!

The application of the above mantra is as follows:--

When a man, having fasted for seven nights and secured three white dart-like hairs of a porcupine, makes on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month oblations into the fire with 108 pieces of the sacrificial fire-wood of khadira (mimosa catechu) and other trees together with honey and clarified butter chanting the above mantra, and when, chanting the same mantra, he buries one of the hairs at the entrance of either a village or a house within it, he causes the whole animal life therein to fall into deep slumber.

* I bow to Bali, the son of Vairochana, to S'atamáya, S'ambara, Nikumbha, Naraka, Kumbha, Tantukachchha, the great demon;

* To Armálava, Pramíla, Mandolúka, Ghatodbala, to Krishna with his followers, and to the famous woman, Paulomi.

* Chanting the sacred mantras, I do take the pith or the bone of the corpse (savasárika) productive of my desired ends--may S'alaka demons be victorious; salutation to them; oblation!--May the dogs which are anxiously keeping watch over the village fall into deep and happy slumber.

* May all prophets (siddhártháh) fall into happy sleep about the object which we are seeking from sunset to sunrise and till the attainment of my desired end. Oblation!

The application of the above mantra is as follows:--

Having fasted for four nights and having on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month performed animal sacrifice (bali) in cremation grounds, one should, repeating the above mantra, collect the pith of a corpse (savasárika) and keep it in a basket made of leaves (pattrapauttaliká). When this basket, being pierced in the centre by a dart-like hair of a porcupine, is buried, chanting the above mantra, the whole animal life therein falls into deep slumber.

* I take refuge with the god of fire and with all the goddesses in the ten quarters; may all obstructions vanish and may all things come under my power. Oblation.

The application of the above mantra is as follows:--

Having fasted for three nights and having on the day of the star of Pushya prepared twenty-one pieces of sugar-candy, one should make oblation into the fire with honey and clarified butter; and having worshipped the pieces of sugar-candy with scents and garlands of flowers, one should bury them. When, having on the next day of the star of Pushya unearthed the pieces of sugar-candy, and chanting the above mantra, one strikes the door-panel of a house with one piece and throws four pieces in the interior, the door will open itself.

Having fasted for four nights, one should on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month get a figure of a bull prepared from the bone of a man, and worship it, repeating the above mantra. Then a cart drawn by two bulls will be brought before the worshipper who can (mount it and) drive in the sky and tell all that is connected with the sun and other planets of the sky.

O, Chandáli Kumbhi, Tumba Katuka, and Sárigha, thou art possessed of the bhaga of a woman, oblation to thee.

When this mantra is repeated, the door will open and the inmates fall into sleep.

Having fasted for three nights, one should on the day of the star of Pushya fill with soil the skull of a man killed with weapons or put to the gallows, and, planting in it valli (vallari ?) plants, should irrigate them with water. Having taken up the grown-up plants on the next day of the star of Pushya (i.e., after 27 days), one should manufacture a rope from them. When this rope is cut into two pieces before a drawn bow or any other shooting machine, the string of those machines will be suddenly cut into two pieces.

When the slough of a water-snake (udakáhi) is filled with the breathed-out dirt (uchchhvásamrittika?) of a man or woman (and is held before the face and nose of any person), it causes those organs to swell.

When the sack-like skin of the abdomen of a dog or a boar is filled with the breathed-out dirt (uchchhvásamrittika) of a man or woman and is bound (to the body of a man) with the ligaments of a monkey, it causes the man's body to grow in width and length (ánáha),

When the figure of an enemy carved out of rájavriksha (cassia fistula) is besmeared with the bile of a brown cow killed with a weapon on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, it causes blindness (to the enemy).

Having fasted for four nights and offered animal sacrifice (bali) on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month, one should get a few bolt-like pieces prepared from the bone of a man put to the gallows. When one of these pieces is put in the feces or urine (of an enemy), it causes (his) body to grow in size (ánáha); and when the same piece is buried under the feet or seat (of an enemy), it causes death by consumption; and when it is buried in the shop, fields, or the house (of an enemy), it causes him loss of livelihood.

The same process of smearing and burying holds good with the bolt-like pieces (kílaka) prepared from vidyuddanda tree.

* When the nail of the little finger (punarnavam aváchínam ?) nimba (nimba melia), káma (bdellium), madhu (celtis orientalis), the hair of a monkey, and the bone of a man, all wound round with the garment of a dead man.

* Is buried in the house of, or is trodden down by, a man, that man with his wife, children and wealth will not survive three fortnights.

* When the nail of the little finger, nimba (nimba melia), káma (bdellium), madhu (celtis orientalis), and the bone of a man dead from natural causes are buried under the feet of,

* Or near the house of, a man or in the vicinity of the camp of an army, of a village, or of a city, that man (or the body of men) with wife, children, and wealth will not survive three fortnights.

* When the hair of a sheep and a monkey, of a cat and mongoose, of Bráhmans, of low-caste men (svapáka), and of a crow and an owl is collected,

* And is made into a paste with fæces (vishtávakshunna), its application brings on instantaneous death. When a flower garland of a dead body, the ferment derived from burning corpse, the hair of a mangoose,

* And the skin of scorpion, a bee, and a snake are buried under the feet of a man, that man will lose all human appearance so long as they are not removed.

Having fasted for three nights and having on the day of the star of Pushya planted gunja seeds in the skull, filled with soil, of a man killed with weapons or put to the gallows, one should irrigate it with water. On the new or full moon day with the star of Pushya, one should take out the plants when grown, and prepare out of them circular pedestals (mandaliká). When vessels containing food and water are placed on these pedestals, the food stuffs will never decrease in quantity.

When a grand procession is being celebrated at night, one should cut off the nipples of the udder of a dead cow and burn them in a torch-light flame. A fresh vessel should be plastered in the interior with the paste prepared from these burnt nipples, mixed with the urine of a bull. When this vessel, taken round the village in circumambulation from right to left, is placed below, the whole quantity of the butter produced by all the cows (of the village) will collect itself in the vessel.

On the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month combined with the star of Pushya, one should thrust into the organ of procreation of a dog or heat an iron seal (kataláyasam mudrikam) and take it up when it falls down of itself. When, with this seal in hand, a collection of fruits is called out, it will come of itself (before the magician).

* By the power of mantras, drugs, and other magical performances, one should protect one's own people and hurt those of the enemy.

[Thus ends Chapter III, “The Application of Medicine and Mantras,” in Book XIV, “Secret Means,” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the hundred and forty-eighth chapter from the beginning.]