foreign policy - variations of "wait and watch"

We have seen the qualities needed by a conquering king / leader, followed by underlying philosophy of foreign policy, then a discussion on number of measures in the policy and concluded that there are six; Then cANakya deals with the subject of taking shelter i.e, surrendering first. Then we have seen the policies observed by a weak king in making peace.

In this 6th post on foreign policy, lets cover the topic related to Asana - Asana literally means "to sit" or to pause. There are three variations of keeping quite. sthAnam - to keep quite for a small benefit or a short pause that improves one's own situation. Asanam - is to wait for a better opportunity or a bigger improvement to take up the decided policy of peace or conflict. upEkshanam - is waiting without deciding or applying any policy.

When the king and opponent are unable to reach victory decisively, one should opt either for continue the conflict after a pause (vigruhyAsanam) or make peace after a pause (samdhAyAsanam)

When one's own capability is going to improve in future or opponent's prakRti i.e., the constituent elements are going to get trouble one should continue the conflict but after duly waiting for the right opportunity. This is vigruhyAsanam. Decide to continue the conflict but pause.

When an opponent is fighting with another enemy, king should not intervene say some past teachers. Their argument is the opponent is all prepared for the war. The preparedness of opponent is a danger.

But, kauTilya says NO. If we let the opponent win over his enemy, that will be more dangerous. So, it is right to attack while the opponent is in conflict with his enemy. In this circumstance one should not wait and watch. Taking the option of vighra and yAna (conflict and attack).

Alone one can't get on with attack of enemy, one should form association with multiple opponents of the enemy and attack the enemy. This is called sambhUya prayANam.  In this kind attack, after the victory, the enemy's wealth should be partitioned in proportion to the effort put towards that victory by each of the members of the group. (In the modern day several countries join together and attack single nations)