On treaties related to war

Sixth chapter of book 7 deals comprehensively on treaties related to war. The treaties are primarily of 2 types.

1. paripaNita:  Conditional and 2. aparipaNita: without any conditions

One should make an unconditional treaty with an opponent who is wicked, who is in a hurry, who is a short sighted to findout the defects and then breach. Other than for this disceving purpose treaties should not be made without conditions or obligations.

Conditions are based on place (dESa) i.e., "I will deal with this territory and you will deal with that territory" or time (kAla) "I will deal with such and such time and you should cover at this time" or a specific result (artha) i.e, "I will do this work and achieve such and such reasult and you should do that work and achieve such and such result" 

So, any one of the above (3 types) any two of the combinations dESa and kAla, dESa and artha, kAla and artha (3 types) and all the three (1 type) makes up seven types of conditional treaties are possible.

One should consider the difficulties of territory (Some territories are easier to deal and some are difficult e.g., mountains, snow etc.,) time (some times are easier and others are difficult e.g., cold winters or hot summers) and some objectives are easier and others very difficult while agreeing on treaties.

Having agreed, one should start and complete the obligations of their part first. Then look at assessing other side.

In all the treaties, there are four aspects that need to be managed. The first aspect is called AkRta-cikIrsha this deals with maintaining the ecosystem changes and placing the new king / treaty in its suitable place. The new treaty will result in adjusting the positions of other agreements and relationships.

The second aspect is the kRta-slEshaNam that deals with obliging the conditions from both sides. Making sure the obligations are met with diligence is the second aspect.

If the opponent is joining hands with enemy, violating the conditions is called kRta-vidUshaNam, which is the third aspect.

The fourth aspect is called avaSIrNa-kriya is about renegotiation of violated treaty with the other party.

Now cANakya discusses on the reasons for parties violating the treaty. Earlier teachers list multiple reasons but kauTilya puts them into three heads: 1. fear, 2. non-engagement 3.anger are the only causes of violation of treaties.

When renegotiating, one should consider the following four situations:
1. One who has walked away with some valid reason and came back due to valid reason
2. One who as walked away without any reason and came back without any reason
3. One who has left due to valid reason but came back without any reason
4. One who has left without any reason but came back with a valid reason

One who has seen a valid defect in the leader and left and came back as he sees the defect of leader is gone such a person can be considered for renegotiated samdhi.... who has left due to his own defect and came back seeing some benefit should not be allowed to join..... [cANakya gives several hints of situations of renegotiation is allowed and barred!!]

Finally the chapter concludes with definitions of three types of war:
1. prakASa yuddham: Open war, agreed time and place for the war and both armies fight in the designated place at designated time.
2. kUTa yuddham: Sudden attack without any hint, agreeing to fight at one place and attacking at another place etc., and
3. tUshNIm yuddham: Silent or cold war - secretly causing difficulties in the opponent's territory

What is astonishing to me in this chapter is the detailed consideration of situations and enumerating all the aspects of treaties!  May be one can write a complete book based on this one chapter!!

sAmavAyika parimarSa - cooperative alliance - Some thoughts

The third topic discussed in 5th chapter of seventh book of artha SAstra is about forming alliance for attacking the opponent in the war.

sAmavAyika is the ally. They are needed for various reasons. 1. They can help in the attack. 2. They can wage the war from the other side when enemy is engaged in the war with you. 3. They can help protecting your kingdom when you are engaged in fighting with the enemy.

Ally should be chosen based on the sakti (power) and suchi (purity ) A pure ally will remain stable in the event of either win or loss.

When there is a question of weather to go with "one stronger ally or two equal power allies?" -- It is better to go with two equal allies. If you go with a powerful ally, you will be inferior in the combination. Going with two equal allies, you can take the lead.

When there is a question of weather to go with "one equal ally or two inferior power allies?" -- It is better to go with two inferior power allies. They can be used to do two different things at the same time. One can attack the enemy from the other side and one can protect. They can be controlled easily as well.

After the win: (in case of alliance war) -- If you are working with a powerful ally and the ally is not pure, you should leave immediately. If the ally is pure wait till your ally asks you to leave.

Even if the ally is equal power, if the ally is not pure towards giving the results -- you should move away quickly after protecting all that what you can protect. The victory and growth makes the mind of the winner vicious. {vRddhi chitta vikAriNI} says kauTilya.

When the powerful ally do not treat you well and give reasonable winnings you should not express your dissatisfaction immediately. You move away peacefully and wait for the opportunity to get double of what you are supposed to get!

But,

you treat you allies diligently. Give them the correct share after winning; in case you lead the alliance. This pure behavior improves your image in the rAja manDalam and helps long term relationships.

Time and again, kauTilya emphasizes on purity of thought, behavior of the leader in all the dealings.

Reasons for weakness, selfishness and inaction in constituent elements

In the last post ( http://sastra-artha.blogspot.in/2015/06/thoughts-around-attacking-vulnerable.html ) there is a discussion on selecting the candidate for attack. Vulnerability due to anger of prakRtis and the nature of opposition are key decision parameters.

Immediately after that topic, kauTilya states the reasons for kshINa - decay / weakness, lobha - greed / selfishness and vairagya - indifference / inaction in the followers of a king / leader.

1. keeping good people away 2. accepting bad ones nearby
3. allowing injury 4. unrighteous attitude of the king
5. removing righteous officers from the duties
6. talking unrighteously (not even action, talking in unrighteous manner itself causes bad attitudes in followers!!)
7. doing things that should not be done and 8. not doing things aught to be done
9. giving to those who are not eligible and 10. not giving to those who are eligible
11. punishing those who should not be punished and 12. not punishing those who should be punished
13. imprisoning those who should not be and 14. not imprisoning those who should be
15. doing useless stuff and 16. not doing useful stuff
17. not protecting from thieves 18. stealing people's money (read as corruption!!)
19. not respecting sincere efforts 20. not encouraging good qualities
21. interfering in the activities of officers 22. disrespecting those who should be respected
23. showing favouritism towards a group of people 24. being untruthful
and kings mistakes, laziness and non-protection of subjects
leads to weakness, greed and inaction of subordinates.

kshINAH prakRtayO lObham lubdhA yAnti virAgatAm 
viraktA yAntyamitram vA bhartAram ghnanti vA svayam. 

Once the followers become weak, they become selfish. Selfishness / greed leads to non-attachment or indifference. They reach the enemy or on their own attack the leader.

So, a leader should never cause kshaya, lObha, vairAgya in the followers. If there are any signs of such tendencies, they should be appropriately tackled and corrected immediately.

It is easier to organize the prakRtis under the leadership of appropriate leaders and it becomes easier to manage the hierarchy by keeping the control federated. -- reminds chANakya!