Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 709
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

Page 140

THE SEVEN WAYS TO APPROACH A NEIGHBOR
" 85
"If thou art not prepared to be cruel and to kill men as the fisher kills the fish, abandon every hope of great success.' "If men think thee soft, they will despise thee. When it is, therefore, time to be cruel, be cruel; and when it is time to be soft, be soft." 86
A few selections from Kautilya's Arthaśästra will suffice to communicate a sense of the atmosphere within the palace.87
"He [the king] should construct his residential palace after the model of his treasure house; or he may have his residential abode in the center of a delusive chamber (mohanagṛha), provided with secret passages built into the walls; or in an underground chamber concealed by the figures of goddesses and altars (caitya) carved on the wooden door-frame and connected with many underground passages for exit; or in an upper storey, provided with a staircase hidden in a wall, with a passage for exit made in a hollow pillar--the whole building being so constructed with mechanical contrivances that it may be caused to fall down when necessary." 88
"When in the interior of the harem, the king shall see the queen only when her personal integrity is guaranteed by an old maid-servant. He shall not touch any woman (unless he is assured of her personal integrity); for, hidden in the queen's chamber, his own brother slew king Bhadrasena; hiding beneath the bed of his mother, the son killed king Kārūśa; mixing fried rice with poison, as though with honey, his own queen poisoned Käsirāja; by means of an anklet painted with poison, his own queen killed Vairantya; with a gem of her zone, bedaubed with poison, his own queen killed Sauvīra; with a look
85 Ib. 12. 15. 14; again, 12. 140. 50.
36 Ib. 12. 56. 21; again, 12. 102. 33; 12. 103. 33; 12. 140. 65; 12. 142. 32; and passim.
87 Chanakya Kautilya's Arthasastra, translated by R. Shamasastry, with an introduction by D. J. F. Fleet, Bangalore, 1915, 2nd edition, 1923.
88 lb. 1. 20. 40; transl., p. 45.
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