Verse 7.160

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

सन्धिं च विग्रहं चैव यानमासनमेव च ।
द्वैधीभावं संश्रयं च षड्गुणांश्चिन्तयेत् सदा ॥ १६० ॥

sandhiṃ ca vigrahaṃ caiva yānamāsanameva ca |
dvaidhībhāvaṃ saṃśrayaṃ ca ṣaḍguṇāṃścintayet sadā || 160 ||

Alliance, War, March, Halt, Bifurcation and seeking shelter—these six measures of policy he shall constantly ponder over.—(160)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Presents of gold and other things with a view to secure the good will of both parties constitute ‘alliance’; and the opposite of this is ‘War’;—going forward with a single purpose is ‘March’;—ignoring of the enemy leads to ‘Halt’;—putting forward terms of peace as well as of war constitutes ‘Bifurcation’;—and the surrendering of oneself to another is ‘Seeking Shelter’. These are the six ‘measures of policy’; and from among these he shall have recourse to that one by means of which, he feels, he would be enabled to erect fortifications, capture elephants, dig mines, carry on trade, cut down forests, raise embankments round fields in tracts not irrigated by rain, to win the wealth of other people, and so forth.—(160)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

See Kāmandaka (11.27).

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 411);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 324), which adds the following notes:—‘Sandhi’ is ‘alliance, entering into a compact, such as we shall help each other with elephants, horses and so forth,—‘vigraha’ is ‘war’,—‘yāna’ is ‘marching against the enemy’,—‘āsana’ is ‘staying within one’s own territories, not minding the war that may have been declared;’—‘dvaidhībhāva’ is ‘dividing one’s own forces into two parts’,—and in; Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Saṃskāra, p. 72b).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 7.160-161)

Viṣṇu (3.39).—‘He shall resort, as the time demands, to the six measures of making alliance and waging war, marching to battle and halting, seeking shelter and help and distributing his forces.’

Yājñavalkya (1.346).—‘He shall duly have recourse to alliance, war, marching, sitting, seeking help and dividing his forces.’

Arthaśāstra (Part II, p. 237).—‘The circle of constituents forms the source of the six Measures.—The six Measures are Alliance, War, Halting, Marching, Seeking Shelter and Duplicity—say the Teachers. According to Vātavyādhi, there are only two measures, all the six being included under Alliance and War. Alliance consists in entering into treaty; War in inflicting injury; Halting in disregarding; Marching in rising against the enemy; Seeking Shelter in surrendering oneself to another; and Duplicity in planning both peace and war.’

Śukranīti (4.7. 464, et.seq.).—‘The six constituents of state-craft are—Sandhi, Vigraha, Yāna, Āsana, Āśraya and Dvaidhībhāva;—Sandhi, Peace, is that by which a powerful enemy becomes friendly;—Vigraha, War, is that by which the enemy is pressed and subdued;—Yāna is marching for the furtherance of one’s own interests and the destruction of the enemy’s;—Āsana, Entrenching, is that step by which one protects himself but destroys the enemy;—Āśraya, Seeking shelter, is that whereby even the weak becomes strong;—Dvaidhībhāva is the stationing of one’s troops in several directions.’

Kāmandaka (11.1).—‘There are six modes of foreign Policy—according to some only two—Peace (including Duplicity and Shelter) and War (including Marching and Halting).