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OCTOBER, 1909.)
THE ARTHASASTRA OF CHANAKYA.
261
Such demands shall be made only once and never twice. When such demands are not made, the collector-general shall seek subscriptions from citizens and country people alike under false pretences of carrying this or that kind of business. Persons taken in concert shall publicly pay handsome donations and, with this example, the king may demand of others among his subjects. Spies posing as citizens shall revile those who pay less. Wealthy persons may be requested to give as much of their gold as they can. Those who, of their own accord or with the intention of doing good, offer their wealth to the king shall be honoured with a rank in the court, an umbrella, or a turban or some ornaments in return for their gold.
Spies, under the guise of sorcerers, shall, under the pretence of ensuring safety, carry away the money, not only of the society of heretics and of temples, but also of a dead man and of a man whose bouse is burnt, provided that they are not Brahmans.
The Superintendent of Religious Institutions may collect in one place the various kinds of property of the gods of fortified cities and country parts and carry away the property (to the king's. treasury ).
Or having on some night set up a god or an altar, or having opened a sared place of asceties or having pointed out an evil omen; the king may collect sabsistence under the pretence of holding processions and congregations (to avert calamities ).
Or else he shall proclaim the arrival of gods, by pointing out to the people any of the sacred trees in the king's garden which has produced untimely flowers and fruits.
Or by causing a falee panic owing to the arrival of an evil spirit on a tree in the city, wherein a man is hidden making all sorts of devilish noises, the king's spies, under the guise of ascetics, may collect money with a view to propitiate the evil spirit and send it back).
Or spies may call apon spectators to see a serpent with numberless hends in a well connected with a subterranean passage and collect foes from them for the sight. Or they may place in a borehole made in the body of an image of a serpent, or in a hole in the corner of a temple, or in the hollow of an ant-hill, a cobra, which is, by diet, rendered unconscious, and call upon credulous spectators to see it (on payment of a certain amount of fee). As to persons who are not by nature credulous, spies may sprinkle over or give a drink of such sacred water as is mixed with anaesthetic ingredients and attribute their insensibility to the curse of gods. Or by causing an outcast person (abhityakta:) to be bitten by cobra, spies may collect revenue under the pretext of undertaking remedial measures against ominous phenomena.
Or one of the king's spies in the garb of a merchant, may become a partner of a rich merchant and carry on trade in concert with him. As soon as a considerable amount of money has been gathered as sele-proceeds, deposits and loans, he may cause himself to be robbed of the amount.
This will explain what the Superintendent of coins and the State-goldsmith may also do.
Or else & spy, in the garb of a rich merchant, or a real rich merchant famous for his vast commerce, may borrow or take on pledge vast quantities of gold, silver, and other commodities, or borrow from corporations bar gold or coined gold for various kinds of merchandise to be procured from abroad. After having done this he may allow himself to be robbed of it the same night.
Prostitute spies, under the garb of chaste women, may cause themselves to be enamoured of persons who are seditious. No sooner are the seditious persons seen within the abode of the fenalo spies then they shall be seized and their property confiscated to the Government. Or whenever a quarrel arises between any two seditious parties of the same family, poisoners, previously engaged for the purpose, may administer poison to one party; and the other party may be accused of the offence and arrested.
