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THE ARTHASASTRA OF OHANAKYA.
MAY, 1910.]
Or having seduced wild tribes with rewards of wealth and honour, they may be incited to devastate the enemy's country. Or the enemy's rear-enemy may be told, "I am, as it were, a bridge to you all; if I am broken like rafter, this king will drown you all; let us, therefore, combine and thwart the enemy in his march." Accordingly, a message may be sent to individual or combined states to the effect, "after having done with me, this king will do his work of you; beware of it. I am the best man to be relied upon."
135.
In order to escape from the danger from an immediate enemy, a king should frequently send to a madhyama or a neutral king (whatever would please him); or one may put one's whole property at the enemy's disposal, 83
Chapter IV.
Spies with weapons, fire, and poison; and destruction of supply, stores and granaries. (Sastragnirasa pranidhayah; vivadhasaraprasaravadhascha.)
The conqueror's spies who are residing as traders in the enemy's forts, and those who are living as cultivators in the enemy's villages, as well as those who are living as cowherds or ascetics in the district borders of the enemy's country may send through merchants, information to another neighbouring enemy, or a wild chief, or a scion of the enemy's family, or an imprisoned prince that the enemy's country is to be captured. When their secret emissaries come as invited, they are to be pleased with rewards of wealth and honour and shewn the enemy's weak points; and with the help of the emissaries, the spies should strike the enemy at his weak points.
Or having put a banished prince in the enemy's camp, a spy, disguised as a vintner in the service of the enemy, may distribute as a toast hundreds of vessels of liquor mixed with the juice of the madana plant; or, for the first day, he may distribute a mild or intoxicating variety of liquor, and on the following days such liquor as is mixed with poison; or having given pure liquor to the officers of the enemy's army, he may give them poisoned liquor when they are in intoxication.
A spy, employed as a chief officer of the enemy's army, may adopt the same measures as those employed by the vintner.
Spies, disguised as experts in trading in cooked flesh, oooked rice, liquor, and cakes, may vie with each other in proclaiming in public the sale of a fresh supply of their special articles at cheap price and may sell the articles mixed with poison to the attracted customers of the enemy.
Women and children may receive in their poisoned vessels, liquor, milk, curd, ghee, or oil from traders in those articles, and pour those fluids back into the vessels of the traders, saying that at a specified rate the whole may be sold to them. Spies, disguised as merchants, may purchase the above articles, and may so contrive that servants, attending upon the elephants and horses of the enemy, may make use of the same articles in giving rations and grass to those animals. Spies, under the garb of servants, may sell poisoned grass and water.
Spies, let off as traders in cattle for a long time, may leave herds of cattle, sheep, or goats in tempting places so as to divert the attention of the enemy from the attack which they (the enemy) intend to make; spies as cowherds may let off such animals as are ferocious among horses, mules, camels, buffaloes and other beasts, having smeared the eyes of those animals with the blood of
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