From
Arthasastra
A conquering king should reassure a defeated people that not much, excepttheir rulers, will change. The king who has triumphed "should adopt asimilar character, dress, language and behavior (as the subjects). Andhe should show the same devotion in festivals in honour of deities ofthe country, festive gatherings and sportive amusements."
154 He should keep his promises, especially to those who helped him win, he should honor the local "deities," and he should make grants of land and money to men distinguished in wisdom and piety.
155 And the conquering king should show his goodwill toward the defeated by instituting "a righteous custom, not initiated before."
156 While the victorious king is reassuring the general population with generous policies, he must continue to kill anyone who is dangerous and those who are disgruntled: "He should put down by silent punishment those capable of injuring [him] or those brooding on the master's destruction."
157 In what might be a surprising observation about those whom the king has killed, Kautilya commented that if one must kill a dangerous person, the king must leave his
[End Page 32]property untouched and "shall not covet the land, property, sons orwives of the slain one."
158 Kautilya had the same insight into human emotions that Machiavelli had nearly eighteen hundred years later. Said Machiavelli, "And when [the prince] is obliged to take the life of any one, . . . he must abstain from taking the property of others, for men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony."
154.Kautilya,
Arthasastra, 13.5.7-8: 491.
155.Kautilya,
Arthasastra, 13.5.11, 6: 491-92.
156.Kautilya,
Arthasastra, 13.5.24: 493.
157.Kautilya,
Arthasastra, 13.5.17: 492.
158.Kautilya,
Arthasastra, 7.16.26: 374.