 
Secrets of Espionage in Kautilya's Arthasastra

By

Ratan Lal Basu

Copyright 2016 Ratan Lal Basu

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Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Modern Espionage Disciplines

Chapter 3: Modern Espionage Agencies

Chapter 4: A Note on Kautilya's Arthsastra

Chapter 5: Essence of Arthasastra Espionage: Human Vices and Weaknesses

Chapter 6: Appointment of Spies

Chapter 7: Spying on Ministers, Princes and Government officials

Chapter 8: Spying on Citizens

Chapter 9: Apprehending and Punishing Criminals

Chapter 10: External Espionage –General

Chapter 11: External Espionage - War Strategy

The Author

Chapter 1: Introduction

Espionage has been an inexorable part of statecraft ever since the emergence of state as the supreme institution of governance of human societies. The term espionage, in general, applies to both internal intelligence of a state and intelligence pertaining to other countries. The ruler or ruling institutions of the state have to be well informed of the internal situation of a country, its citizens, the internal rival groups or individuals, the dissidents, the supporters of the ruling institution or ruler, the groups or individuals striving to destabilize the state machinery or cliquing against the government; the various conflicting groups and the inner struggle among them, the designs and movements of criminals of various categories, problems and aspirations of the people belonging to various social categories and professions etc. The quality and efficiency of governance of a state unquestionably depends on the quantity and quality of intelligence on the above mentioned aspects. In fact, without a competent internal espionage network, it is well neigh impossible for the government of a country to rule properly.

Quality of governance depends a good deal on the quality of internal intelligence. On the other hand the state ought to be well aware of the other countries -- friendly, neutral and enemy countries – interstate rivalry or coalition, the attitude of them towards the country concerning, their war efforts, and weaponry, internal situation of the countries and their citizens, their economic conditions etc. All these pertain to external intelligence which has two aspects, viz. espionage activities about other countries that include both gathering intelligence about them and destabilizing them in case of the enemy countries and to protect the country from espionage onslaughts of other countries.

Two most important external activities of a state, ever since its emergence, have been to protect itself from foreign invasion and imperialistic invasion of foreign countries and espionage plays a crucial role in facilitating successful external defense and territorial expansion by captivating other countries. No war, either a defensive or an offensive, could be waged successfully without high quality external intelligence. The intentions of the states have remained almost unchanged even today notwithstanding the global efforts towards avoiding war and conflicts and emergence of world bodies like the UNO, the World Bank, and the WTO etc. Imperialism has changed forms in course of time from open to clandestine, indirect economic imperialism instead of direct territorial occupation, and in many cases hot war has changed into cold war without direct use of destructive weapons. So, importance of external intelligence has remained the same in statecraft in modern days.

With the progress of theories pertaining to state and material progress, complexities of inter-state relations have increased in course of time and accordingly, external espionage have become more complex and sophisticated. Keeping pace with the evolution of communication technologies, especially cyber technology, espionage techniques have become more and more subtle and complicated and opportunities to utilize modern technologies have added new dimensions to modern espionage and counter espionage theories. Spectacular development of arms and ammunitions technologies and destructive power of weaponry have enhanced the importance of military intelligence and counter intelligence of each country. Now-a-days, an important aspect of external intelligence pertains to weaponry and war efforts of other countries. With spectacular advance of productive technologies and technological gap among technologically advanced and backward countries, industrial and economic espionage has emerged as a novel aspect of modern external espionage. This pertains to both purely economic and war related technologies. Cyber technology has added new dimensions to modern espionage and cyber espionage (through Hacking, Phishing, Trojan horse and other similar devices) is something completely new in the arena of espionage.

In a series of booklets, I have already given a brief account of the major powerful espionage agencies that emerged or have become active since the Second World War and are chiefly engaged in external espionage. This booklet endeavours to highlight the essential aspects of espionage mechanism (both external and internal) as envisaged by the great Indian Political Theoretician, Kautilya (also known as Chanakya and Vishnugupta) around 300 B. C. As a matter of fact, his work may be considered as pioneer in the arena of scientific espionage.

The science of espionage has a long history of evolution and probably it originated ever since the emergence of state as the supreme form of governance in clan societies. The science, in course of emergence of larger states achieved high level of development in Egypt, Syria, Persia, China, Greece and India. By the 4th century B. C. the science of espionage in India achieved a spectacular level of advancement which was incorporated in the great ancient Indian text, the Arthsastra of Kautilya composed around 300 B. C. The basic theories of espionage as prescribed by Kautilya have changed very little in course of the last two millennia and three hundred years notwithstanding the widespread use of technological devices developed in course of industrial advance, especially, the cyber technology developed in course of the last few decades. As regards effectiveness of espionage methods, the modern espionage agencies are yet to learn a lot from the theories and practice of espionage as prescribed in the Arthasastra.

Arthasastra espionage mechanism would be discussed in detail in Part II of this book. The rest of the chapters of Part I are:
Chapter 2: Modern Espionage Disciplines

Chapter 3: Modern Espionage Agencies

Chapter 2: Modern Espionage Disciplines

Modern espionage disciplines have been classified into various categories. However, in many cases the categories overlap and it may be difficult to strictly define a specific category. The major categories mentioned in modern espionage terminology are the following.

i) Humint

The age old method of intelligence collection, Humint, i.e. human intelligence is still one of the most important sources of intelligence data. The method consists of appointment of spies under various guises and installing moles inside intelligence and counter-intelligence agencies, government institutions, military and police forces and corporate establishments of foreign countries. Human intelligence also includes intelligence about the citizens of the country concerned.

The subsets of Humint in this arena are Applied Psychology and Social Network Analysis.

Interrogation of prisoners of war, captured foreign citizens, suspected foreign spies arrested are some other sources of Human intelligence. People disclose hidden facts while under intoxication or infatuation. So use of alcoholic drinks, narcotic drugs, enticing social females and prostitutes, has been an age old practice in Humint collection.

Applied psychology pertaining to individuals, castes, creeds, religious groups, terrorist, ideological groups and national characteristics etc. are also integral parts of Humint collection. With the advent of technology Humint collection has been assisted by tape recorders, micro-cameras, infra-red cameras, smart phones, and computers. Special purpose computer software and internet have added new dimensions to modern Humint collection.

Certain ethically questionable psychological and physiological methods with uncertain results are also in wide use in many countries in recent years Among these most widely used device is Polygraph or lie detection device. Some highly unethical physiological devices are also in use in spite of uncertainty about the results. Noteworthy among them are, Brain Finger Printing and Thought Reading.

Polygraph: The method was invented by John Augustus Larson, a medical student at the University of California at Berkeley with the assistance of an officer of the Berkeley Police Department. The method is popularly known as Lie Detection and based on the dubious theory that certain changes occur in physiological features like blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration etc. of the victim if he provides deceptive answers to the questions of the interrogator. The case of Aldrich Ames (see my book: Story of Spies) has raised serious doubts about the efficacy of this method to detect lies.

Brain Fingerprinting: This highly dubious method is based on the theory of Lawrence Farwell and his team. The theory hypothesizes that brain waves as a reaction to something familiar and unfamiliar radically and perceptively differ and with prior knowledge of wave types for both the categories of reactions (as have already been recorded in computer by the inventor of the method) it could be detected if the victim is familiar with a particular object associated with the crime or not. For example from the reaction by observing the dead body of a person or the weapon with which a person was killed it could be determined if the person questioned was present at the site of the crime. The greatest theoretical flaw of the method is that familiarity may also be not by personal presence but from reading books, seeing pictures or from film shows. Those who are regular watchers of Hitchcock films, certainly run the risk of being implicated in serious crimes through Brain Fingerprint tests.

Moreover the method involves brain scanning or similar interference with the brain of a person whose guilt has not yet been proved. The method cannot be supported from the standpoint of humanity and ethics.

Voice Stress Analysis: This method is based on the hypothesis that the voice of a person reveals psychological stress while in response to a question related to mischief in which he is involved. This is also a logically unreliable method. Innocent persons may reveal voice stress while confronting police and smart criminals with continuous practice may be capable of suppressing voice stress even if he is deeply involved in the crime on which he is interrogated.

Voice Stress Analysis (VSA) technology is said to record psycho-physiological stress responses that are present in human voice, when a person suffers psychological stress in response to a stimulus (question) and where the consequences may be dire for the subject being 'tested'.

Thought Reading: This method is based on the hypothesis that while we think of something, certain combination of neurons and certain parts of the brain become active. The researchers like Tom Mitchell on this method claim that similar thoughts in different human brains are surprisingly similar neurologically.

So, through continuous brain scanning, activities of the brain for different types of thought could be recorded. This is like 'proving' of Homoeopathic Medicines. Now scanning the Brain of a person while he is interrogated, the thought in his mind as a response to the question could be identified by the computer by comparing with the list.

Much research is going on in this direction with new discoveries but the ethical question still remains: does anyone have ethical right to intrude into the brain of another human being, even if he is a despicable criminal?

So, we see that Humint has made much advance with wide use of modern technological devices and newly invented methods based on scientific or pseudo-scientific hypotheses. Still, in this arena, Arthsastra of Kautilya, using only social and human psychology and basic human traits without any modern technology, is the last word.

ii) Osint

Osint or open-source intelligence refers to intelligence gathering from openly available sources to which everybody have access. This includes radio and T.V. broadcasts, openly available books on various subjects, fiction books, internet blogs, chatting, articles and news in dailies and periodic journals, published data by the governments and corporate houses, advertisements, reports of legislatures, hearings of judiciary and all similar information to which one can have open access. Espionage agencies are to depend a good deal on secret or clandestine intelligence collected through various secret devices, but openly available data may also be of much use for intelligence gathering, for example, an agency can have good deal of information on history, geography, economic condition and national characteristics of a foreign country from purely open source data.

Humint and Osint are complementary and mutually dependent disciplines.

iii) Technical Disciplines

With the increasing use of modern technologies newer and newer disciplines or sub-disciplines of intelligence collection have been emerging. Many of them are overlapping and interdependent. Each discipline has also branched out in course of time. Sometimes they differ only in nomenclature which may differ from country to country or from agency to agency.

Only a few of such technological intelligence gathering disciplines would be taken up for discussion in this section.

Masint: Masint is the short for Measurement and Signature Intelligence and it requires sensors to serve specific purposes. Generally it is fed with inputs like the spectral, chemical or RF emissions an object leaves behind and from the signature of these trails the sensors built up as output, the full fledged characteristics of the object, e.g. from the trail left behind by a war plane of a foreign country the specialized sensors may discover the direction and purpose of the plane.

Sigint: Sigint, the short for Signals Intelligence refers to intelligence collection through interception of signals transmitted by other countries. The first recorded evidence of use of Sigint is the British Radio signals interception by the Boers during the second Boer War (between the British and the Boers of independent Boer states of Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic of South Africa) in 1900.

Fisint: The Sigint monitoring pertaining to non-human communication is known as foreign instrumentation signals intelligence or by the shortened term Fisint. A sub-category of Fisint is:

Telint: Telint or Telemetry Intelligence refers to interception of signals from missiles and other remotely controlled devices to decipher their location, speed, engine status and data on the warheads.

Comint: Another sub-category of Sigint is known as Communication Intelligence or Comint which deals with the interception of voiced messages of foreign communications.

Elint: Intelligence collection through electronic signals is known as Electronic signals Intelligence or Elint.

Techint: Intelligence connected with technological aspects of arms and ammunitions used by armed forces of foreign countries is known as Technical Intelligence, shortened Techint.

Finint: The contracted term for Financial Intelligence is Finint which deals with intelligence connected with financial matters of a foreign country -- public finance, taxation related matters, share market, banking, non-bank financial institutions etc., their nature and capabilities. It also takes into account intelligence related to money laundering and covert financial transactions, like the Hawla.

Geoint: Intelligence obtained from satellites and aerial photography for mapping terrains and similar purposes is known as Geospatial Intelligence or Geoint.

Medint: Medint, short for Medical Intelligence is related to information on physiological and pathological conditions revealed by medical and pathological tests. This is mainly necessary for diagnostics and healthcare establishments. But this may also be used as a complementary devise for Humint.

Metint: Metint or Meteorological Intelligence pertains to information related to current feature and future prediction of atmospheric condition of a given locality at a given time. The method is generally used for weather forecasts and other general purposes, but it has important uses for espionage.

Cryptanalysis: The process of decoding encrypted intelligence data is known as Cryptanalysis. Crypt analysis is very often capable of retrieving encrypted intelligence data when conventional encrypting devices are used. But in case of unconventional encoding retrieving data is not possible without assistance of Humint, i.e. clues to the codes obtained from moles or interrogation of captured enemy agents or officials. For example it could not have been possible for the Russians to decode encrypted data pertaining to the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), (the Elint and Sigint ship of the USA, captured by North Korea in 1968) unless decoding guidelines had already been compromised by the KGB mole Anthony Walker of the FBI.

Traffic Analysis: This method is used to deduce the pattern of communication of the foreign countries through interception and analysis of messages transmitted by the relevant targets. As Traffic analysis is concerned solely with the pattern of communications, decryption is not necessary in case the messages are encrypted.

Telecommunication Data Retention: This discipline is involved in retention and storage of telecommunication data such as telephone and cell phone call details, internet traffic etc. of governments and commercial organizations of foreign countries.

Cybint: Cyber Intelligence or Cybint has become an integral part of modern espionage since the computer revolution during the last few decades. It has both offensive and defensive aspects. Cybint is also a complementary discipline of Humint. Attack on computers of others, by individuals or organisations, has become a feature of the internet era. Various devices like Hacking, Cracking, Damaging-Viruses, Phishing, Trojan-Horses, Rootkits (hidden malwares) etc. are used to attack computers of others for mischievous purposes like stealing vital information or corrupting data. All these mischievous devices are called in general parlance as malwares or computer worms. The defensive aspect involves protection against these attacks by use of antivirus, antimalware or similar devices.

iv) Communication Satellites

Communication satellites are geo-static satellites – they rotate from west to east at the speed of Earth's rotation around the orbit so that they always remain above the same spots on the Earth. Communication revolution in recent decades has been possible only because of these satellites. Most important and pioneer among the companies operating such satellites is, Iridium Communications Inc.

Other mention worthy companies providing communication satellite facilities include:

Global Star, Orbcomm, Inmarsat Plc., Thurayya, ACeS (Asia Cellular Satellite), O3b Networks Ltd. Etc.

v) Echelon

This is a mechanism to intercept all commercial satellite trunk communications by means of sophisticated computer software. It is basically an all comprehensive Sigint collection and analysis network operated by the five Anglophonic countries, viz. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U. K. and the USA.

The declared objective of the project was to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the USSR and the other Warsaw Pact countries during the cold war regime.

Echelon is capable of intercepting relevant communications of telephone calls, fax, e-mail and other data traffic globally of communication bearers including satellite transmissions, public switched telephone networks and microwave links. In the cyber age as most of the communications are through communication satellites, Echelon ground stations are equipped with most sophisticated software to monitor all communications through the satellites.

Recently the use of optical fibers has largely replaced official communications through satellites. This has made Echelon ground stations mostly ineffective in intercepting official communications. Interception of communications through optical fibers is possible only if interception device could be placed close to the sites where the fiber lines are switched. But this is a difficult task and run the risk of being detected. One example of successful operation of this nature by the USA is known as 'Operation Ivy Bells'.

vi) Imint

Imint or Imagery Intelligence refers to collection of intelligence by means of aerial photography, by cameras of spy aircrafts or spy satellites. Masint is a complementary discipline to Imint.

The idea of taking photographs of targeted objects from above by means of cameras attached to space vehicles (imaginary at that time) and capable of obtaining photographic evidence from a long distance and covering a wide geographical area was first mooted by the French researcher Amedee Denisse as early as 1888.

Thereafter various crude methods were tried in this direction like the ancient method of using pigeons for espionage, now with cameras fixed at their chests. Thereafter balloons and zeppelins were tried. With the invention of airplane by the Right brothers in 1905, a new dimension was added in this direction. During the World War-I, airplanes were widely used by all the major warring nations to this end, but until the beginning of the cold war regime no mention worthy progress could be made in this direction.

There was, however, revolutionary change in Imint technology with the emergence of modern low-and-high-flying spy airplanes. Lockheed U-2 spy planes used by the USA to espy on the USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries during the cold war regime made a breakthrough in the arena of Imint.

Till the emergence of digital photography the canisters of photographed films were loaded in the satellites in capsules and ejected down to be received from the air by airplanes.

During 1959 to 1984, the U.S.A. launched around 200 such satellites under the codenames CORONA and GAMBIT -- KH-5-ARGON program. Later on the improved KH-11 satellites were launched by the USA.

Competing with the USA, the Soviet Union launched during 1961 to 1991around 500 similar satellites known as 'Zenit'.

To counter the activities of the US spy satellites the USSR also launched 'Resurs DK' and 'Persona' series of killer satellites to destroy US spy satellites.

In recent years commercial satellites are also used for espionage purposes e.g. the French SPOT satellites, TerraSAR-X, IKONOS, Orbview, QuickBird and Worldview-1. Any country or any organization can buy access to these satellites for any specific task they are interested in.

Chapter 3: Modern Espionage Agencies

Many powerful espionage agencies have emerged since the Second World War. The Great War itself made the warring countries dependent considerably on espionage and during the cold war regime beginning from the end of the War, espionage science became more and more complicated and sophisticated with the two most militarily powerful countries, viz. USA and USSR, struggling to dominate the world with arrowheads of respectively the espionage agencies CIA and KGB. External espionage in recent times is more and more concerned with intelligence regarding strategic development, weaponry, industrial technologies and social and economic conditions of other countries. Most of the countries now-a- days have one or more agencies for external intelligence. Of these hundreds of agencies only a few are mention worthy in terms of size, coverage, efficiency and independence of activities. The most powerful espionage agencies that emerged (or reinstituted) since the World War II Are:

1. Mossad of Israel, 2. KGB of erstwhile USSR and FSB of Russia 3. CIA of USA, 4. ISI of Pakistan, 5. MSS of China, 6. R & AW of India and 7. MI-6 of U. K. 8. DGSE of France (and erstwhile SDECE), 9. BND of Germany, and 10. ASIS of Australia.

Some other mention worthy agencies are: KhAD of Afghanistan, DGFI of Bangladesh, and Sigurimi of Albania.

Mossad - ISRAEL

[Mossad actually means Institute and we would use for short Mossad to indicate, "Ha Mossad le Modi" meaning Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations; to be distinguished from Mossad Aliyah Bet, the agency for illegal immigration of Jews to Palestine prior to the formation of the state of Israel.]

Of the largest intelligence agencies of the modern era, Mossad of Israel in Kautilya's standards is unquestionably the most efficient one although in size and global coverage, CIA, ISI and KGB are much larger than Mossad. Since its inception in 1949, Mossad became the principal intelligence agency of Israel, especially as regards external espionage. The other two agencies of Israel are Shin Bet (internal Security) and AMAN (Military Intelligence).

The Mossad was created under the office of the Prime Minister of Israel on December 13, 1949 and its director reports directly to the Prime Minister.

Basic Objectives

The three basic objectives of Mossad are:

i) to protect the interests of the Jewish Diaspora

ii) to protect the state of Israel

iii) to take revenge against the still alive Nazis who had been involved in the Jew-holocaust program of Hitler

Protecting the Interests of the Jewish Diaspora

1. Mossad had tried to help the Jews in USSR during waves of anti-Semitism sponsored by the Soviet government during the post-Stalinist era, especially the large number of Refuseniks, i.e. the Jews who were refused permission to emigrate to Israel because of tortures or other reasons.

2. Mossad facilitated illegal immigration of Moroccan Jews to Israel in 1956.

3. In 1984 Mossad facilitated evacuation of Jews from famine-ridden regions of Sudan to Israel.

4. Mossad facilitated evacuation of Zimbabwean Jews to Israel.

5. Mossad facilitated air and overland evacuations of Bosnian Jews from war-torn Sarajevo to Israel in 1992 and 1993.

Protecting the State of Israel

One of the major activities of Mossad is to prevent all open and covert threats to Israel from the surrounding Arab states, Islamic terrorist organizations, the neo-Nazis collaborating with the Islamic terrorists and the communists.

As Israel is to depend a good deal for its economic development, military buildup and international support in its anti-Arab campaign on USA, Britain and other Western countries, Mossad endeavors to assist the espionage agencies of these countries, especially in connection with anti-terrorist campaign.

This task necessitates stepping up of Israel's war capabilities, intelligence on military preparations of the Arab countries and directly or indirectly destroying their war capabilities, and weakening the anti-Israel terrorist organizations by assassinating their leaders.

Mossad has carried on relentless attacks on anti-Israeli Muslim terrorist organizations through arrests and assassinations of activists of these organizations by secret agents spread across the world, moles penetrating foreign agencies and government and non-government foreign institutions, and with the help of local recruits from among Druze, Christian, and some Muslim communities.

The most publicized of these activities has been the reprisal against PLO activists responsible for massacre of Israeli athletes at 1972 Munich Olympic Games. This includes assassination by Mossad agents of Dr. Mahmoud Hamshari, in Paris in 1972 and Hussein Al Bashir in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1973.

Revenge against the Erstwhile Nazi Activists

Many erstwhile Nazis associated with Hitler's Jew Holocaust Campaign, could escape the Nuremberg trial and Mossad undertook to detect them and punish them by legal or illegal means. Many such criminals, although very old, are still alive and Mossad is still engaged in activities pertaining to revenge against them. The most sensational operation of Mossad in this regard was the thriller like abduction of Eichmann from Argentina for trial in Israel.

KGB – Erstwhile USSR

After the death of Joseph Stalin, the regime under Khrushchev abolished the NKVD and the newly formed KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti), i.e. the Committee for State Security became the principal espionage agency of the USSR since March 13, 1954.

Although instituted in 1954 the KGB was not much active during the Khrushchev era. Its activities took full swing only after Khrushchev was deposed by the KGB and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev as the communist party chief.

Organization: The KGB was like a military service governed by army laws and regulations, similar to the Soviet Army.

Major Functions: The major functions of the KGB were intelligence and counter-intelligence activities related to foreign countries, safeguarding interests of the USSR and the leadership of the communist party, and suppression of dissent and anti-Soviet activities within USSR and in the Warsaw Pact countries.

Types of Spies: The KGB agents i.e. the spies were of two types, legal and illegal. Legal spies were resident spies associated with Soviet embassies and consulates in different countries with full diplomatic safeguard.

The illegal spies, who were more important and free from limitations of the legal spies as regards espionage activities, did not enjoy diplomatic immunity. Most of them were planted into foreign countries with false identity. In general they were duplicates of live or dead persons and their background story, passport etc, were prepared meticulously.

Besides these spies, moles planted inside intelligence and counterintelligence agencies and government establishments of foreign countries were very important sources of intelligence for the KGB. At times moles volunteered their services as the possibility of high financial rewards for such services was widely propagated by the KGB.

Fields of Operation: The fields of the activity of the KGB spies may be categorized as: i) political, ii) economic, iii) military-strategic, iv) technological, and v) disinformation, to befool the counterintelligence agencies of other countries.

CIA – U. S. A.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), operating since September 18, 1947, is one of the principal intelligence-gathering agencies of the United States federal government. An executive agency, it reports to the Director of National Intelligence.

In terms of budget, number of employees and global network, it is by far the largest intelligence agency of the world. No specific information is available on the budget of the CIA. Mary Margaret Graham, a former CIA official, said that the CIA budget in 1905 was about 44 billion US Dollar.

Function of CIA is mainly concerned with overseas intelligence gathering and unlike the US domestic security agency FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), CIA has no law enforcement authority.

CIA is the only agency in the U.S.A. authorized by law to carry out and oversee covert actions on behalf of the President, unless the President determines that another agency is better suited for carrying out such action.

Priority Areas

According to its fiscal 2013 budget, the CIA has five priorities:

i) Counterterrorism

ii) Nonproliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, with North Korea described as perhaps the most difficult target

iii) Warning/informing American leaders of important overseas events, with Pakistan described as an "intractable target"

iv) Counterintelligence, with China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, and Israel described as "priority" targets

v) Cyber intelligence

Organizational structure

The CIA has an executive office and five major directorates:

The Directorate of Digital Innovation

The Directorate of Analysis

The Directorate of Operations

The Directorate of Support

The Directorate of Science and Technology

General publications

The CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence maintains the Agency's historical materials and promotes the study of intelligence as a legitimate discipline.

Influencing public opinion

The Office of Public Affairs is often in charge of creating state funded propaganda for the masses. Such as the 9/11 counter terror administration advises the Director of the CIA on all media, public policy, and employee communications issues relating to this person's role. This office, among other functions, works with the entertainment industry.

Relationship with other intelligence agencies

The CIA acts as the primary US HUMINT, human intelligence, and general analytic agency, under the Director of National Intelligence, who directs or coordinates the 16 member organizations of the United States Intelligence Community. In addition, it obtains information from other U.S. government intelligence agencies, commercial information sources, and foreign intelligence services.

ISI – PAKISTAN

ISI (Inter Service Intelligence), established in 1948, is the intelligence agency of Pakistan. In course of the last few decades it has achieved spectacular success. The Government of Pakistan has little control over this agency and it may be considered as a 'State within a State' or parallel government. Another mention worthy aspect of ISI is that most probably it is the lone secret service without a single defection in course of its 68 years of operation. It receives very little fund from the Government of Pakistan and it is mostly financed by drug trafficking.

The ISI is the successor of the IB and MI formed after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 to co-ordinate and to operate espionage activities for the three branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The ISI was established as an independent intelligence service in 1948 in order to strengthen the sharing of military intelligence between the three branches of Pakistan's armed forces in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, which had exposed weaknesses in intelligence gathering, sharing and coordination between the Army, Air Force and Navy. Now ISI is the premier Intelligence service of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, operationally responsible for providing critical national security and intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan. It is the largest of the three intelligence services of Pakistan, the others being the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI).

From its inception, the agency has been headed by an appointed three-star general officer in the Pakistan Army, despite officers from all three branches of the Pakistan Armed Forces being served and hired by the ISI. However, after the intelligence gathering and coordination failure during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee was created with a mandate to co-ordinate and to supervise all military exercises and operations of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

Its personnel have never been caught on camera. Number of agents worldwide of the ISI is estimated to be around 10,000.

R&AW - INDIA

Research and Analysis Wing (RAW or R&AW) is India's external intelligence agency. It was formed in September 1968 under the helmsman-ship of its first Director, R. N. Kao. Its creation was necessitated by the poor performance of the Intelligence Bureau (which then handled both internal and external intelligence) in the wars against China (1962) and Pakistan (1965) which convinced the government that a specialised, independent agency was required for competent external intelligence gathering.

The primary function of the R&AW is collection of external intelligence and counter-terrorism. In addition, it is responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons, to advise Indian policymakers. It has been said that R&AW is an "effective instrument of India's national power". It is also involved in the security of India's nuclear programme.

MI6 – U. K.

The British intelligence agency, Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6) since World War I, is the oldest among the large modern intelligence agencies. It was formed in 1909. All major modern intelligence agencies, discussed in this section, were founded after the Second World War. It furnishes the British Government with foreign intelligence. The counter intelligence and internal counter part of MI6 is known as MI5 (Military Intelligence, Section 5).

MI6 along with MI5, DI (Defence Intelligence) and GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). Headquarters of MI6 are located in London (SIS Building). In 2010-11, the annual budget for MI6 was £2.3 billion.

The existence of the SIS was not officially acknowledged until 1994. The motto of MI6 has still been kept secret. MI6 has had two big advantages in staying effective: The British Official Secrets Act and D notices can often prevent leaks (which have been the bane of the CIA's existence).

MI6 played crucial roles during the First and Second World Wars. During and after the Second World War it was overwhelmingly outwitted by the Soviet KGB. However, some of its achievements vis-à-vis the KGB are mention worthy. During the Cold War regime, MI6 could successfully recruit the GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence) defector Oleg Penkovsky, who played crucial role in the favorable resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis by providing MI6 specific information about Soviet missile placement in Cuba.

MSS - CHINA

At present, the basic organization for Chinese espionage is the Ministry of State Security (MSS) operating since 1983.

Its precursors were:

CDSA (Central Department of Social Affairs) The intelligence agency of the Communist Party of China (CPC) during the Second World War, war against Japanese occupation army and war against the Kuomintang forces of Chiang Kai-shek.

MPS (Ministry of Public Security): since takeover of power by CPC under the leadership of Mao Zedong in 1949 up to 1955.

CID (Central Investigation Department): 1955-1983.

The major areas of espionage of the MSS are military and technological developments with priority to nuclear technology, missile technology and sophisticated industrial technologies. The targets of attack are mainly USA, Russia, UK and France (the major nuclear powers) and the other industrially advanced countries. However, Chinese intelligence network is not confined to these countries alone. Middle income and less developed countries are also the targets of MSS. With the advancement of cyber technology in recent decades, Chinese intelligence network has shifted considerably to cyber espionage and their supremacy in this field has become a serious menace to the governments and business corporations in the targeted countries, especially the USA and industrially advanced countries of the West.

However, China still depends for intelligence gathering through spies and HUMINT method. Many cases of spies and Chinese moles in the USA have been unearthed in recent years and investigations and trials undertaken respectively by FBI and US judiciary.

BND – GERMANY

The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), formed on April 1, 1956, is the foreign intelligence agency of the German government, under the control of the Chancellor's Office. The BND acts as an early warning system to alert the German government to threats to German interests from abroad. It depends heavily on wiretapping and electronic surveillance of international communications. It collects and evaluates information on a variety of areas such as international terrorism, WMD proliferation and illegal transfer of technology, organized crime, weapons and drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal migration and information warfare. As Germany's only overseas intelligence service, the BND gathers both military and civil intelligence.

Its headquarters are in Pullach near Munich, and Berlin (planned to be centralised in Berlin by 2014). The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign countries. In 2005, the BND employed around 6,050 people.

The domestic secret service counterparts of the BND are the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, BfV) and 16 counterparts at the state level Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution); there is also a separate military intelligence organisation, the Militärischer Abschirmdienst, abbreviated, MAD (lit. military shielding service).

DGSE - France

Directorate General for External Security is France's external intelligence agency. Operating under the direction of the French ministry of defence, the agency works alongside the DCRI (the Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence) in providing intelligence and national security, notably by performing paramilitary and counterintelligence operations abroad. The General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) of France has a rather short history compared to other intelligence agencies in the region. It was officially founded in April, 1982 from a multitude of prior intelligence agencies in the country. Its primary focus is to gather intelligence from foreign sources to assist in military and strategic decisions for the country. The agency employs more than five thousand people.

As with most other intelligence agencies, details of its operations and organization are not made public.

ASIS – Australia

Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), formed on May 13, 1952, is responsible for collecting foreign intelligence, undertaking counter-intelligence activities and cooperation with other intelligence agencies overseas. For more than twenty years, the existence of the agency was a secret even from its own government. Its primary responsibility is gathering intelligence from mainly Asian and Pacific interests using agents stationed in a wide variety of areas. Its main purpose, as with most agencies, is to protect the country's political and economic interests while ensuring safety for the people of Australia against national threats.

Chapter 4: A Note on Kautilya's Arthsastra

[In quotes from the text 2/1/3 means book 2, chapter 1 and sloka/paragraph 3, i.e., the first part is book number, the second part, chapter number and the third part, sloka or paragraph number]

The Arthasastra of Kautilya, composed around 300 B. C., is a wonderful text on statecraft and economics. The book was basically written for monarchy, but many ideas embodied in it are still relevant for modern democratic governance.

Arthasastra, in modern sense, means the 'science of economics'. But in ancient Indian literature, the term referred to the 'science of material gain'. Although, ancient Indian Arthasastras were mainly concerned with the science of statecraft, they embodied, in a wider sense, technology and all knowledge of practical arts over and above politics.

Kautilya's Arthasastra was the last text in the Arthasastra tradition. From Kautilya's analysis of earlier Arthasastras, it appears that he had a thorough knowledge of them and ideas embodied in Kautilya's Arthasastra are founded upon the vast resources of earlier Indian literature. But his pragmatic and secular views and coherent logic distinguishes him not only from the earlier Arthasastra compilers but also authors of other sastras and philosophical treatises of ancient India.

R. Shamasastry discovered the manuscript of the text from the house of a South Indian Brahmin in 1902. Thereafter, he produced a tentative English translation of the text in Indian Antiquary in 1905. The full text was edited and published by Shamasastry in 1909. Later on other authors also published English translations of the text and the text was translated, in course of time, in most of the major Indian languages and many foreign languages.

Prior to 1902, only references of this book and citations from this book were found in many available ancient Sanskrit texts.

Kautilya, while composing his treatise did not have any specific historical situation in his mind. The prescriptions in his Arthasastra are for a strong monarchical state without reference to any specific historical period. Although he was the guide and guru of Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire, Arthasastra never makes any allusion of Chandragupta Maurya or his Empire. Actual functioning of the Maurya Monarchy reflects Arthasastra principles only partially.

The political system to which Kautilya refers is monarchy. A King in ancient India could not enjoy absolute power, nor could he become an autocrat because there were several checks and restrictions on him. He was to strictly adhere to the norms laid down in the sastras, had to follow a tight routine and to endeavor to bring about prosperity and happiness to the people.

But Kautilya made a radical departure from this age-old norm. He provided more discretionary powers to the king. The king was no longer a puppet to enforce the laws embodied in the sastras, but had the power to apply his own judgment while the necessities of time demanded a change in the existing canons of the sastras.

This by no means gave the king power to be a self seeker or to indulge in autocratic activities harming common people. The king could exercise his discretion to override existing practices only if it was necessary for the growth and maintenance of a strong and prosperous state and a centralized monarchy embracing a vast geographical region. An integral part of this monarchic rule was the administrative system characterized by the existence of a strong bureaucracy and espionage network.

The primary objective of Kautilya's statecraft, especially as regards war strategies and espionage system, was to give real shape to a strong monarchic state encompassing a vast geographical area in the Indian subcontinent.

There are two explanations of Kautilya's endeavor to create a vast state.

First, Invasion of Alexander the Great might have generated the awareness among small states that they cannot resist strong foreign invasion, which only a united powerful state can do.

The second reason is purely economic.

Rapid development of commodity production and extension of overland trade necessitated the emergence of a centralized monarchy with a strong administrative machinery so as to facilitate unhindered flow of goods across the entire Indian subcontinent.

The gradual development of political events in the Indian subcontinent – the continuous expansion of the Magadha Monarchy since 600 B. C. by subjugating the smaller tribal republics and oligarchies -- ultimately culminated in the Mauryan Monarchy, which used to control a vast geographical region extending from the northern end of the subcontinent to Mysore in the South and Afghanistan in the west. Along with the evolution of the state, political theories also evolved by continuously adapting them to new political set ups in the real world and, in this process, culminated in the Arthasastra of Kautilya.

Chapter 5: Essence of Arthasastra Espionage: Human Vices and Weaknesses

Kautilya's espionage method was mainly based on use of human resources which in modern parlance may be termed 'Humint'. Kautilya's supremacy lies in the fact that his espionage theory had in its essence basic vices and vulnerabilities of human beings. Kautilya had a thorough knowledge of the ancient Indian concept of the innermost aspects of human psychosis from which all conceivable human vices and vulnerabilities arise.

Basic Human Modes – the Sankhya Concepts

According to Sankhya philosophy of Kapil Muni of ancient India, human nature and consciousness is a combination of three basic modes, viz. satva, rajasa and tamasa (the adjectives of these abstract nouns are respectively sātvika, rājasika and tāmasika). If isolated in the abstract, unmixed satva pertains to goodness and virtue, rajasa to passion and insatiable desire and tamasa to darkness of mind, obsession and inertia. All our mental and intellectual faculties originate from these three basic modes. All these basic modes combine in different degrees to assign different characteristics to different individuals.

These three classes of people in the pure form may be distinguished on the basis of certain baser and nobler human attributes. The baser features are found in the highest degree and nobler ones in the lowest degree in a tāmasika person. For the rājasika person, both types of features are of moderate degree; and for the sātvika, nobler qualities are found in the highest degree and baser ones are completely absent.

The Ripus or Basic Human Instincts

Now let us take up another concept from ancient Sanskrit texts, viz. the concept of ripu. Literally ripu means enemy, but as used in ancient Indian texts these basic instincts oh human psychology are not enemies as such. They are inexorable parts of biological existence of human beings and turn into enemies only if uncontrolled. There are six ripus, viz. kāma (desire for material pleasure/lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (obsession), mada (pride/vanity), mātsarya (jealousy/envy).

The basic instincts, pertaining to the ripus, can be used for good or bad, but by themselves they are neutral. If the basic instincts are kept under control, they are always beneficial, but if they get the better of us, they turn into enemies and ruin us in the short or long run.

The ripus take various major forms under different modes.

For sātvika persons they are fully controlled and turn out benign as they are fully controlled.

For a rājasika person, kāma in the narrow sense takes the form of preoccupation with sensual pleasure, and in the wider sense it leads to insatiable craving for power and wealth (by just or unjust means); krodha takes the form of secret planning and conspiracy for taking reprisals; lobha gets associated with achieving all sorts of material pleasures, power, fame etc.; moha makes him always pre-occupied with the fruits of his works and activities; mada and mātsarya goad him to desperate and restless activity in order to supersede all his superiors.

For a tāmasika person kāma is associated with perverse and brutal sexual desire, forceful violation of the opposite sex, incest and unnatural sex behaviour. His krodha is blind and destructive, both for others and for himself; his lobha centers on all conceivable dirty and shabby pleasures – addictions to drugs, alcohol etc. For him, mada leads to false vanity and day-dreaming; moha is full of superstitions, baseless knowledge and inactivity; mātsarya burns his soul and goads him to inflict harm to others.

The espionage theory of Kautilya had in its basis the basic modes and instincts of human mind. Emphasis was laid on categorization of all relevant target persons (ministers and government officials, queens and concubines, princes and princesses, all categories of citizens of both the own country and foreign countries including kings of foreign countries) on the basis of modes and ripus and exploiting their vulnerabilities with appropriate means. Pure sātvika persons are not at all vulnerable, but in real world they are very insignificant. Most real world people because of their tāmasika and rājasika traits and uncontrolled ripus are vulnerable somewhere. The task of the spies is to identify the vulnerable aspect of each target and explore their vulnerability by applying suitable means, e.g., women for lusty persons, money for greedy persons, enticement of power for the proud and for the obsessed ones, superstition, magic, occult practices, miracles etc. In this regard the agent provocateur had a crucial role in Kautilya's methods of espionage.

Chapter 6: Appointment of Spies

A. Types of Spies

Kautilya revealed extraordinary insight and skill in selecting and appointing spies that are to penetrate and get assimilated with every sphere of society in the protagonist's own country and in foreign countries (friendly, inimical or neutral).

Kautilya classified the spies to be appointed into the following categories:

i) Sharp Pupil

ii) Apostate Monk

iii) Seeming Householder

iv) Seeming Trader

v) Seeming Ascetic

vi) Secret Agent

vii) Bravo

viii) Poison Giver

ix) Begging Nun

To quote from the text:

1/11/1: With the body of ministers proved upright by means of secret tests, the (king) should appoint persons in secret service, (viz.), the sharp pupil, the apostate monk, the seeming householder, the seeming trader and the seeming ascetic, as well as the secret agent, the bravo, the poison-giver and the begging nun.

Definitions of the spies belonging to the above categories

i) Sharp Pupil

A 'sharp pupil' is a student or disciple who is intelligent, loyal, patriotic and also courageous.

To quote from the text:

1/11/2: A pupil, knowing the secrets of others, (and) bold, is the sharp pupil.

1/11/3: Encouraging him with money and honour, the minister should say, 'regarding the king and me as your authority, report to us at once any evil of any person which you may notice.'

ii) Apostate Monk

The wandering monk, who has relinquished monkhood, who is loyal and looking for job is to be picked up and appointed in the category of 'apostate monk'.

To quote from the text:

1/11/4: One, who has relinquished the life of a wandering monk, and is endowed with intelligence and honesty, is the apostate monk.

1/11/5: Equipped with plenty of money and assistants, he should get work done in a place assigned to him, for the practice of some occupation.

1/11/6: And from the profits of this work, he should provide all wandering monks with food, clothing and residence.

1/11/7: And to those among them, who seek a permanent livelihood, he should secretly propose, 'in this very garb, you should work in the interest of the king and present yourself here at the time of meals and payment.'

1/11/8: And all wandering monks should make similar secret proposals to monks in their respective orders.

iii) Seeming Householder

An intelligent and honest farmer whose source of income from agriculture has depleted and therefore he is obliged to look for a job is to be appointed in the 'seeming household' category.

To quote from the text:

1//11/9: A farmer, the means of whose livelihood are depleted, and who is endowed with intelligence and honesty, is the seeming householder.

1/11/10: In a place assigned to him for agricultural work, he should etc. – exactly as before.

iv) Seeming Trader

Just like the farmer, an intelligent and honest trader whose source of income from trade has depleted and therefore he is obliged to look for a job is to be appointed in the 'seeming trader' category.

To quote from the text:

1/11/11: A trader, the means of whose livelihood are depleted, and who is endowed with intelligence and honesty, is the seeming trader.

1/11/12: In a place assigned to him for his trade, he should etc. – exactly as before.

v) Seeming Ascetic

Hermits with shaven head or with matted hair and seeking job are to be appointed in the category of 'seeming ascetic'.

To quote from the text:

1/11/13: A hermit with shaven head or with matted hair, who seeks a permanent livelihood, is the seeming ascetic.

1/11/14: Living in the vicinity of a city with plenty of disciples with shaven heads or with matted hair, he should eat, openly, a vegetable or a handful of barley at intervals of a month or two, secretly, however, meals as desired.

1/11/15: And assistants of traders, who are also secret agents, should adore him with occult practices for becoming prosperous.

1/11/16: And his disciples should announce, 'that holy man is able to secure prosperity for any one.'

1/11/17: And to those who have approached him with hopes of securing prosperity, he should specify events happening in their family, which are ascertained by means of the science of interpreting the touch of the body and with the help of signs made by his disciples, events such as small gain, burning by fire, danger from thieves, the killing of a traitorous person, a gift of gratification, news about happenings in a foreign land, saying, 'this will happen today or tomorrow,' or 'the king will do this.'

1/11/18: Secret servants and agents should cause that prophecy of his to be fulfilled.

1/11/19: To those among the visitors who are richly endowed with spirit, intelligence and eloquence, he should predict good fortune at the hands of the king and speak of their imminent association with the minister.

1/11/20: And the minister should arrange for their livelihood and work.

1/11/21: And he should pacify with money and honour those who are resentful for good reason, those resentful without reason, by silent punishment, also those who do what is inimical to the king.

1/11/22: And favoured by the king with money and honour, they should ascertain the integrity of the king's servants. Thus these five establishments of spies have been described.

vi) Secret Agent

A person to be appointed in the category of 'secret agent' should have thorough knowledge of magic and occult practices, fortune telling, astrology etc. so that they can befool or trap gullible people and extract information from them.

To quote from the text:

1/12/1: And those who are without relations and have to be necessarily maintained, when they study the science of interpretation of marks, the science of the touch of the body, the science of magic, that pertaining to the creation of illusions, the science of omens, the 'wheel with the spaces' and so on, are the secret agents; or, when they study that art of association with men.

vii) Bravo

Some people are intrepid, desperate and adventurous by nature, capable of fighting like mercenaries, have no sentimental attachments, rejoice taking risks and care a fig for their own lives. These desperadoes are to be selected for the category of 'bravo'.

To quote from the text:

1/12/2: Those in the land who are brave, have given up all thought of personal safety and would fight, for the sake of money, an elephant or a wild animal, are the bravoes.

viii) Poison Giver

Persons who have no affections for kinsmen or other people, and are cruel and malicious by nature are to be appointed as 'poison givers'.

To quote from the text:

1/12/3: Those who are without affection for their kinsmen and are cruel and indolent are the poison-givers.

ix) Begging Nun

The wandering nuns, (with shaven head and commanding reverence from religious and superstitious people), who are seeking livelihood are to be picked up and appointed in the category of 'begging nun'.

To quote from the text:

1/12/4: A wandering nun, seeking a secure livelihood, poor, widowed, bold, Brahmin by caste and treated with honour in the palace, should frequently go to the houses of high officers.

1/12/5: By her office are explained similar offices for the shaven nuns of heretical sects.

B. Confirmation by Three Spies

For confirmation of reports from the spies and prevent mistakes or deliberate cheating/lying by spies three spies, unknown to one another would be appointed for each mission. If reports of each of them match, it would be accepted as confirmed. In case reports vary, further checks should be made to detect if one or more spies had made mistakes or cheated deliberately. and the miscreant/miscreants would be punished. Moreover, the knowledge to each spy that there are other spies around would be deterrent to giving false information.

To quote from the text

1/12/15: When there is agreement in the reports of three spies, credence should be given.

1/12/16: "In case of continuous mistakes on their part, 'silent' punishment is the means of their removal.

C. Salaries of Spies and Agents

5/3/22: Sharp pupils, monks fallen from vow, and agents appearing as householders, traders and ascetics should get one thousand.

5/3/23: Village servants, secret agents, assassins, poison-givers and female mendicants should get five hundred.

5/3/24: Those moving about for spying should get two hundred and fifty or should have their wage increased according to their efforts.

D. Spy Establishments and Use of Various Categories of Spies

1/12/6: The king should employ the various categories of spies with a credible disguise as regards country, dress, profession, language and birth, to spy, in conformity with their loyalty and capability, on the councilor, the chaplain, the commander-in-chief, the crown-prince, the chief palace usher, the chief of the palace guards, the director, the administrator, the director of stores, the magistrate, the commandant, the city-judge, the director of factories, the council of ministers, the superintendents, the chief of the army staff, the commandant of the fort, the commandant of the frontier-fort and the forest chieftain, in his own territory.

1/12/7: Bravoes, serving as bearers of umbrella, water-vessel, fan, shoes, seat, carriage and riding animal, should spy on and ascertain the out-of-door activity of those officers.

1/12/8: Secret agents should communicate that information to the spy establishments.

1/12/9: Poison-givers, serving as cooks, waiters, bath-attendants, shampooers, bed-preparers, barbers, valets and water-servers, those appearing as hump-backs, dwarfs, kiratas (hunters), dumb, deaf, idiotic or blind persons, and actors, dancers, singers, musicians, professional story-tellers and minstrels as well as women should spy on and ascertain the indoor activity of those officers.

1/12/10: Nuns should communicate that information to the spy establishments.

1/12/11: Assistants of the establishments should carry out the transmission of spied out news by means of sign-alphabets.

1/12/12: And neither the establishments nor these assistants should know one another.

1/12/13: In case of prohibition of entry into the house for nuns, secret agents appearing at the door one after another or appearing as the mother or father of servants in the house, or posing as female artists, singers or female slaves, should get the secret information that is spied out conveyed outside by means of songs, recitations, writings concealed in musical instruments or signs.

1/12/14: Or, a secret get-away from the house should be made by the spies by taking advantage of a pretended long illness or madness or by setting something on fire or administering poison to someone.

Chapter 7: Spying on Ministers, Princes and Government officials

A. Test of Ministers and Government Officials

i) Ministers

Integrity of ministers is to be tested by unraveling their susceptibility to different ripus (lust, anger, greed, pride, obsession and jealousy) and would be assigned to departments where their weaknesses and vulnerabilities would not be harmful.

To quote from the text:

1/10/1: After appointing ministers to ordinary offices in consultation with the conciliators and chaplain, he should test their integrity by means of secret test.

1/10/2: The king should seemingly discard the chaplain on the ground that he showed resentment when appointed to officiate at the sacrifice of a person not entitled to the privilege of a sacrifice or to teach such a person.

1/10/3: He should then get each minister individually instigated, through secret agents, under oath, in this manner: 'this king is impious; well, let us set up another pious king either a claimant from his own family or a prince in disfavor or a member of the royal family or a neighbouring prince or a forest chieftain or a person suddenly risen to power; this is approved by all; what about you?'

1/10/4: If he repulses the suggestion, he is loyal.

1/10/5: The commander of the army, seemingly dismissed by reason of support given to evil men, should get each minister individually instigated, through secret agents, to bring about the king's destruction, with the offer of a tempting material gain, saying, 'this is approved by all; what about you?'

1/10/6: If he repulses the suggestion, he is upright.

This is the test of material gain.

1/10/7: A wandering nun, who has won the confidence of different ministers and is treated with honour in the palace, should secretly suggest to each minister individually, 'the chief queen is in love with you and has made arrangements for a meeting with you; besides you will obtain much wealth.'

1/10/8: If he repulses the proposal, he is pure.

This is the test of lust.

1/10/9: On the occasion of a festive party, one minister should invite all the other ministers.

1/10/10: Through seemingly fight at this conspiracy, the king should put them to prison.

1/10/11: A sharp pupil, imprisoned there earlier, should secretly suggest to each of those ministers individually, when they are deprived of property and honour, in this manner, 'this king is behaving wickedly; well, let us kill him and install another; this is approved by all; what about you?'

1/10/12: If he repulses the suggestion, he is loyal.

This is the test of fear.

1/10/13: From among them, he should appoint those proved loyal by the test of piety to posts in the judiciary and for oppression of criminals, those proved upright by the test of material gain to offices of the Administrator and in the stores of the Director of Stores, those proved pure by the test of lust to guardianship of places of recreation inside the palace as well as outside, those proved loyal by the test of fear to duties near the person of the) king.

1/10/14: Those proved honest by all tests, he should make them his councilors.

1/10/15: Those found dishonest by every test, he should employ them in mines, in forests for material produce, in elephant-forests and in factories.

1/10/20: Therefore, the king should make an outsider the object of reference in the fourfold work of testing and thus investigate through secret agents the integrity or otherwise of ministers.

ii) Departmental Heads

II7/9: And he should have the activity of departments watched by spies.

If any officer spends more than his income, it is certain that he consumes state revenue.

Only through spies would this be ascertained.

iii) Village Officials

4/4/3: The Administrator should station in the country side secret agents appearing as holy ascetics, wandering monks, cart-drivers, wandering minstrels, jugglers, tramps, fortune-tellers, soothsayers, astrologers, physicians, lunatics, dumb persons, deaf persons, idiots, blind persons, traders, artisans, artists, actors, brothel-keepers, vintners; dealers in bread, dealers in cooked meat, and dealers in cooked rice.

4/4/4: They should find out the integrity or otherwise of village-officers and heads of departments.

4/4/5: And those among them the secret agent suspects of deriving a secret income are to be kept under continued vigilance by the agent.

4/4/9: A secret agent should say to a village chief or a departmental head, 'such and such a rogue has plenty of wealth; this misfortune has befallen him; by using that, extort money from him.'

4/4/10: If he were to do so he should be exiled as an extortionist.

Similar provoking methods should be applied on all rural officers to check their integrity and proneness to corruption.

iv) Judges and Magistrates

4/4/6: A secret agent should say to a judge in whom confidence is inspired by him, 'such and such a relation of mine is accused before you; save him in this misfortune and accept this amount.'

4/4/7: If he were to do so, he should be exiled as one given to receiving bribes.

4/4/8: By that are explained magistrates.

B. Punishing Treasonable Officials by Devious Means

Sometimes the treachery of officers may be certain, but cannot be proved openly because of their cunning. In such a case they are to be punished by secret means through the spy network.

i) Through the Kinsmen of the Miscreant

5/1/5: A secret agent, after inciting a brother of the treasonable high officer, not honoured by him, should show him to the king.

5/1/6: The king should induce him to fight against the treasonable officer by granting the use of the treasonable man's property.

5/1/7: When he has acted with a weapon or poison, he should cause him to be executed on that very ground declaring, 'He is a murderer of his brother.'

5/1/9: Or, a brother, instigated by a secret agent, should demand inheritance from the treasonable officer.

5/1/10: As he lies down at the door of the treasonable man's house at night, or when he is staying elsewhere, an assassin, slaying him, should declare, 'This claimant of the inheritance is killed.'

5/1/11: Then, giving support to the slain man's party, the king should suppress the other.

5/1/12: Or, secret agents, staying near the treasonable officer, should threaten the brother claiming inheritances with death.

5/1/13: As he at night and so on, as before.

5/1/14: When of two treasonable officers, a son has relations with the father's wife or a father with the son's wife or a brother with that of a brother, a fight between the two started by a sharp pupil is explained by the preceding.

5/1/15: Or, a secret agent should instigate a son of the treasonable officer thinking highly of himself, suggesting 'you are really the king's son, kept here through fear of enemy.'

5/1/16: When he believes that, the king should honour him in private by saying, 'though the time for installing you as the crown prince has come, I am not crowning you through fear of the officer.'

5/1/17: The secret agent should induce him to murder the officer.

5/1/18: When he has acted, the king should cause him to be executed on that very ground, declaring, 'He is a patricide.'

5/1/19: Or, a female mendicant agent, having won the confidence of the wife of the treasonable officer by means of love-winning potions, should cheat them by the use of poison.

5/1/20: Thus end the stratagem through kinsmen.

ii) Miscellaneous Devious Stratagem

5/1/33: Or, an agent appearing as a holy man should make the officer, who has faith in to black magic, believe, by saying, 'you will attain your desires by eating one of the following; a lizard, a tortoise, a crab or an ox with broken horns, which is endowed with auspicious marks.'

5/1/34: When he agrees, he should get him killed in the course of the rite by poison or iron clubs, announcing, 'He was killed by a mishap in the rite.'

5/1/35: Or, an agent appearing as a physician, after establishing a malignant or incurable disease for the treasonable person, should cheat him with poison in the preparations of medicine or food.

5/1/36: Or, agents, employed as cooks or food servers, should cheat the treasonable person by means of poison.

5/1/45: Or, assassins should set fire to the fields, threshing-floors or houses, or bring down their weapons on the kinsmen, relations or draught-animals of those treasonable persons whose mutual quarrels are deep-rooted, and say, 'we were engaged by so and so.'

5/1/46: For that offence the others should be punished.

5/1/47: Or, secret agents should induce treasonable officers in the fortified city and in the country to be one another's guests.

5/1/48: There poison-givers should give poison.

5/1/49: For that offence the others should be punished.

5/1/50: Or, a female mendicant agent should suggest to a treasonable chief in the country, 'the wife, the daughter-in-law or the daughter of that treasonable chief in the country is in love with you.'

5/1/51: When he consents, she should take his ornaments and show them to the master, saying, 'that chief, puffed up with youth, has designs on your wife, daughter-in-law or daughter.'

5/1/52: In the quarrel between the two at night and so on, as above.

5/1/53: As to treasonable vassals surrendering with troops, however, -- the crown prince or the commander-in-chief should do some wrong and, after going away, show fight.

5/1/54: Then the king should dispatch against him the treasonable vassals themselves with a weak army containing assassins and so on, -- all the stratagems as above.

C. Stratagem against Princes or Officials Going to Join the Enemy

9/3/26: Or, a secret agent should divide him from the enemy, saying, 'this enemy, looking upon you as a secret agent, will make you fight against the king himself, and with his object achieved, will employ you, in charge of troops, against his enemy or forest chieftains or in a difficult undertaking, or will post you at the frontier, separated from wife and sons.

9/3/27: If you fail in the fight against your king, he will sell you to the king, or making peace through you, will conciliate the king himself.

9/3/28: You should go to his best ally.'

9/3/29: If he agrees, he should honour him by fulfillment of his wishes.

9/3/30: If he does not agree, the agent should divide the support from him, saying, 'he is kept as a secret agent against you.'

9/3/31: And the secret agent should get him killed on the strength of letters carried by men condemned to death or through secret agents.

9/3/32: Or, he should win back warriors, who had left along with him, by granting their wishes.

9/3/33: The secret agent should then declare them as having been employed by him.

9/3/34: Thus is success to be achieved.

9/3/35: And the king, through secret agents, should cause revolts to arise for the enemy, and suppress those against himself.

9/3/36: Secret instigations to revolt should be made to one who is capable of starting or putting down a revolt.

D. Dangers from Officers in the Outer Region and the Interior

9/5/12: When those in the outer regions respond, he should make use of dissension and force.

9/5/13: Secret agents, posing as friends of those in the outer regions should communicate to them the following secret information spied out, 'this king intends to overreach you through these posing as treasonable men; beware.'

9/5/14: Or, secret agents, posing as treasonable men, employed with the treasonable men in the interior, should divide the treasonable men from those in the outer regions or those in the outer regions from the treasonable men in the interior.

9/5/15: Or, assassins, insinuating themselves, should slay the treasonable men with weapon or poison.

9/5/16: Or, after inviting to the capital those from the outer regions, they should get them killed.

9/5/21: Secret agents, posing as friends, should say, 'this king himself intends to seize you; you are at war with the king; beware.'

9/5/22: Or, assassins, insinuating themselves in the troops of the envoy of the one responding, should strike at their weak points with weapon, poison and so on.

9/5/23: Then secret agents should accuse the one responding for that crime.

9/5/27: Or, an agent posing as a friend, should say to them, 'in order to find out your feelings, the king will put you to test; you should disclose them to him.'

9/5/28: Or, he should divide them from each other, saying, 'so and so is thus whispering to the king about you'; thus is dissension to be brought about.

Chapter 8: Spying on Citizens

A. Popularizing the King among the Citizens

1/13/1: When he has set spies on the high officials, he should set spies on the citizens and country people.

1/13/2: Secret agents, opposing one another, should carry on a disputation at holy places, in assemblies, in communal gatherings and other congregations of people.

1/13/3: One of them should say, 'this king is said to be endowed with all virtues and yet no virtue to be seen in him, as he oppresses citizens and country people with fines and taxes.'

1/13/4: The other should contradict him as well as those who may command his views there.

1/13/5-13: He should say, 'People, overwhelmed by the law of the fishes, made Manu, the son of Vivasvat, their king. And they assigned one-sixth of the grains, one-tenth of the commodities and money as his share. Maintained by that, kings bring about the well-being and security of the subjects.

[Manu = an ancient Indian king and author of the earliest Dharmasastra, the Hindu Law Book]

Those who do not pay fines and taxes take on themselves the sins of those kings and kings who do not bring about well-being and security take on themselves the sins of the subjects. Therefore, even forest-dwellers offer a sixth part of their gleaned grains, saying "This is the share for him who protects us." This is the office of Indra and Yama, viz. that of the kings, whose wrath and favour are visibly manifest. Even divine punishment strikes those who slight them. Therefore, kings must not be slighted.'

Thus he should restrain the common people.

B. Gathering Information about the Attitude of Common People

1/13/14: And they should also find out rumors spreading among the subjects.

1/13/15: And spies appearing as ascetics with shaven heads or with matted hair should ascertain the contentedness or discontentedness of those, who live on his grains, cattle or money, who help him with these in calamity or prosperity, who restrain a rebellious kinsman or region, or who repel an enemy or a forest chieftain.

1/13/16: He should favour those who are contented, with additional wealth and honour.

1/13/17: He should propitiate with gifts and conciliation those, who are discontented, in order to make them contented.

1/13/22: Those, however, who are enraged or greedy or frightened or proud, are likely to be seduced by enemies.

1/13/23: Spies appearing as fortune-tellers, soothsayers and astrologers should ascertain their mutual relations as well as their contacts with enemies or forest chieftains.

1/13/26: In this way, the wise king should guard from the secret instigations of enemies those likely to be seduced and those not likely to be seduced in his own territory, whether prominent person or common people.

C. Spies Stationed at Various Places

i) At Trading Check Posts

2/21/16: And for goods that have passed beyond the foot of the flag without the duty being paid, the fine is eight times the duty.

2/21/17: Secret agents operating on roads and in places without roads should find out such.

2/21/27: Or a secret agent appearing as a trader should communicate to the king the size of the caravan.

2/21/28: In accordance with that information, the king should tell the Collector of Customs about the size of the caravan, in order to make his omniscience known.

2/21/29: Then the Collector, on meeting the caravan, should say, 'These are goods of high and low value belonging to such and such a merchant. It should not be concealed. This is the king's power.'

ii) At Ale Houses

2/25/11: He should cause ale-houses to be built with many rooms, and provided with separate beds and seats, and drinking bars provided with perfumes, flowers and water, and pleasant in all seasons.

2/25/12: Secret agents, placed there, should ascertain the normal and occasional expenditure of customers and get information about strangers.

2/25/13: They should make a note of ornaments, clothes and cash of customers who are intoxicated or sleeping.

2/25/14: In case of loss of these, the traders shall pay the same and a fine of equal amount.

2/25/15: Traders, on their part, should find out through their own female slaves of beautiful appearance, the intensions of strangers and natives, who have the outward appearance of Aryas, when they are intoxicated or asleep in secluded parts of the rooms.

[Arya = Aryan]

iii) At Brothels

2/27/29: And the teachers should train the sons of courtesans to be the chiefs of those who live by the stage and also of all types of dancers.

2/27/30: And their women, who are conversant with various kinds of signs and languages, should be employed, under the lead of their kinsmen, against the wicked, for spying, killing or making them blunder.

iv) On Roads

2/36/13: And agents operating along roads and away from roads should arrest, outside the city and inside, in temples, holy places, forests and cremation grounds, a person with a wound, one with harmful tools, one hiding behind a heavy load, one agitated, one in a long sleep, one tired after a journey or a stranger.

v) At Deserted Places

2/36/14: Similarly, inside the city, they should make a search in deserted places, work-shops, ale-houses, cooked-rice houses, cooked-meat houses, gambling dens and quarters of heretics.

D. Roles of Various Categories of Spies

i) Role of Seeming Householders

2/35/8: And agents in the guise of householders, directed by the administrator, should find out the number of fields, houses and families in those villages in which they are stationed, -- fields with respect to their size and total produce, houses with respect to taxes and exemptions and families with respect to their varna and occupation.

[varna = caste]

2/35/9: And they should find out the number of individuals in them and their income and expenditure.

2/35/10: And they should find out the reason for departure and stay of those who have gone on a journey and those who have arrived respectively, as also of men and women who are harmful, and find out the activity of spies (of other countries).

ii) Role of Seeming Traders

2/35/11: In the same manner, spies in the guise of traders should find out the quantity and price of the king's good produced in his own country, obtained from mines, water-works, forests, factories and fields.

iii) Role of Spies Guised as Ascetics

2/35/13: In the same manner, agents in the guise of ascetics, directed by the Administrator, should ascertain the honesty or dishonesty of farmers, cowherds and traders and of the departmental heads.

iv) Role of Old Thieves as Spies

2/35/14: And assistants disguised as old thieves should find out the reasons for entry, stay and departures of thieves and brave men of the enemy, in sanctuaries, cross-roads, deserted places, wells, rivers, pools, river crossings, temple compounds, hermitages, jungles, mountains, forests and thickets.

2/35/15: Thus the Administrator, being ever vigilant, should look after the countryside; and through the establishments of spies.

Chapter 9: Apprehending and Punishing Criminals

A. Apprehending Various Types of Criminals

i) False Witnesses

4/4/11: An agent pretending to be an accused should induce those, who are known to bear false testimony, with plenty of money.

4/4/12: If they do so, they should be exiled as false witnesses.

4/4/13: By that are explained those who cause false evidence to be given.

ii) Black Magic Practitioners

4/4/14: If he considers any one as a user of occult means for winning love with incantations or rites with herbs or rites in cremation grounds, a secret agent should say to him, 'I am in love with wife, daughter in law or daughter of so and so; make her reciprocate my love and take this money.'

4/4/15: If he were to do so, he should be exiled as a user of occult means for winning love.

4/4/16: By that are explained practices of black magic and sorcery.

iii) Illegal Dealers of Poisons and Noxious Chemicals

4/4/17: If he suspects anyone of preparing, purchasing or selling poison, a secret agent should say to him, 'so and so is my enemy; bring about his death and take this money.'

4/4/18: If he were to do so, he should be exiled as a poison-giver.

4/4/19: By that is explained the dealer in stupefying mixtures.

iv) Dealer of Counterfeit Coins

4/4/20: If he suspects anyone as a dealer of counterfeit coins, being a frequent purchaser of various metals and acids, of coals, bellows, pincers, vices, anvils, dies, chisels and crucibles, with indications of hands and clothes smeared with soot, ashes and smoke, and being possessed of blacksmith's tools, a secret agent should expose him by insinuating himself into his confidence as a pupil and by carrying on dealings with him.

4/4/21: If exposed, he should be exiled as a dealer of false coins.

v) Persons Earning by Doing Injury to Others

4/4/23: Persons, having secret ways of income, by doing injury to others, should be exposed by secret agents and exiled or they shall pay a redemption-amount in accordance the gravity of the offence.

vi) Robbers and Forest Criminals

13/3/51: Secret agents should cause a herd of cattle or a caravan in the vicinity of a forest to be destroyed by robbers.

13/3/52: And making the food and drink placed there, in accordance with an agreement, mixed with a stupefying liquid, they should go away.

13/3/53: Then cowherds and traders should cause the robbers carrying loads of stolen goods to be attacked when the stupefying liquid is having its effect.

13/3/54: Or, an agent appearing as an ascetic with shaven head or with matted locks and posing as a devotee of god Samkarshana, should overreach the forest robbers by using a stupefying liquid after holding a festival.

13/3/55: Then he should make an attack.

13/3/56: Or, an agent appearing as a vintner should overreach foresters by using a stupefying liquid on the occasion of the sale or presentation of wine during festivities in honour of gods or funeral rites or festive gatherings.

13/3/57: Then he should make an attack.

13/3/58: Or, after scattering in many groups the forest tribe that have come for plundering the town, he should destroy them. Thus secret agents for robbers have been described.

B. Outwitting the Criminals

4/5/1: After the employment of spies, secret agents appearing as holy men should entice criminals by means of lores favourite with criminals, viz., robbers by means of charms inducing sleep, making invisible or opening doors, adulterers by love-winning charms.

4/5/2: When these have been enthused to see the power of the charms, they should take a large band of them at night and proposing to go to one village should go to another village in which men and women are prepared beforehand, and say, 'right here you can see the power of our lore; it is difficult to go to the other village.'

4/5/3: Then opening the gates by means of a gate-opening charm, they should say, 'enter.'

4/5/4: By means of an invisibility charm they should make the criminals go safely through the midst of wakeful guards.

4/5/5: Sending guards to sleep with a sleep-inducing charm they should cause them with their beds to be moved by the criminals.

4/5/6: With a love-winning charm they should make the criminals enjoy harlots appearing as other men's wives.

4/5/7: When these are convinced of the power of their lores, he should prescribe the performance of preliminary rites and so on, so that they may be recognized.

4/5/8: Or, they should get them to do their work in houses in which goods have been marked.

4/5/9: Or, they should get them caught in one place after winning their confidence.

4/5/10: They should get them arrested while engaged in purchasing, selling or pledging articles that are marked or when they are intoxicated with drugged liquor.

4/5/11: When they are arrested, he should question them concerning former offences and their associates.

4/5/12: Or, secret agents appearing as old thieves should, after winning their confidence, get thieves to do their work in the same manner and get them arrested.

4/5/13: When they are arrested, the Administrator should point them out to citizens and country people, saying, 'The king has studied the lore of catching thieves; it is under his instruction that these thieves have been caught; I shall catch others too; you should therefore restrain your kinsmen who may have criminal tendencies.'

4/5/14: And if he were to come to know through the information of the spies that someone among them has stolen a trifle like a yoke-pin, he should declare that about him among them, saying, 'This is the king's power.'

4/5/15: Old thieves, cow-herds, fowlers and hunters, winning the confidence of forest thieves and foresters, should induce them to attack caravans, herds or villages with plenty of articles made of artificial gold and forest produce.

4/5/16: When the attack is made, they should get them killed by stupefying liquids.

4/5/17: Or, they should get them arrested while sleeping after being tired by a long journey carrying a heavy load of stolen goods or when they are intoxicated by drugged liquor at festive parties.

4/5/18: And having caught them, the Administrator should show them as before to the people, causing a proclamation of the king's omniscience to be made among the inhabitants of the kingdom.

C. Degree of Punishment of Criminals

4/8/14: He shall not put to torture a person whose offence is trifling, or who is a minor or aged or sick or intoxicated or insane or overcome by hunger, thirst or travel, or who has overeaten or whose meal is undigested or who is weak.

4/8/15: He should cause them to be secretly watched by persons of the same character, prostitutes, attendants at water-booths, givers of advice, accommodation and food to them.

4/8/16: In this way should he outwit them.

Chapter 10: External Espionage –General

A. Introduction – Mandala Theory

The primary objective of Kautilya's External Espionage was to assist invasion and subjugation by the protagonist King of the other states (tribal republics, oligarchies, petty monarchies etc.) by war efforts and deceit. To understand the situation in Indian subcontinent at Kautily's time let us have a glimpse of the Theory pertaining to Mandala (circle of states).

Mandala Theory

Kautilya's external espionage is inexorably associated with the theory pertaining to the circle of states. The political objective of the Kautilya's king was to subjugate all the states in the circle and his espionage network had a crucial role in success of the king in this regard.

The protagonist king is conceived as governing a state in a circle (Mandala) surrounded by other states which are either Friendly, or Inimical or Neutral vis-a-vis the protagonist King's state.

Earlier Concepts

The Mandala Theory is not any novel invention of Kautilya. There are mentions of 'circle of states' and of chakravartin ruling the entire Indian subcontinent or even the entire world in Maitrayaniya Upanishada, Hindu Mythologies, Mahabharata and Buddhist texts. However, Kautilya, for the first time, delineated concrete steps towards formation of a large state by subjugating the other constituents of the circle of states by the chakravartin.

Kautilya's Mandala Theory

Kautilya considers the would-be conqueror (vijigisu or Chakravartin) to be a part of a Mandala or circle of kings or states. There are friends, enemies, neutral states and intermediary or middle states around the protagonist, the would-be conqueror. Kautilya considers the state immediately outside the border to be an enemy and the state immediately after this enemy, the ally.

To quote from the text:

6/2/13: The king, endowed with personal excellences and those of his material constituents, the seat of good policy, is the would-be conqueror.

6/2/14: Encircling him on all sides, with territory immediately next to his is the constituent called the enemy.

6/2/15: In the same manner, one with territory separated by one other territory is the constituent called the ally.

6/2/21: One with territory immediately proximate to those of the enemy and the conqueror, capable of helping them when they are united or disunited and of suppressing them when they are disunited, is the middle king.

6/2/22: One outside the sphere of the enemy, the conqueror and the middle king, stronger than their constituents, capable of helping the enemy, the conqueror and the middle king when they are united or disunited and of suppressing them when they are disunited, is the neutral king.

Now the circle is expanded including Enemy's friend and foe; ally's friend and foe; intermediate state's friend and foe, and neutral state's friend and foe and so on.

Kautilya describes vividly how by open warfare, devious means, deceptive warfare etc. the would-be conqueror could subjugate the other states in the circle and become the sole ruler of the entire circle of state.

A.1. Four Methods to Conquer the World

Kautilya mentions four methods to conquer the world (actually the entire Indian subcontinent)

i) First Method

13/4/54: After thus conquering the enemy's territory, the conqueror should seek to seize the middle king, after succeeding over him, the neutral king.

13/4/55: This is the first method of conquering the world.

ii) Second Method

13/4/56: In the absence of the middle and neutral kings, he should overcome the enemy constituents by superiority of policy, then the other constituents.

13/4/57: This is the second method.

iii) Third Method

13/4/58: In the absence of the circle he should overcome by squeezing from both sides the ally through the enemy or the enemy through the ally.

13/4/59: This is the third method.

iv) Fourth Method

13/4/60: He should first overcome a weak or a single neighbouring prince; becoming doubly powerful through him a second prince; three times powerful, a third.

13/4/61: This is the fourth method of conquering the world.

Now let us see how Kautilya's External Espionage methods are used to make the above objective successful. In this chapter we take up the general espionage to accomplish the target, we are going to take up espionage related to war efforts in the next chapter.

A.2. Setting up Spy Network in the Mandala (Circle of States)

1/12/20: He should sow spies among the enemy, the ally, the middle king, the neutral king, as well as among the eighteen high officers of each of those kings.

1/12/21: Humpbacks, dwarfs, eunuchs, women skilled in arts, dumb person and different types of mleccha races should be employed as spies living inside their houses.

[mleccha = non-Aryan outcaste]

1/12/22: In fortified towns traders should constitute the spy establishments; on the outskirts of fortified towns, ascetics; farmers and apostate monks in the countryside, and herdsmen on the borders of the country.

1/12/23: In the forest should be placed forest-dwellers such as monks, foresters and others -- a series of spies, quick in their work – in order to find out news of the activity of the enemy.

A.3. All Embracing Spy-Network in the Mandala

7/13/43: And in the entire circle, he should ever station envoys and secret agents, becoming a friend of the rivals, maintaining secrecy when striking again and again.

7/14: 5: Or, secretly offering a greater gain to the principal, he should get peace made through him.

7/14/6: Then agents in the pay of both, pointing to the greater gain, should poison the minds of the confederates, saying, 'you have been cheated.'

7/14/7: When they have become vitiated, he should violate the treaty.

7/14/8: Then agents in the pay of both should bring about a further discord among them, saying, 'this is what we had pointed out.'

7/14/9: When they are divided, he should act by supporting one of them.

7/14/27: If weak in energy, he should secure the services, as they may be available, of heroic men from robber-bands, foresters and mleccha tribes, and of secret agents capable of doing harm to enemies.

7/14/28: Or, he should employ against the enemies 'steps against an enemy-mixed trouble' or 'the conduct of the weaker king.'

7/14/29: Being thus enriched with a party, with counsel, with material resources and army, he should march out to overthrow the oppression of himself by enemies.

A.4. Use of Double Agents

1/12/17: And spies mentioned in should live with enemies receiving wages from them, in order to find out secret information, without associating with one another.

1/12/18: They are 'persons in the pay of both.'

1/12/19: And he should appoint 'persons in the pay of both,' after taking charge of their sons and wives. And he should know such agents when they are employed by the enemies. And he should ascertain their loyalty through spies of their type.

B. Winning the Seducible in Enemy Camp

1/14/1-5: Seducible in the enemy are: Enraged, Frightened, Greedy, Proud.

1/14/6: Among them, he should cause instigation through spies appearing as holy men with shaven heads or matted hair, -- of each person of the seducible party by that spy to whom he may be devoted.

i) For the Enraged

1/14/7: 'Just as an elephant, blinded by intoxication and mounted by an intoxicated driver, crushes whatever it finds on the way, so this king, not possessed of the eye of science, and hence blind, has risen to destroy the citizens of the country people; it is possible to do harm to him by inciting a rival elephant against him; show your resentment;' – in this way he should cause the group of enraged to be instigated.

ii) For the Frightened

1/14/8: 'Just as serpent, lying in hiding, emit poison at the place from which it expects danger, so this king, having become apprehensive of harm from you, will emit poison of anger at you; go elsewhere,' – in this way he should cause the group of the frightened to be instigated.

iii) For the Greedy

1/14/9: 'Just as the cow of the hunters is milked for hounds, not for Brahmins, so this king is milked for those devoid of spirit, intelligence and eloquence, not for those endowed with qualities of the self; that other king knows how to appreciate persons of distinction; go to him;' – in this way he should cause the group of the greedy to be instigated.

iv) For the Proud

1/14/10: 'Just as the well of the candalas is of use only to the candalas, not to others, so this king, being low, is of benefit only to low persons, not to Aryas such as you; that other king knows how to appreciate persons of distinction; go to him;' – in this way he should cause the group of the proud to be instigated.

1/14/11: When they have agreed with the words, 'so we shall do' and have become allied to him by the making of terms, he should employ them according to their capacity in his own works, with spies to watch over them.

1/14/12: And he should win over the seducible in the enemy's territories by means of conciliation and gifts and those not seducible by means of dissension and force, pointing out to them the defects of the enemy.

v) For Other Seducible Persons

12/3/1: Secret agents working in close proximity to the enemy king and the king's favorites should inform those in the position of friends to chiefs of infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants that the king is enraged with these, by showing confidence as in a friend.

12/3/2: When the rumors have become widespread, assassins, after taking precautions against dangers arising from moving at night-time, should go to their houses and say, 'at the king's order, come with us.'

12/3/3: They should slay them even as they come out and say to those near, 'this is the king's message.'

12/3/4: And to those who have not been slain, secret agents should say, 'this is what we had told you; he who wants to remain alive should go away.'

12/3/5: And to those to whom the king does not give something when asked for it, secret agents should say, 'the Regent was told by the king, -- such and such persons are asking me for something that ought not to be asked for; refused by me, they have joined the enemy; strive to exterminate them.'

12/3/6: Then he should act as before.

12/3/7: And to those to whom the king gives something when asked for it, secret agents should say, 'the Regent was told by the king, -- such and such persons ask me for something that ought not to be asked for; I give it to them to ensure trust in me; they are in league with the enemy; strive to exterminate them.'

12/3/8: Then he should act as before.

12/3/9: And to those who do not ask him for something that ought to be asked for, secret agents should say, 'the Regent was told by the king, -- such and such persons do not ask me for something which ought to be asked for; what else could there be but their being apprehensive because of their own guilt? Strive to exterminate them.'

12/3/10: Then he should act as before.

12/3/11: By this is explained the whole party of seducible persons.

C. Deceptive Peace Treaty and its Violation

Son Pledged in Peace Treaty

If the King is in a difficult situation and forced to make a treaty with the stronger enemy, he may pledge his son as guarantee and come out of the existing trouble through surrender and peace treaty. Ones in a safe and strong position, the spies are to take out his son from captivity by trickery and thereafter he may violate the treaty.

To quote from the text:

7/17/43: Secret agents disguised as traders should administer poison to guards by selling cooked food and fruits.

7/17/45: Or, secret agents disguised as gallants, minstrels, physicians or vendors of cooked food should set fire at night to the houses of the rich or of the guards.

7/17/51: Or, made to appear as a corpse, the captivated prince should be carried out by secret agents.

7/17/53: And agents disguised as foresters should direct pursuers to another direction when he is going in one.

7/17/54: Then he should go in another direction.

7/17/61: Or, taking up weapons secretly brought, and falling on the guards at night, he should escape on quick-marching horses along with secret agents.

D. Creating Dissentions in the Circle of Kings

Creating Discord among Army Commanders and Princes in the Mandala

9/6/28: Or, when for any king goods from his own land or from another's land should come as presents, secret agents should spread reports, 'These have been received from the king against whom we are to march.'

9/6/29: When the report is spread wide, he should send a letter with a man condemned to death, 'These goods have been sent by me to you as a present; attack your confederates or desert them; then you will receive the rest of the stipulated amount.'

9/6/30: Then secret agents should make the others realize, 'This was given by the enemy.'

9/6/31: Or, an article, well-known as belonging to the enemy, should go, unknown, to the conqueror.

9/6/32: Secret agents appearing as traders from him should sell it among enemy chiefs.

9/6/33: Then, secret agents should make the others realize, 'This commodity was given to the enemy.'

9/6/42: Or, he should send a letter to one possessed of the power of energy, 'Seize the kingdom of so and so; our treaty stands as before.'

9/6/43: Then secret agents should have it seized among the enemies.

9/6/44: Or, agents should destroy the camp or supplies or allied troops of one of the confederates.

9/6/45: Speaking of friendship with the others, they should suggest to him, 'You are sought to be destroyed by these.'

9/6/46: Or, if a great warrior or an elephant or a horse of someone were to die or to be killed or carried away by secret agents, other secret agents should declare him as destroyed by others.

9/6/47: Then he should send a letter to the one who is accused, 'Do more of this; then you will receive the rest of the stipulated amount.'

9/6/48: Agents in the pay of both should get that seized.

9/6/49: When they are thus divided, he should secure one of them.

9/6/50: By that are explained dissensions among princes and commanders-in-chief of armies.

E. Stirring up the Circle of Kings

12/3/12: A secret agent, serving in close proximity, should give the enemy king to understand, 'Such and such a high officer is in communication with men of the enemy.'

12/3/13: When this is believed, he should show treasonable men carrying letters from him and say, 'This is it.'

12/3/14: Or, after tempting with land or money the principal officers among the chiefs of the army, he should make them fight their own people or should carry them away.

12/3/15: He should cause that son of his, who may be staying near or in a fort, to be instigated through a secret agent, 'You are a son possessed of greater personal excellence, yet you have been set aside; why then are you indifferent? Fight and seize the kingdom; the crown prince will soon destroy you.'

12/3/16: After tempting with money a pretender from his family or a prince in disfavor, he should say to him, 'Crush his troops inside the kingdom or the troops on the frontier or the frontier fort.'

12/3/17: After winning the forest chieftains with money and honour, he should cause his kingdom to be destroyed.

12/3/18: Or, he should say to the enemy in the rear of the enemy, 'This king, after exterminating me, will indeed exterminate you; attack him in the rear; if he turns round on you, I shall attack him to the rear.'

12/3/19: Or, he should say to the allies of the enemy, 'I am your dam; with me broken, this king will overwhelm all of you; let us join together and frustrate his expedition.'

12/3/20: And he should send letters to those united with him and to those not united, 'This king, after uprooting me, will indeed take action against you; beware; it is better for you to help me.'

12/3/21: He should send appeals to the middle king or again to the neutral king, according as the one or the other may be near, making a surrender to him of all possessions, in order to be saved.

9/6/53: Secret agents should dispose of a fiery or energetic enemy or one in a calamity or one entrenched in a fort, by weapon, fire, poison and so on, or one of them should do so because of ease in doing it.

9/6/54: For, an assassin, single-handed, may be able to achieve his end with weapon, poison and fire.

9/6/68: Agents in the pay of both should communicate that to the others, 'This king of yours is treacherous.'

9/6/69: Or, if any of them has fear of or enmity towards or hatred of another, agents should divide him from the other, suggesting, 'This king is making peace with your enemy; presently he will overreach you; make peace yourself very quickly and try to restrain him.'

9/6/72: And guilds of castes, supported by one another, should strike at their weak points, and secret agents should strike with fire, poison and weapon.

F. Sowing Dissensions among Tribal Republics and Oligarchies

11/1/6: In the case of all, secret agents close to them should find out one another's defects, and occasions for mutual hatred, enmity or strife among members of the oligarchy, and should sow discord in one who is gradually brought round to believe them, saying, 'So and so is slandering you.'

11/1/7: When resentment is thus built up on both sides, agents serving as teachers should start quarrels among pupils concerning learning, skill, gambling and pleasure sports.

11/1/8: Or, assassins should start quarrels among the followers of the chiefs in the oligarchy by praising the opponents in brothels and taverns, or by supporting seducible parties.

11/1/9: They should stir up very young princes enjoying low comforts with a longing for superior comforts.

11/1/10: And they should prevent inter-dining or inter-marrying of the superior with the inferior.

11/1/11: Or, they should urge inferiors to inter-dining or inter-marrying with superiors.

11/1/127: Or, they should urge the very low ones to obtain a position of equality in the matter of family, valor or change of status.

11/1/13: Or, they should nullify a transaction that is settled by establishing its opposite.

11/1/14: Or, in cases of legal dispute, assassins should start quarrels by injuring objects, cattle or men at night.

11/1/15: And in all cases of strife, the king should support the weak party with treasury and troops and urge them to kill the rival party.

11/1/24: At the time of fighting, agents appearing as vintners should offer, in hundreds, jars of wine mixed with a stupefying liquid, as libation to the deceased, under the pretext of the death of a son or wife.

11/125: And secret agents should point out the depositing of an object after an agreement, such as sealed bags with money and vessels containing money, at the gates of sanctuaries or temples and near fortified places.

11/1/26: When members of the oligarchy are seen approaching, they should declare, 'These belong to the king.'

11/1/27: Then he should make an attack.

11/1/31: Or, a secret agent should say to a son of a chief of the ruling council, who thinks highly of himself, 'You are the son of such and such a king, kept here through fear of the enemy.'

11/1/32: When he agrees, the king should support him with treasury and troops and make him fight the members of the oligarchy.

11/1/33: When his object is achieved, he should get him also slain.

11/1/34: Keepers of prostitutes or acrobats, actors, dancers or showmen, employed as agents, should make chiefs of the ruling council infatuated with women possessed of great beauty and youth.

11/1/35: When passion is roused in them, they should start quarrels by creating belief about their love in one and by going to another, or by forcible abduction by the other.

11/1/36: During the quarrel, assassins should do their work, saying, 'Thus has this passionate fellow been slain.'

11/1/37: Or, if the one frustrated puts up with his disappointment, the woman should approach him and say, 'Such and such a chief is harassing me, because I am in love with you; so long as he is alive, I shall not stay here,' and thus urge his murder.

11/1/38: Or, the woman, if forcibly abducted, should get the abductor murdered at night by assassin at the edge of the park or in a pleasure house, or should herself kill him with poison.

11/1/39: Then she should proclaim, 'My lover has been killed by so and so.'

11/140: Or, an agent appearing as a holy man should create confidence in a chief, in whom passion is roused, by means of love-winning herbs and then killing him with poison he should disappear.

11/1/41: When he has gone away, secret agents should declare that as the act of the other.

11/1/42: Or, female secret agents posing as rich widows or living by a secret profession, and contending for inheritance or a deposit should infatuate chiefs of the ruling council, or dancers or songstresses should do so.

11/1/43: When they have agreed and come to secret houses for the night's meeting, assassins should kill them or carry them off imprisoned.

11/1/44: Or, a secret agent should describe to a chief of the oligarchy who is fond of women, 'In such and such a village, the family of a poor man has migrated; his wife is fit for a king; seize her.'

11/1/45: When she is seized, after a fortnight, an agent appearing as a holy man should cry out in the midst of the chiefs of the treasonable oligarchy, 'That chief has violated my wife or daughter-in-law or sister or daughter.'

11/1/46: If the ruling council were to chastise him, the king should support him and make him fight against those hostile to him.

11/1/47: If he is not punished, assassins should slay at night the agent appearing as a holy man.

11/1/48: Then others appearing in the same disguise should cry out, 'So and so is a Brahmin-slayer and the paramour of a Brahmin woman.'

11/1/49: Or, an agent appearing as an astrologer, should describe a maiden chosen as the bride by one chief to another, 'The daughter or so and so is destined to become the wife of a king or the mother of a king; get her by spending all you have or by force.'

11/1/50: If she cannot be obtained, he should rouse the other party.

11/1/51: If she is obtained, the strife is at once brought about.

11/1/52: Or, a female mendicant should say to a chief fond of his wife, 'Such and such a chief, conceited by reason of youth, sent me to your wife; through fear of him I have brought a letter and ornaments from him; your wife is innocent; steps against him should be taken secretly; in the meantime I shall accept on your wife's behalf.

11/1/53: On these and other occasions of strife, whether the strife has arisen of its own accord or has been created by assassins, the king should support the weak party with treasury and troops and make him fight against those hostile to him, or should carry him away.

11/1/54: The single monarch should deal with oligarchies in this manner.

G. Counter Espionage

1/12/24: And such spies of the enemy should be found out, those of the different types by his own spies, whether roving spies or spy-establishments, secret servants not bearing the marks of a secret servant.

1/12/25: In order to discover espionage by enemies, he should station at frontiers principal officers, who are non-seducible, but are shown to be impelled by motives for action that are associated with seducible parties.

10/1/14: And he should cause watches to be kept even by day in order to discover spying.

11/1/55: The oligarchies also should guard themselves against these deceitful tricks by the single monarch.

11/1/56: And the head of the oligarchy should remain just in behavior towards the members of the oligarchy, beneficial and agreeable to them, self-controlled, with devoted men, and following the wishes of all.

Chapter 11: External Espionage - War Strategy

A. Instilling Superstitious Fear in Enemy Camp

10/3/33: The group of his astrologers and others should fill his own side with enthusiasm by proclaiming omniscience of the protagonist king and association with divine agencies, and should fill the enemy's side with terror.

10/6/48-50: He should strike terror in the enemy with machines, by the employment of occult practices, through assassins slaying those engaged in something else, by magical arts, by a show of association with divinities, through carts, by frightening with elephants, by rousing the treasonable, through herds of cattle, by setting fire to camps, by attacks on the tips and the rear, by creating dissensions through agents appearing as messengers saying, 'your fort has been burnt down or captured; a revolt by a member of your family has broken out'; or, 'your enemy or a forest chieftain has risen against you.'

10/6/51: An arrow, discharged by an archer, may kill one person or may not kill even one; but intellect operated by a wise man would kill even children in the womb.

B. Assassination of the Enemy's Army Chiefs

i) Exploiting the Vice of Lust

12/2/11: Keepers of prostitutes should make the enemy's army chiefs infatuated with women possessed of great beauty and youth.

12/2/12: When many or two of the chiefs feel passion for one woman, assassins should create quarrels among them.

12/2/13: Agents should urge the party worsted in the strife to go away elsewhere or to render help to their master in the expedition.

12/2/14: Or, agents appearing as holy men should cause poison to be given to those among the chiefs who are under the influence of passion, along with love-winning medicines, in order to overreach them.

12/2/15: Or, an agent appearing as a trader should shower wealth on an intimate maid of the favourite queen of the enemy for the sake of love and then leave her.

12/2/16: An agent appearing as a holy man, recommended by an agent appearing as an attendant of the same trader, should give a love-winning medicine, saying, 'This should be placed on the person of the trader.'

12/2/17: When this has succeeded, he should advise this remedy also to the favourite queen, saying, 'This should be placed on the king's person.'

12/2/18: Then he should overreach with poison.

ii) Exploiting the Vice of Pride

12/2/19: An agent appearing as an astrologer should declare to a high officer, whose confidence has been gradually won, that he is possessed of the marks of a king.

12/2/20: A female mendicant should declare to his wife, 'You will be the wife of a king or the mother of a king.'

12/2/21: Or, a female agent who is the wife of a high officer should say to him, 'The king wants to keep me in his harem; this letter and these ornaments have been brought to your house by a female mendicant.'

12/2/22: Or, an agent appearing as a cook or a waiter should inform a chief about the king's instruction for administering poison to him and the money offered to tempt him to do so.

12/2/23: An agent appearing as a trader should corroborate that information of his, and should speak of the success of the undertaking.

12/2/24: Thus with one or two or three means, he should incite the high officers one by one to fight or to desert the enemy king.

iii) Through Rumors

12/2/25: And in his fortified cities, secret agents serving in close proximity to the Regent, should declare among citizens and country people, as if out of friendship, 'The Regent has said to warriors and heads of departments, -- The king is in a difficult position; he may or may not come back alive; obtain wealth by force and slay your enemies.'

12/2/26: When the rumor has spread far and wide, assassins should rob citizens at night and slay chiefs, saying at the time, 'Thus are dealt with those who do not obey the Regent.'

12/2/27: And they should leave blood-stained weapons, articles and binding ropes in the quarters of the Regent.

12/2/28: Then secret agents should proclaim, 'The Regent is slaying and robbing the subjects.'

12/2/29: In the same manner, they should divide the country people from the Administrator.

12/2/30: Assassins should kill the subordinates of the Administrator in the midst of villages at night and say, 'Thus are dealt with those who oppress the countryside unrighteous.'

12/2/31: When trouble has thus started, they should cause the Regent or the Administrator to be killed by a rising of the subjects.

12/2/32: They should get a pretender from his family or a prince in disfavor accepted as a ruler.

12/2/33: They should set fire to royal palaces and city gates, to stores of articles and grains, or should kill those officers there and, crying piteously should declare that as done by him.

C. Destruction of Enemy Supplies, Reinforcements

12/4/1-3: Those agents who are living disguised as traders in the fortified towns of the enemy, disguised as householders in his villages, disguised as cow-herds and ascetics in the frontier posts of the country, should send, along with presents word to a neighbouring prince, a forest chief, a pretender from his family or a prince in disfavor, 'This region can be seized.' And when secret agents of these have come to the fortified town, they should welcome them with money and honour and show them the weak points of the constituents. They should strike those weak points along with those who are tricked to collaborate.

12/4/4-7: Or, an agent appearing as a vintner in his camp, showing a person condemned to death as his son and killing him by poison at the time of an attack should offer, in hundreds, jars of wine as libation in honour of the dead. He should give on the first day unadulterated wine or wine with one quarter poison, on the next, wine mixed with poison. Or, giving unadulterated wine to the army chiefs, he should give them wine mixed with poison when they are in a state of intoxication. Or, an agent, serving as a chief in the army, should show a condemned person as a son and so on, as before.

12/4/8: Or, agents disguised as dealers in cooked meat or cooked rice or vintners or dealers in cakes, should advertise their special goods and, in mutual rivalry, call the enemies, proclaiming, 'This is given on credit, this is very cheap,' and mix their goods with poison.

12/4/9-11: Or, women and children, purchasing wine, milk, curds, butter or oil from dealers in these commodities, should pour them in their own vessels containing poison. Saying 'Give us at this price, or give us of better quality again,' they should pour that back in the same place. Agents appearing as traders or those who bring goods for sale to the camp, should sell these same articles after mixing them with poison.

12/4/12: Those near should mix poison with the fodder and grass for elephants and horses.

12/4/13: Or, agents appearing as workmen should sell grass or water mixed with poison.

12/4/14: Or, cattle traders, long associated with the camp, should let lose herds of cattle or of sheep and goats on the occasion of an attack, in places likely to cause confusion among the enemies, also should let loose the vicious among horses, donkeys, camels, buffaloes and other animals.

12/4/15: Or, agents appearing as above should let loose animals whose eyes have been smeared with the blood of musk-rats.

12/4/16: Or, those appearing as hunters should let loose wild animals from their cages, or snake charmers, serpents with deadly poison, or those living by elephants, elephants.

12/4/17: Or, those living by fire should set fire to things.

12/4/18: Or, secret agents should kill the chiefs of infantry, cavalry, chariots or elephants when they have turned back, or should set fire to the quarters of the chiefs.

12/4/19: Those appearing as treasonable or alien or forest troops, being employed with the enemy, should make an attack on the rear or give support to the weak king's attack.

12/4/20: Or, those concealed in forests should lure out troops on the frontier and slay them, or should destroy the supplies, the reinforcements and foraging raids on a path where marching in a single file alone is possible.

D. Killing the Enemy King by Deceit

12/4/21-22: On the occasion of a night-battle, they should strike many drums, fixed beforehand as a signal, and announce, 'we have entered it; the kingdom is won.' And entering the king's quarters, they should kill the king in the tumult.

12/4/23: Or, if he is trying to escape, leaders of mleccha and forest troops, on all sides, should kill him, taking cover in places of ambush or taking cover behind hedges of tree-stems.

12/4/24: Or, agents appearing as hunters should, in the tumult of an attack, strike at him on occasions fit for secret fights.

12/4/25: Or, they should strike at him when he is on a path where marching in a single file alone is possible or on a mountain, or behind a hedge of tree-stems or in a marshy place or inside water, in accordance with the favorableness of the terrain to themselves.

12/4/26: Or, they should drown him through a rush of water by breaking dams in rivers, lakes and tanks.

12/4/27: Or, if he is in a desert fort, a forest fort or a water fort, they should destroy him with poisonous fire and smoke.

12/4/28: Assassins should do away with him by fire when he is in a narrow place, by smoke when he is in a desert, by poison if he is in his residence, by frightful crocodiles or persons moving in water if he has taken a plunge in water, or kill him as he is coming out of his quarters set on fire.

E. Overreaching the Enemy with Trickery

12/5/28: Or, an agent posing as a friend should send word to the besieger, 'In this fort. Grains, fats, sugar or salt is exhausted; new stocks of it will come in at this place and time; seize it.'

12/5/29: Then treasonable, alien or forest troops should bring in poisoned grains, fats, sugar or salt, or others condemned to death should bring it in.

12/5/30: By this is explained the seizure of all goods and supplies.

12/5/39: Or, he should be carried out decked as a corpse by secret agents.

12/5/47: Or, when the enemy is careless in a place of recreation in a pleasure park or other recreation grounds, assassins, entering through underground chambers or tunnels or hollow walls, should slay him, or those employed in secret service should do so by poison.

12/5/48: Or, when he is sleeping in a secluded place, female secret agents should drop on him serpents or poisonous fire or smoke.

12/5/51: Calling by signals or drums door-keepers, eunuchs and others secretly employed with the enemy, he should get the rest of the enemies killed.

14/1/3: Secret agents should introduce weapons in the articles for the enemy king's sports and in objects from the stores used by him. And agents following a secret activity, moving about at night, and those living by fire, should put fire in those objects.

F: Capturing Enemy's Fort

(a) Secret Instigation to Sedition

(i) Through Magic and Occult Practices

13/1/1: The conqueror, desirous of capturing the enemy's fortified town, should fill his own side with enthusiasm and fill the enemy's side with terror, by getting his omniscience and association with divinities proclaimed.

13/1/2: The proclamation of omniscience, however, is to be made thus: after ascertaining secret information from their houses, communicating it to the chiefs; after finding out through spies used in suppression of criminals, bringing to light traitors to the king; announcing a request or a present about to be made through unnoticed signs and other things according to the science of association; showing knowledge of news from foreign lands on the same day through a domestic pigeon carrying a sealed communication.

13/1/3: The proclamation of association with divinities, however, should be arranged thus: conversing with and worshipping agents appearing as deities in fire-sanctuaries, who have entered the hollow images of deities in fire-sanctuaries by an underground passage; or, conversing with and worshipping agents appearing as Nagas or Varuna risen from the water; showing a row of fires at night inside water by placing a container with sea-sand; standing on a boat held down by slings containing stones; application to the nose of oil boiled a hundred times with the entrails of a spotted deer or the fats of crabs, crocodiles, dolphins and otters, to a person whose head without the nose is covered with water-bladder or an embryo-covering.

[Varuna = Hindu god of water, Nagas = mythical serpent gods]

13/1/4: With that, the nocturnal creatures move about.

13/1/5: These are ways of moving in water.

13/1/6: Through them there is use of speech by Varuna or Naga maidens and conversation with them, and the emitting of fire and smoke from the mouse on occasion of anger.

13/1/7: Soothsayers, interpreters of omens, astrologers, persons reciting Puranas, seers, and secret agents, those who have helped and those who have witnessed it, should broadcast that power of the king in his own territory.

13/1/8: In the enemy's territory, they should speak about the protagonist king's meeting with divinities and the acquisition of a treasury and army from a divine source.

13/1/9: And when interpreting questions to deities, omens, crow's flight, the science of the body, dreams and utterances of animals and birds, they should predict victory for him, the reverse of it for the enemy.

13/1/10: And they should point to a meteor in the enemy's constellation with a beat of drum.

(ii) Role of Secret Agents

13/1/11: Agents working as envoys, speaking to the chiefs of the enemy out of friendship, should tell them of the king's high regard for them, of the strengthening of his own party and the deterioration of the enemy's party.

13/1/12: They should tell ministers and soldiers of the same well-being and security as before.

13/1/13: He should show consideration for them in calamities and festive occasions, and honour their children.

13/1/14: In that way he should star up the enemy's party against the enemy king as explained before.

13/1/16: He should star up the diligent by speaking of the ordinary donkey; the leaders of the army, by stick and striking of the branch; those frightened, by the ram strayed from the herd; those insulted, by a shower of thunder-bolts; those with hopes frustrated, by the cane bearing no fruit, balls of rice to crows and the cloud created by magic; those receiving the reward of honour, by decoration of a disliked wife by one who hates; those secretly put to test, by the tiger-skin and the death-trap; those who constantly oblige, by the eating of the pilu-fruit, the hail, the female camel and churning of the she-donkey's milk.

[pilu – a herbal plant]

13/1/17: Those who agree to desert, he should endow with money and honour.

13/1/18: And in their difficulties regarding goods and food, he should favour them with gifts of goods and food.

13/1/19: In the case of those not accepting these, they should bring ornaments to their women and children.

13/1/20: And on occasions of famine, or troubles by robbers or forest tribes, secret agents, stirring up the citizens and the country people, should say, 'Let us ask the king for help; if we do not get help, let us go elsewhere.'

13/1/21: When, saying, 'All right,' they agree, help should be given to them by the grant of goods and grains. Thus there is this great miracle of secret instigation.

(b) Drawing out the Enemy by Means of Stratagem

(i) Through Fake Religious Men

13/2/1: An ascetic with shaven head or with matted locks, living in a mountain cave, and declaring himself to be four hundred years old, should stay in the vicinity of the city with plenty of disciples with matted locks.

13/2/2: And his disciples, approaching with roots and fruits, should induce the ministers and the king to pay a visit to the holy master.

13/2/3: And, visited by the king, he should speak of identification marks of former kings and their countries, adding, 'When every one hundred years of my life are completed, I shall enter fire for the fourth time; you have necessarily to be honoured by me; choose three boons.'

13/2/4: When he agrees, he should say, 'You should stay here with sons and wife for seven nights, after arranging a festival with shows.'

13/2/5: He should attack him while he is staying there.

13/2/6: Or, an agent appearing as a seer of underground objects, with shaven head or with matted hair, having plenty of disciples with matted hair, should place in an ant-hill a bamboo-strip smeared with goat's blood, after smearing it with gold powder, in order that ants may follow it, or place there a hollow tube of gold.

13/2/7: Then a secret agent should tell the king, 'That holy man knows a flowering treasure-trove.'

13/2/8: Questioned by the king, he should say, 'Yes', and point out that proof, or after placing more money in the earth.

13/2/9: And he should say to him, 'This treasure-trove, guarded by a cobra, can be obtained through worship.'

13/2/10: When he agrees, 'for seven nights' and so on as before.

13/2/11: Or, as an agent appearing as a seer of underground objects, with his body enveloped in a burning fire at night, is staying in a solitary place, secret agents should say to the king after making him gradually entertain faith in him, 'That holy man is able to secure prosperity.'

13/2/12: Promising to ensure what objects the king were to ask for, the seer should say, 'for seven nights' and so on as before.

13/2/13: Or, agent appearing as a holy man, should tempt the king with magical lores.

13/2/14: 'What object the king' and so on as before.

13/2/15: Or, agent appearing as a holy man, finding shelter in the temple of an honoured deity of the country, should, by frequent festivities, win over the chiefs among the constituents and gradually overreach the king.

13/2/16: Or, as an agent appearing as an ascetic with matted locks, all white, is staying in water, with means of getting away to an underground tunnel or chamber under the bank, secret agents should tell the king, after gradually making him believe, that he is Varuna or the King of the Nagas.

13/2/17: 'What object the king' and so on as before.

13/2/18: Or, an agent appearing as a holy man, living on the border of the country, should induce the king to have a sight of the enemy.

13/2/19: When he agrees, he should make an effigy and invoke the enemy, and should kill the king, in a secluded spot.

ii) Through Fake Traders

13/2/20: Agents appearing as traders, coming with horses for sale, should invite the king to purchase or receive horses as a gift, and kill him while engrossed in inspecting the goods or when mingled with horses and should strike with the horses.

iii) Through Magic, Miracles and Occult Practices

13/2/21: Assassins. Climbing a sacred tree near the city at night-time and blowing into jars through stalks or reeds, should say indistinctly, 'We shall eat the flesh of the king or the chiefs; let worship be offered to us.'

13/2/22: Agents appearing as interpreters of omens and astrologers should make that utterance of theirs known.

13/2/23: Or, agents appearing as Nagas, with their bodies smeared with burning oil, should, at night-time, pound together iron clubs and pestles in a holy lake or in the middle of a tank and utter in the same way.

13/2/24: Or, agents robed in the skins of bears, giving out fire and smoke from the mouths, and having the appearance of rakshasas, should go three times left-wise round the city and utter in the same way, in the intervals between the cries of dogs and jackals.

[rakshasa = demon]

13/2/25: Or, making the image of a deity in a sanctuary burn at night with burning oil or with fire covered by a layer of mica, agents) should utter in the same way.

13/2/26: Others should make that known.

13/2/27: Or, with blood, of animals they should cause an excessive flow of blood from honoured images of deities.

13/2/28: Then others should declare defeat in battle in consequence of the flow of the blood of the deity.

13/2/29: Or, on the nights of the month's junctures, they should point out a sanctuary in a prominent part of the cemetery as with men eaten standing.

13/2/30: Therefore an agent appearing as a rakshasa should demand the offering of a human being.

13/2/31: And whoever, calling himself brave or someone else, were to come there to see, others should kill him with iron pestles, so that it would be known that he was killed by the rakshasa.

13/2/32: Those who have witnessed it and secret agents should report that miracle to the king.

13/2/33: Then agents appearing as interpreters of omens and astrologers should prescribe pacification and expiatory rites adding, 'Otherwise a great disaster will befall the king and the country.'

13/2/34: When he has agreed, they should say, 'In these (manifestations), for seven nights the king himself should make offerings of oblations with mantras on each single day.'

13/2/35: Then as before.

13/2/36: Or, showing these tricks practiced on himself, he should overcome them, in order to convince the enemies.

13/2/37: Then he should employ the tricks against them.

iv) Exploiting Passion for Hunting

13/2/39: Keepers of elephant forests should tempt the enemy fond of elephants with an elephant possessed of auspicious marks.

13/2/40: When he agrees, they should take him to a dense forest or a path allowing only one person to march at a time, and kill him, or carry him off imprisoned.

13/2/41: By that is explained the enemy fond of hunting.

v) Exploiting the Ripu of Lust

13/2/42: Or, secret agents should tempt the enemy greedy of money or women with rich widows or women possessed of great beauty and youth, taken to him for the sake of inheritance or deposit.

13/2/43: When he agrees, they should, concealed in ambush, kill him with weapons or poison at the time of the meeting.

vi) In Chaos and Confusions of Religious Rites or Festivals

13/2/44: Or, on the occasion of his frequent visits to holy men, mendicants, images of deities in sanctuaries and stupas, assassins, concealed in underground chambers or passages or inside hollow walls, should strike at the enemy.

[stupas = Buddhist sites of worship]

13/2/45: In those places, in which the king himself is witnessing a dramatic show, or is enjoying himself in a festival or where he is sporting in water;

13/2/46: on all occasions of speaking words of reproof and so on, during sacrifices and festive parties, during birth-rites, funeral rites and illnesses, on occasions of love, sorrow or fear;

13/2/47: Or, when at a festival of his own people he, being full of trust, careless, or when he moves about without a guard, on a rainy day or in crowds;

13/2/48-49: When he has strayed from the route, or when there is a fire or when he has entered a place without any men in it, assassins, entering with packages of clothes, ornaments and flowers, with beds and seats, or with vessels containing wine and food or with musical instruments, should strike at the enemy along with those employed there beforehand.

13/2/50: And in the same way as they may have entered on the occasion for an ambush of the enemy, they should depart. Thus has been described the drawing out of the enemy by stratagems.

vii) Through Deceptive Stratagem

13/3/2: Finding shelter with the enemy, he should bring over helpmates and associates from his own country on the pretext of their being his own party.

13/3/3: Or, bringing about an influx of secret agents, he should, after securing the enemy's consent, destroy a treasonable town of his master, or an army devoid of elephants and horses with treasonable officers, or a treasonable ally in the rear of his master, and should send word to the enemy.

13/3/4: Or, he should resort to a part of the country or a band of forest chiefs for obtaining help.

13/3/5: Winning the enemy's confidence he should send word to his master.

13/3/6: Then the master, pretending an expedition for catching elephants or destruction of forest tribes, should attack secretly.

13/3/33: If the two were not to become estranged, he should quite openly bargain with each other's land.

13/3/34: Then agents posing as friends or those in the pay of both should send messengers to one or the other, 'This king wants to seize your land, being in league with the enemy.'

13/3/35: If one of them is filled with apprehension or anger, he should act as before.

13/3/40: Or, secret agents appearing as hunters, remaining at the gates for the sale of meat, and given him of the approach of robbers two or three times, then getting their master's army stationed in two places, one for destroying a town and the other for a sudden assault, should say to the enemies, 'A band of robbers is close by; there is a great din; let a large force come.'

13/3/41: Handing that over to the troops of their master meant for destroying the town and taking the other troops to the gates of the fort at night, they should say, 'The band of robbers is killed; the troops, successful in the expedition, have come back; open the gate.'

13/3/42: Or, those secretly employed there beforehand should open the gates.

13/3/43: Along with them they should strike.

13/3/44: Or, he should station in the enemy's fort soldiers disguised as artisans, artists, heretical monks, actors and traders.

13/3/45: Agents appearing as householders should bring to them weapons and armors in carts carrying wood grass, grains and other goods, or in flags and images of gods.

13/3/46: Then those disguised like them should carry out the slaughter of the unwary, the supporting of sudden assault, or a strike in the rear, or should announce by the sound of conches and drums, 'The army of the enemy has come in.'

13/3/47: They should open rampart-gates and towers, divide the enemy's divisions or destroy them.

13/3/48: The carrying over of troops into the enemy's fort is to be along with those moving in caravans or groups, with escorts, with those accompanying brides, with dealers in horses, with carriers of implements, with sellers or purchasers of grains, with those bearing the marks of monks and with envoys; peace is to be made during the period for creating confidence.

(d) Seize and Storming of a Fort

13/4/16: Secret agents, serving as guards inside the fort, should place a fire-mixture in the tails of ichneumons, monkeys, cats and dogs, and let them loose in stores of reeds, fortifications and houses.

13/4/17: Placing fire in the interior of dried fish or in dried meat, they should have it carried in through birds by offering it to crows.

13/4/41: Entering the fort under the pretext of seeing a friend or a kinsman, with sealed passes in hand, secret agents should get it seized by the besieger.

13/4/42: Or, one posing as a helpmate should send word to the besieged, 'At such and such a place and at such and such time, I shall strike at the camp; you also must fight then.'

13/4/43: When he agrees, he should show the tumult of an attack as mentioned and destroy him as he sallies out of the fort at night.

13/4/44: Or, he should invite an ally or a forest chieftain, and incite him, 'Fight against the besieged and seize his land.'

13/4/45: When he fights, he should get him slain through the subjects or by supporting his treasonable chiefs, or kill him himself with poison, achieving his object of implicating the enemy, 'He is the slayer of his ally.'

13/4/46: Or, one posing as a friend should inform the enemy about the ally etc. wanting to attack.

13/4/47: Securing a position of trust, he should get his brave warriors slain.

13/4/48: Or, making peace with him, he should induce him to settle the country.

13/4/49: When settled, he should destroy his country.

13/4/50: Or, after causing an injury to be done and getting part of the enemy's troops led against treasonable or forest troops, he should capture the fort by a sudden assault.

13/4/63: Secret instigation, secret agents, drawing out of the fort, laying seize and storming, these are five means of taking a fort.

G. Pacification of the Conquered Territory

According to Kautilya, after subjugating any country, the first and foremost task of the spy ring would be to convince the people that the new king or his stooge is the friend of the people and bent on their welfare. Otherwise, the conqueror would always face oppositions and revolts from the people of the subjugated country. They should make people believe that the earlier ruler was inimical to them or incompetent and the new king has subjugated the country only to rescue the people from the torture or misrule of the earlier ruler/rulers.

The KGB failed to do so in the East European countries subjugated (Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine) by the USSR and ruling through stooges. Similarly they failed in pacifying people of the central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) and recently in Afghanistan. MSS has failed in Hong Kong. CIA has failed in Afghanistan and Iraq. MI6 has failed in Northern Ireland. They are to learn al lot from Arthsastra espionage in this regard.

Kautilya's brief comments in this regard are:

13/5/9: Secret agents should frequently point out the enemy's misconduct to chiefs in the country, towns, castes and corporations, the master's great good fortune and love for them, and the master's great regard for them.

13/5/10: And he should make use of them by looking after their customary rights, exemptions and protection.

Bibliography

Arthasastra

Sanskrit Version

Sastri, T. Ganapati (edited) (1924): The Arthasastra of Kautilya, Volume III, Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, N0. LXXXII.

(The E-book is downloadable at https://ia801602.us.archive.org/20/items/Trivandrum_Sanskrit_Series_TSS/TSS-082_Arthasastra_Of_Kautilya_with_Tika_Part_3_-_TG_Sastri_1925.pdf

Shamasastry, Dr. R. (1923): Kautilya Arthasastram, Mysore Printing and Publishing House, Mysore.

http://sanskritdocuments.org/pdfjs/web/viewer.html?file=http://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_z_misc_sociology_astrology/artha.pdf#zoom=auto&pagemode=thumbs

English Version

Chunder, Pratap Chandra (1995): Kautilya Arthasastra, The M. P. Birla Foundation, Kolkata.

Kangle, R. P. (2010): Kautiliya Arthasastra, Part-II (English translation), 7th Reprint, Motilal Banarasidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi.

Shamasastry, Dr. R. (1956): Kautilya's Arthasastra (English translation), Mysore Printing and Publishing House, Mysore.

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The Author

The author of this booklet is a Ph.D. in economics, specialized in the Arthasastra of Kautilya and professionally an economist but his passion for knowledge compels him at times to eschew the arena of economics and venture into other fields of knowledge; philosophy, current politics, espionage and religion are important among them. Dr. Basu may be contacted at rlbasu@rediffmail.com.

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