Cāṇakya’s Political Strategies as Depicted in the Sanskrit Drama Titled Mudrārākṣasa

Abstract

This article aims to present Cānakya's political strategy model in the Sanskrit drama Mudrārākṣasa, by analogy with Kauṭilīya's Arthaśāstra. The study found that Cānakya adopted the interstate relations management model of Arthaśāstra that uses six guṇa in combination with four upāya, with trivarga, for war or armistice, to shape the political strategy in the drama. There is a process to start from. (1) Formulate a policy directed at six guṇa, namely sandhi (peace), that "will bring amātya Rākṣasa to be the Prime Minister of Lord Chandragupta " to uphold the sovereignty of Lord Chandragupta. (2) Formulate a plan for implementing the policy directly with six guṇa, namely, vigraha (provocation) that "must create a rift between amātya Rākṣasa and his allies." (3) Define practices: (3.1) The operator is a spy, (3.2) the method is a ploy within the concept of four upāya: sāma (bonding), dāna (reward), bheda (provocation), daṇḍa (punishment) has methods: killing, intelligence, forging, and deceit (3.3) tools, namely, 3 objects: rings, stamps, forged letters, and jewelry, all processes use the 7 state elemental conditions of one's own and the enemy's parties, assessing them when they have an advantage: (1) kṣaya, weak condition, (2) sthāna, equal condition, (3) vṛddhi, strong condition.