Kautilaya devotes a chapter in part III of his Arthashastra dealing with king on revolts, rebellions, conspiracies and treason. The Kautilayan scheme of statecraft deals with dangers and threats that a king or ruler as ‘embodiment of the state’44 faces. In the nature of advice, he offers how the kings should deal with the issues of political obligation arising out of treason, treachery, revolt and rebellion. However, Kautilaya is apprehensive of every one, the people near the king, the purohita, councillors, ministers, chief of defence and commanders, people in the countryside, enemies from outside, etc., While Kautilaya’s apprehension mostly falls in the category of palace conspiracy and coups, treason and traitor’s acts, he also deals with rebellion amongst the people.
We have mentioned earlier that Kautilaya’s king is required to be a provider of well-being (yogákshema) of the people. This is meant to keep the people happy and reduce impoverishments, discontent and disaffection amongst them. He mentions that discontent in the population is a particular cause of rebellion and identifies a list of 16 different types of policies, which may lead to impoverishments and disaffection amongst the people and suggests that kings should avoid them. These include: ignoring good people and favouring wicked and not recognizing the service done to him, causing harm by new unrighteous practice and neglecting righteous practice, propagating adharma and suppressing dharma, indulging in wasteful expenditure, failing to protect people from thieves and himself robbing them, not observing agreement, destroying welfare of the people by indulgence and negligence.45 This shows that Kautilaya’s king should not act that causes the policies listed previously leading to impoverishment, disaffection and greed amongst the people. This is a clear statement of kingly obligation as a prior condition for political obligation of the subjects. We may recall that Kautilaya as part of the subjects’ obligation has mentioned that the king is entitled to a share in the money and produce of the subjects. Political obligation of the subjects requires loyalty to the king and the king’s state, not creating any social disorder, not propagating disaffection and rebellion, not indulging in conspiracies either internally or with external enemies, etc.
Kautilaya is concerned with internal as well as external rebellion and revolts. Accordingly he discusses four types of revolts and corresponding method preferable based on the nature and seriousness of the revolt and where it arises and it is abetted. He treats a revolt instigated and abetted by internal elements as the most serious and asks the king to deal with it on a priority basis. The king may use all the four methods—conciliation, gift, dissension and force for dealing with it (see Table 12.2).
Table 12.2 Kautilaya—Types of Revolts46
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