five (viz., counsellors, kingdom,
fort, army, and treasury,) were also treated in it. Chastisements of two
kinds, viz., open and secret, were indicated. The eight kinds of open
chastisement, as also the eight kinds of secret chastisement, were dealt
with in detail. Cars, elephants, horses, and foot-soldiers, O son of
Pandu, impressed labourers, crews, and paid attendants (of armies), and
guides taken from the country which is the seat of war, these are the
eight instruments, O Kauravya, of open chastisement or forces acting
openly. The use and administration of movable and immovable poison were
also mentioned in respect of the three kinds of things, viz., wearing
apparel, food, and incantations. Enemies, allies, and neutrals,--these
also were described. The diverse characteristics of roads (to be taken,
as dependent on stars and planets, etc.), the attributes of the soil (on
which to encamp), protection of self, superintendence of the construction
of cars and other utensils of war and use, the diverse means for
protecting and improving men, elephants, cars, and steeds, the diverse
kinds of battle array, strategies, and manoeuvres in war, planetary
conjunctions foreboding evil, calamitous visitations (such as
earthquakes), skilful methods of warfare and retreat, knowledge of
weapons and their proper keep, the disorders of troops and how to get rid
of them, the means of inspiring the army with joy and confidence,
diseases, times of distress and danger, knowledge of guiding
foot-soldiers in battle, the methods of sounding alarms and notifying
orders, inspiring the enemy with fear by display of standards, the
diverse methods of afflicting the enemy's kingdom by means of robbers and
fierce wild-tribes, and fire-raisers and poisoners and forgers by
producing disunion among the chief officers of hostile armies, by cutting
down crops and plants, by destroying the efficiency of the enemy's
elephants, by producing alarms, by honouring those among the enemy's
subjects that are well disposed towards the invader, and by inspiring the
enemy with confidence, the waste, growth, and harmony of the seven
essential requisites of sovereignty, capacity for (projected) works, the
means for accomplishing them, the methods of extending the kingdom, the
means of winning over persons residing in the enemy's territory, the
chastisement and destruction of those that are strong, the exact
administration of justice, the extermination of the wicked, wr