Sutra 38
शठो हि बाह्योऽभ्यन्तरमेवमुपजपति भर्तारं चेद्द् हत्वा मां प्रतिपादयिष्यति शत्रुवधो भूमिलाभश्च मे द्विविधो लाभो भविष्यति अथ वा शत्रुरेनमाहनिष्यतीति हतबन्धुपक्षस्तुल्यदोषदण्डेनोद्विग्नश्च मे भूयानकृत्यपक्षो भविष्यति तद्विधे वान्यस्मिन्नपि शङ्कितो भविष्यति अन्यमन्यं चास्य मुख्यमभित्यक्तशासनेन घातयिष्यामि इति ॥ कZ_०९.३.३८ ॥
śaṭho hi bāhyo 'bhyantaraṃ evam upajapati: bhartāraṃ ced hatvā māṃ pratipādayiṣyati, śatru-vadho bhūmi-lābhaś ca me dvividho lābho bhaviṣyati; atha vā śatrur enam āhaniṣyati iti, hata-bandhu-pakṣas tulya-doṣa-daṇḍenodvignaś ca me bhūyān akṛtya-pakṣo bhaviṣyati; tadvidhe vā anyasminn api śaṅkito bhaviṣyati; anyam-anyaṃ cāsya mukhyam abhityakta-śāsanena ghātayiṣyāmi iti.
A deceitful outsider approaches an insider with calculations such as: “If he kills his master and installs me, I gain twofold—enemy slain and territory obtained. Or, if the enemy kills him, he becomes bereft of his kin-group and, alarmed by punishment for equal guilt, will be more ready for unlawful acts on my side. In any similar case he will be suspect elsewhere too. Therefore I shall have his principal associates eliminate one another, by exploiting lapses in discipline and control.”
FAQs
A deceitful actor frames every outcome as profit and will readily engineer internal killings; therefore rulers must treat such proposals as high-risk subversion and anticipate induced factional violence.
He aims to trigger mutual elimination among key associates by exploiting lapses in discipline (abhityakta-śāsana), reducing organized resistance.