16 Law and Morality Abroad (to ca. ad 1550)in China. Th e oldest surviving Indian text that contains material on inter-
national relations is a manual of statesmanship attributed to a writer named
Kautilya, possibly dating, at least in part, from the third century bc but
probably incorporating later material. Later scholars have given it the title
Artasastra, meaning literally a manual on craft smanship— in this case, the
craft of being an eff ective prince. It is one of the world’s masterpieces of
hardheaded po liti cal realism, unleavened by piety, sentimentality, or ideal-
ism. Th e ideal leader, to Kautilya, is not the man of virtue but rather one
who possesses “the eye of knowledge” and is familiar with “the science of
polity.” Th e treatise is replete with practical advice on such topics as per-
sonal security (e.g., defense against poisoning), or ga niz ing spying systems,
recruiting and managing armed forces, devising military strategy, and fo-
menting domestic unrest in enemy states.
Some of the advice concerned foreign aff airs. It was taken for granted that
neighboring states would be enemies in principle, even if relations were inter-
mittently peaceful from time to time, as expediency might dictate. Regarding
treaties, some useful advice was provided— not, however, on the mechanics of
concluding them or the necessity of observing them. Instead, Kautilya’s con-
cern was to explain when it was mandatory for a responsible statesman to
disregard them. If a ruler perceives that adherence to a given treaty causes a
“loss of profi t,” it is stated, and if the breach of it would cause no loss to the
other party, then he should proceed to disregard the agreement.
On the subject of diplomatic practice, Kautilya provided a rationale for
the granting of at least certain privileges to envoys. Specifi cally, he held that
an envoy should not be punished for bearing unwelcome news from his prin-
cipal. Th e reason given was that envoys are the mere “mouth- pieces of kings,”
speaking their rulers’ words rather than their own. Consequently, any
wrongdoing associated with the message (such as repudiating a treaty) must
be attributed to the principal and not the messenger. It may be noted that,
on this logic, there is no suggestion of general inviolability of ambassadors
as in modern international law. Th e door is left open for punishing the en-
voy for any wrongdoing which he commits on his own initiative.
On the conduct of warfare, Kautilya dispenses much advice of a practical
sort— with lavish attention to spying and various kinds of deception, as well
as to sundry ways of administering poisons. (Th ere is also, appropriately,
advice on antidotes when the enemy employs these devices.) Restraints on