Kanika advises Dhritarashtra to go for the Dand approach
I could not end this blog of Adi Parva and Sabha Parva without saying about Kanika; one of the advisors of King Dhritarashtra of Hastinapur. We all are aware of the passing trap arranged by Duryodhana for slaughtering all the Pandavas along with Kunti by means of sending them to stay inside the Lakshagriha(The house of Lacquer or house of wax) within the woodland of Varnavat, letting his minister Purochana secretly set fire to that highly combustible building and after that to make the death of the Pandavas seem like an accident. Duryodhana at the side, Shakuni and Karna had plotted to slaughter the Pandavas out of envy.
When Yudhishthira was delegated as the king of Hastinapura by Dhritarashtra, Dhritarashtra stressed the notoriety and bravery of all the Pandavas. Kanika at that point incited King Dhritarashtra against Pandavas. Just before the incident of Lakshagriha, Duryodhana asked for authorization from Dhritarashtra to send Pandavas to the Varnavat put for a few periods within such period Duryodhana could claim the whole Hastinapura. He also told Dhritarashtra that after capturing the kingdom completely they would ask the Pandavas to come back to the kingdom again. Dhritarashtra by means of keeping in his mind the politics of Kanika, having a fondness for his son, and fear of the Pandavas concurred with the arrangement of sending the Pandavas to Varnavat in spite of the fact that he knew it was unjustified. The Kanika neeti that I am planning to share with you in this post is only to let you all know about it. Since it was driven to cynicism and annihilation, I have no purpose to let you all learn anything from it. So after Yudhishthira was crowned as king, stressed Dhritarashtra welcomed Kanika: the advisor of Arthasastra and politics to the kingdom to get advice on whether to make it up with the Pandavas or to keep ill will against them. Kanika answered to him that, the 'a ruler must remain dynamic to rebuff or battle his adversaries through the 'Dand' approach, he must not end up powerless rather he ought to search for the flaws in his enemies. King should create conviction by 'Sama' or alliances Upayas diplomacy in those foes who takes his shelter and after that slaughter them. Ruler ought to give gifts to his foes to gain their trust and then by such a 'Daan' approach kill him. Kill the origin enemies to dodge any other adversaries from their dynasty. Ruler ought to create belief in adversaries by dressing like a Brahmin, doing Agnihotra, and after that assaulting his adversaries. By way of 'Bheda', the king ought to make disagreements among adversaries and slaughter them. He ought to not be thoughtful towards his foes indeed in case they ask for it. After hearing this Dhritarashtra inquired him to expand on these approaches more for which Kanika had told him about the story of one jackal.
That intelligent jackal was remaining in a forest beside one tiger, a mouse, a wolf, and a mongoose. They all once saw one sound deer and wished to devour it. But they fizzled to capture the deer. The jackal at that point recommended to the tiger that, in order to catch that quick-running deer, the mouse should bite off the deer's both feet during his rest and after that, the tiger ought to chase the deer and capture him. Tiger and mouse acted accordingly and slaughtered that deer.
The jackal then asked all of them to take a shower before eating that deer and by that time he would watch it. The jackal went into deep thinking. The tiger first reached there and inquired the jackal about the reason behind his thinking. Jackal told him that, he was thinking about the mouse who disrespected the strength of the tiger, boastfully saying, "It was me only who slaughtered the deer, and the mouse, the tiger took the shield of him to fulfil his starvation only." The tiger then ran towards the woodland after saying to Jackal that, the mouse had opened his eyes and alerted the tiger to slaughter and eat the creatures by his strength not by taking anyone's assistance.
Next Seeing the mouse coming thereafter taking his shower, the jackal told him that, the mongoose had denied eating that deer considering the fact that deer substance would have as of now gotten to be poisonous as the tiger had bitten it. Jackal too specified that the mongoose inquired about Jackal's permission to eat the mouse instead. Hearing this, that mouse instantly ran away and hid inside its Mousehole out of fear.
Then the j came to thereafter his shower. Jackal told him, the tiger was trying to find the wolf in outrage and was arranging to come in a group. Then Jackal told the wolf to do the rightful act as per his own. The panicked wolf ran away from there.
Next, the mongoose reached close to the Jackal. Jackal told him, "I have as of now defeated the rest of the Others through my power, made them run away from here therefore in order to get the flesh of deer, you also have to battle with me." Considering the reality that the jackal had already triumphed over the others, the mongoose too ran away. After all the creatures were gone from there, the intelligent jackal delighted in eating the deer flesh all by himself.
Kanika at that point
mentioned to the king that, the ruler ought to be like that clever Jackal to remain peaceful, he ought to vanquish the bashful people by terrifying
them, the greedy ones by giving gifts, the courageous ones by folding hands,
powerless or comparable ones by courage, indeed murder any foes by poison or by
burning their houses for the king's benefits, moreover, ruler ought to slaughter
even his Father, brother, guru, son whomever it might be in the event that they
act as foes.
Moreover Kanika mentioned to the king that, king should kill those who would be causing consternation for him, he should not even trust his trustworthy fully, should keep a scout in enemies place, should never find guilts in others, discuss the secret advises amongst his seniors and keep it safe, a king could never get more wealth without doing cruel deeds or Killing or injuring many people, king should definitely take the opportunity of killing the anergic armies of his enemies, he should not accomplish fully the works of others who depend on him and rather leave it half-done so that those people would visit the king always, he should always engross his mind in war only, should never disclose about his future strategies with friends or enemies, he should not show sympathy on any of his enemies on whom he had taken approach of 'Dand', act wisely before committing any task, never forgive his less greater enemies too, a king should take the lives of all his enemies without showing any kindness to them.
Then Kanika prompted Dhritarashtra to act in these ways while following his politics and treat Pandavas in such a way so that the ruler would not confront any dilemma or lament afterwards and save himself from the courageous sons of Pandu: the Pandavas.
I have put the political advice of Kanika in brief here. These four approaches of Sama, Dama or Dana, Bheda, and Dand are for the most part utilized all over India as a proposal to resolve any struggle. Kautilya has said about these Upayas and these are moreover found in Dharmasastras as well. These four Upayas means it induces the individuals to get the work done. If it doesn't work out, offer them something. In case that approach also falls flat, at that point show the difference. Even if it fails you need to force them to make sure they do it. In spite of the fact that numerous individuals are applying these to find solutions, I'd Say I am inclined toward serene conversation (Sama) over the rest three. In Udyog Parva, Lord Krishna had proposed Pandavas go for the upayas of Dand before the Mahabharata war but only after Pandavas had applied all other approaches. Dhritarashtra had taken Kanika's neeti in his mind to apply it against the Pandavas, he had never done equity to them additionally he had supported all the wicked acts of his son which drove to the devastation of the whole Kauravas.
I moreover believe no one can provoke us unless we want that work to be done.
Ref: Mahabharata book Adi Parva
Read about the curse of Sage Maitraya on Duryodhana