Enticement of the King by Secret Contrivances

Enticement of the King by Secret Contrivances, as mentioned in chapter II of Book XIII in Arthashastra, shall help the ascetic with shaven head or braided hair, who resides in the caves of the mountain, to attract people towards his asceticism. The disciples of the ascetic may make presentations to him which shall present him in a more attractive manner than the reality which is mainly intended to draw the king to his cave. On the arrival of the king on the spot, the ascetic may acquaint him with the history of the earlier kings and their states and befool him by saying that after every hundred years I enter into the fire, before I enter now the king should reside in the cave for four days to offer sacrifices to him when the enemy king and his family can be caught and killed.

Enticement of the King by Secret Contrivances further mentions that an ascetic with similar appearance shall be able to trace the hidden treasury of the enemy area; which he can protect by placing a snake to protect it .Once he is able to find the hidden treasury, he may pretend to sit with his body burning in the magical fire in a lonely place which shall attract the king as well and engage him for some time. The ascetic can then ask the king to reside for some time for the same purpose as mentioned above. The ascetic can enchant the king as well as his country men along with his ministers about his supernatural powers; he can attract the king as well as his people to the vicinity of the capital which shall help him to kill the king in first available opportunity.

Enticement of the King by Secret Contrivances, along with the ascetics, encourages the spies in guise of merchants who come and sell horse, to invite the king to purchase the best quality of horses when he shall be killed in the tumult of the horses. The spies in guise of Nagas shall stand in the water and sharpen their iron swords and spikes to kill the enemy. The Spies who wear sheets of animal skin can mislead the crowd by making voices of various kinds of animals.

Along with this Enticement of the King by Secret Contrivances, allows the conqueror to create attraction for the enemy ruler who is greedy and attract him towards all such possession like wealthy, women, etc which can kill the enemy very easily.

Thus Enticement of the King by Secret Contrivances enlists some of the methods with which conqueror can capture and kill his enemy without an open battle.