Sāma, Bheda and Daṇḍa

Sāma Bheda Daṇḍa, “conciliation, division and force”

Daṇḍa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Daṇḍa.

Sāma, bheda and daṇḍa are the three classic methods that ancient Indian statecraft (rājanīti or arthaśāstra, the science of ruling) lays down for a king to reach his goals. Sāma means conciliation, bheda means division and daṇḍa means force. They are to be used in the right order and in the right measure, according to the situation. A fourth method, dāna (giving, or bribery), is sometimes added, making the well-known set of four: sāma, dāna, bheda, daṇḍa.

The Vidura-nīti, the teaching of the wise Vidura in the Udyoga Parva of the Mahābhārata, explains this framework in the setting of the conflict between the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas.

The Agni Purāṇa teaches these methods twice, as upāyas (means) for bringing an enemy under control: first through Pushkara to Paraśurāma, then in the teaching of Śrī Rāma on rāja-nīti. There the upāyas are seven: sāma, dāna, bheda and daṇḍa, with māyā (stratagem), upekshā (overlooking) and indrajāla (illusion). It gives the kinds of each, the people on whom each works, and the rule that daṇḍa must be used with reason and never in anger. It also counts the four, sāma, dāna, bheda and daṇḍa, as the means by which vyavahāra (the hearing of law cases) is carried through.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa names the same four, sāma, dāna, bheda and daṇḍa, as the means of rājanīti (the conduct of rule). Ṛshabhadeva ruled by them, and the boy Prahlāda was taught them as the four upāyas a prince must know, though his teacher wanted the fourth, daṇḍa, used on Prahlāda himself. The Bhāgavata also shows where these means end: Bali tells the asuras that no army, no counsel and none of the four means can overcome kāla (time), and Indra praises Śrī Kṛshṇa as Kāla, who holds the daṇḍa and cannot be overstepped. Yama too, the Yamadūtas say, holds the daṇḍa in his hand.

The Bhavishya Purāṇa turns the four means to the home. In the Brahma Parva, Brahmā teaches how a husband is to win his wives with sāma, dāna, bheda and daṇḍa, each according to her conduct, and warns against severe punishment.

The Three Methods

Sāma: Conciliation

Sāma is the first method and the one to prefer. It means speaking kindly, appealing to shared interests, recognising the other side’s point of view, and seeking agreement through understanding and compromise. Sāma costs the least, creates the least ill-will and, when it works, produces lasting settlements, because both sides feel respected.

In the Mahābhārata, sāma was the path the Pāṇḍavas followed. They sent Drupada‘s brāhmaṇa envoy, they received Sañjaya‘s embassy, and finally Śrī Kṛshṇa himself went on a peace mission to Hastināpura. Their repeated peace offers, including the famous smallest request of just five villages, show how firmly the Pāṇḍavas were committed to using up every chance of sāma before turning to war.

Bheda: Division

Bheda means creating splits within the opponent’s camp: using rivalries that already exist, planting new suspicions, and separating advisers from their rulers. It is subtler than open confrontation and often works better.

Several examples of bheda appear in the Mahābhārata. Kṛshṇa‘s private talk with Karṇa was an attempt to separate Karṇa from Duryodhana. There were efforts to draw neutral parties away from the Kaurava alliance. On the other side, Duryodhana used bheda to trap Śalya, cutting him off from the Pāṇḍava alliance through a trick of hospitality.

Daṇḍa: Force

Daṇḍa is the use of power, whether military, legal or economic pressure, when the first two methods have failed. It costs the most, it is the hardest to judge morally, and it is the most likely to make lasting enemies. A king who uses daṇḍa too early shows either impatience or weakness. A king who never uses it shows a lack of backbone that invites attack.

When every peace mission had failed, the Pāṇḍavas‘ declaration of war was a rightful use of daṇḍa. Vidura argued to Dhṛtarāshṭra that Duryodhana had in effect been using daṇḍa, or threatening it, from the very start, while refusing to take sāma seriously. This reversal of the proper order was itself adharma (against dharma).

The Right Order and Measure

Vidura taught that the three methods must be used in the proper order and measure:

1. Always begin with sāma. It costs nothing, keeps relationships whole and often succeeds.
2. Use bheda when sāma fails. It needs intelligence, patience and time.
3. Turn to daṇḍa only when both have truly been used up, and then use it decisively.

A king who skips sāma and bheda and rushes straight to daṇḍa shows either arrogance (believing force is always the answer) or immaturity (unable to bear the slow work of diplomacy). Either way, force used too early usually creates more enemies than it removes.

On the other hand, a king who has used up sāma and bheda and still fails to use daṇḍa when it is needed is seen as weak, and invites attack from every side. Failing to protect what is rightfully one’s own, when one has the means to do so, is itself a form of adharma.

Duryodhana failed on both counts. He was too proud to take part in sāma honestly, rejecting every offer of peace. And he was overconfident about daṇḍa, underestimating the military strength of the Pāṇḍavas and the divine support they had.

Dāna as the Fourth Method

Some forms of this teaching add dāna (gifts and material rewards) as a fourth upāya (method), usually placed between sāma and bheda:

1. Sāma (conciliation)
2. Dāna (gifts and rewards)
3. Bheda (division)
4. Daṇḍa (force)

In this set of four, dāna means using material resources in a targeted way: winning over possible enemies with bribes, rewarding allies, or bringing wavering parties onto one’s side. Duryodhana’s trick of hospitality to win Śalya‘s loyalty was a form of dāna, though the deceit with which he carried it out makes it adharmic.

How This Plays Out in the Udyoga Parva

The whole Udyoga Parva can be read as a long reflection on the failure of sāma, and on the conditions in which daṇḍa becomes not only allowed but required. Every peace mission, from the brāhmaṇa envoy to Sañjaya‘s embassy to Kṛshṇa‘s own visit, was a serious attempt at sāma. Duryodhana rejected each one, and finally tried to take Kṛshṇa prisoner in the court at Hastināpura. That removed all doubt: sāma had truly been used up, and the Pāṇḍavas had the right to move to daṇḍa.

Vidura set out this framework for Dhṛtarāshṭra. He urged him to see that Duryodhana had closed off every path of sāma. The only question left was whether daṇḍa would be carried out by the Pāṇḍavas, in an ordered war, or by dharma itself, in an unordered correction of the whole world. Both were possible. Only one could be controlled.

Per Agni Purāṇa

The king and his daṇḍa

Agni Deva tells Vasishṭha the rāja-dharma that Pushkara taught Paraśurāma. Its first word is about daṇḍa: the king should use daṇḍa in the proper way, destroy his enemies and protect his people. He should tell them, “All of you, keep to the path of dharma. I will protect you”, and keep his word.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 218

Effort and the seven upāyas

Pushkara begins with daiva and effort. The karma a man did before, in another body, is called daiva. Yet purushakāra (one’s own effort) is the best: an adverse daiva is made favourable by effort, and effort bears fruit in its season with the help of daiva, as a field gives its crop when the farmer has worked and the rain has come. So one must act, and not sit trusting in daiva alone.

Every work begun with the upāyas that start with sāma succeeds. The upāyas are seven: sāma (conciliation), dāna (giving), bheda (division), daṇḍa (force and punishment), māyā (stratagem), upekshā (overlooking) and indrajāla (illusion).

Sāma is of two kinds, tathya (true) and atathya (untrue). Untrue sāma brings disrepute. Men of good family, of straight nature, devoted to dharma and masters of their senses, yield to sāma. By untrue sāma even rākshasas can be brought under control. To recount the help a man has given is a good way to win him over.

Bheda is used on those who hate one another, and on the angry, the frightened and the dishonoured. Their fear is increased; they are shown hope from one’s own side, and the fault through which they fear others is made known. Those who sow division in the enemy’s family must be protected. The anger of the sāmantas (vassal kings), the ministers, the sons and the like is inner anger: it is calmed first, and only then is outer anger removed.

Dāna is the best of all the upāyas, for by it fruit is gained both here and hereafter. There is no one who does not yield to dāna, and the giver can divide even those who stand united.

Daṇḍa accomplishes what sāma, dāna and bheda cannot; everything rests on daṇḍa. Used wrongly, it ruins the one who uses it. The king who punishes one who should not be punished, and spares one who should be, perishes. If the king did not protect all through daṇḍa, the devatās, daityas, nāgas, men, siddhas, bhūtas and birds would all break their bounds. It is called daṇḍa because it subdues the cruel and punishes those who deserve punishment.

Pushkara then shows the king who rules by these means as the form of the devatās: he is Sūrya in his radiance, Candra in the delight his darśana gives, Vāyu as he pervades the world through his spies, Yama Dharmarāja as he punishes faults, Agni as he punishes the crooked, Kubera as he gives to brāhmaṇas, Varuṇa as he pours offerings for the devatās, and Pṛthvī as he bears the world with patience. Ruling with the three śaktis, the power of sovereignty, of counsel and of energy, he is the very form of Śrī Mahāvishṇu.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 226

The upāyas against an enemy country

Having told how daṇḍa is used in one’s own kingdom, Pushkara tells how the four upāyas are used in an enemy’s country. There daṇḍa is of two kinds:

• Prakāśa daṇḍa (open force): levelling a village to the ground, damaging the crops and setting fires.
• Gupta daṇḍa (secret force): poisoning, setting fires in secret, having men killed in various ways through others, bringing false charges against good men, and fouling the water.

Upekshā is taken up when the king sees that he has no quarrel worth fighting, that a useless enmity is itself a calamity, that a treaty would come to the same, that sāma has not helped, that dāna only wastes wealth, and that bheda and daṇḍa will bring nothing. It is taken up too when he is sure that the enemy can do him no harm and that he can do nothing to the enemy. Then he rids himself of the enemy by simple disregard.

Māyā is to show false portents and fill the enemy with fear: a long burning firebrand tied to the tail of a great bird and flown over the enemy’s tents looks like a falling meteor. Men who show many kinds of māyā stir up the enemy, and tapasvīs and astrologers tell him, “Danger is coming to you.” The king lets it be known that he has the grace and the varas of the devatās. When battle begins he cries to his soldiers, “Heroes, fight without fear! Our allies have come, the enemy is fleeing”, raises shouts of joy and says, “My enemy is slain.” Strengthened by the command of the devatās, he enters the field armed and armoured.

Indrajāla is shown at the right time: the fourfold army of the devatās seems to come to the king’s help, blood rains on the enemy army, and the severed heads of the enemy appear on the buildings.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 234

Śrī Rāma’s teaching on the upāyas

In the teaching of Śrī Rāma on rāja-nīti, the enemy is brought under control by seven upāyas: sāma, dāna, daṇḍa, bheda, upekshā, indrajāla and māyā. Man-made calamities in the kingdom too are quieted by prompt action, nīti, treaty, sāma and the like.

Sāma is of five kinds:

1. Speaking of the help the other has given.
2. Declaring the bond of kinship between the two.
3. Speaking sweetly in praise of his qualities.
4. Showing the gain that is to come.
5. Offering oneself, saying “I am yours.”

Sāma is pleasant speech. It is to be applied as though sprinkling amṛta on the mind: looking at the other as though drinking him in with love, one should speak as though raining amṛta.

Dāna is of five kinds:

1. Giving back to a man, in the same way, whatever was received from him, of good value or poor.
2. Approving when the other takes some wealth without its being given.
3. Giving new wealth never given before.
4. Urging a man to take wealth from another.
5. Not taking wealth that is due.

Bheda is of three kinds, say those who know it: breaking friendship, creating quarrels and threatening. It works on the falsely accused, the greedy for wealth, those who were called and then insulted, those who hate the king, those burdened with heavy taxes, those who think themselves above all for their learning or family, those whose dharma, artha and kāma are broken, the angry, the falsely proud, the disregarded, those banished without cause, those worthy of honour who were not honoured, those whose wealth or women were taken, those who carry enmity in the heart but are outwardly calm, and those always suspicious. If such people are on the enemy’s side, enmity is sown among them; if they are on one’s own side, they are carefully pacified; and if they leave the enemy and come over, they are honoured. Bheda also includes showing an equal gain to both sides, a fierce fear, and very great gifts. An enemy army struck by bheda breaks like wood bored by worms.

Daṇḍa is of three kinds: taking away wealth, beating, and killing. Because it brings to completion what nothing else could, the good call it śāsana (command). It must be applied with reason, and the people praise the king whose daṇḍa is fitting. But when a king, in the grip of anger, gives harsh punishment, his people are agitated; they take refuge with the enemy, and the enemy, made strong by them, destroys the king. Harsh punishment is one of the three vyasanas (vices) born of anger.

In the list of the upāyas, daṇḍa is killing, seizing wealth, and affliction by bonds, beating and the like. Killing is of two kinds:

• Prakāśa-vadha (open killing): one hated by all is killed openly.
• Aprakāśa-vadha (secret killing): one whose death would stir the people, one dear to the king, one very strong, or one who harms the king’s welfare, is killed in secret. The enemies of the realm are destroyed in secret by poison, by fire, by weapons used through others, or by substances that raise boils smeared on the body.

Even one who is a brāhmaṇa by birth alone must not be given death; he is to be won over by sāma.

Which upāya for whom:

• A king with the powers of sovereignty, counsel and energy, who knows place and time, should finish his enemies by daṇḍa.
• One who has friendship and good judgement is won by sāma.
• One who is greedy and short of wealth is won by dāna.
• Wicked men who suspect one another are held in check by daṇḍa.
• Sons, brothers, relatives and the people of the country are won by dāna and bheda.
• The sāmantas, the forest tribes and others are held by bheda and daṇḍa, as the need arises.

Māyā is of two kinds. Mānusha-māyā (human stratagem) is the work of men hiding in the great hollows of pillars carved with images of devatās, of men in women’s dress, of those who show wondrous forms at night, and of those who take forms like vetālas, like piśācas spitting fire, or like devatās. So, in the Dvāpara yuga that has passed, Bhīmasena of the Pāṇḍavas, dressed as a woman, killed his enemy Kīcaka. Amānusha-māyā (more than human) is taking any form at will, raining weapons, fire, stones and water, and making darkness, a great wind, mountains and clouds appear.

Upekshā is not turning back one’s own people when they go into injustice, into vices, or into war with one much stronger. So Hiḍimbā did not stop her brother Hiḍimba when he began to fight Bhīmasena, overlooking it for her own gain.

Indrajāla is showing clouds, darkness, rain, fire, mountains and other wonders, great bannered armies standing far off, and streams of blood flowing from the cut limbs of enemy soldiers. By it the enemy is frightened. The Purāṇa also teaches that with the ṛk “Mayobhūr vātaḥ”, auspicious for cows, one overcomes indrajāla and the śāmbarī māyā (Chapter 259).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 241, 259

The four means in the hearing of cases

Vyavahāra, the king’s hearing and judging of cases, is called catuḥ-sādhana, “having four means”, because it is accomplished by sāma, dāna, bheda and daṇḍa.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 253

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa

Ṛshabhadeva rules by the four means

Śuka Maharshi tells King Parīkshit of Ṛshabhadeva, the son of Nābhi, who ruled this land. The Veda is the abode of all dharmas, and Ṛshabha knew its secrets; yet he governed the people along the path shown by the knowers of the Veda, as an example to people who did not know dharma. He ruled with the four kinds of rājanīti, and the text explains each:

• Sāma: speaking kindly.
• Dāna: winning over by giving wealth.
• Bheda: winning over by creating division among enemies.
• Daṇḍa: setting right by punishment.

While Ṛshabhadeva ruled, no one ever so much as raised an eye to another’s property with the wish to get it; to the people, the property of others was as if it did not exist.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 4

Prahlāda and the four upāyas

Nārada Maharshi tells Yudhishṭhira how Hiraṇyakaśipu sent his son Prahlāda to Śaṇḍa and Amarka, the two sons of Śukrācārya, the purohita of the rākshasas. When the purohita questioned the boy, Prahlāda answered that his mind melted of itself in the presence of Śrī Hari, who bears the cakra in his hand, as iron moves of itself near a magnet. The purohita, who was the king’s servant, scolded him in anger: “Bring the cane! This evil-minded Prahlāda, like a fire in the family line, has brought us a bad name. Of the four upāyas, sāma, dāna, bheda and daṇḍa, the śāstra says the fourth, daṇḍa, is fit for him.” He frightened Prahlāda with many means, threatening him with his pointing finger and beating him, and made him recite the śāstra that teaches only dharma, artha and kāma. So Prahlāda learned the four upāyas, sāma, dāna, bheda and daṇḍa, that a prince must know.

Yet when Prahlāda later taught his classmates, he counted daṇḍa-nīti (the science of rule and punishment) among the things the Veda teaches that all lie within the three guṇas, with dharma, artha and kāma, ātma-vidyā, karma-vidyā, the science of reasoning and the many crafts of livelihood. The one truth, he said, is for a person to offer his all to Purushottama, who dwells within him as the antaryāmī.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapters 5–6

The daṇḍa in the hand of Yama

When the Yamadūtas came for Ajāmila and the Vishṇudūtas stopped them, the Yamadūtas gave their conclusion: Ajāmila had done pāpas and had not done prāyaścitta (the rite that undoes a fault). “So we shall take him into the presence of Yama, who holds the daṇḍa, the rod of punishment, in his hand. There he will suffer punishment and become pure.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 1

The four means cannot overcome kāla

When Bhagavān Vishṇu as Vāmana had measured the worlds and the asuras rose against him, the attendants of Bhagavān Vishṇu drove them back. Bali remembered Śukrācārya‘s śāpa and held his people back. “O Vipracitti, O Rāhu, O Nemi, hear my word,” he said. “Stop the battle and turn back. This time is not favourable to us. It is kāla that gives joy and sorrow to all beings, and a man cannot overcome it by his own effort. The same kāla that once gave us good fortune and the dwellers of svarga sorrow today gives us sorrow and the devas prosperity. By army, ministers, intelligence, forts, mantras, herbs, yantras and the like, and by the four means, sāma, dāna, bheda and daṇḍa, a man cannot overcome kāla. This is certain.” If daiva turned favourable, he said, they could conquer; so they should wait for the time that would favour them. The commanders of the lines of Diti and Danu accepted his word and entered Rasātala.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 21

Śrī Kṛshṇa as Kāla who holds the daṇḍa

After Śrī Kṛshṇa lifted Govardhana, Indra came to him with Kāmadhenu and praised him. Greed, anger and such states, Indra said, are marks of the ignorant and can have no place in Śrī Kṛshṇa; even so, to punish the wicked and protect dharma, he carries out punishment. “You alone are the father, the guru and the supreme ruler of all beings. You are Kāla, Time, who holds the rod of punishment, the daṇḍa, and cannot be overstepped.” For līlā he takes avatāras and humbles the pride of those who boast that they are lords of the world; by his punishment even the wicked are brought to the right path.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 27

Per Bhavishya Purāṇa

The four means in a husband’s conduct

In the Brahma Parva, Brahmā teaches a man’s conduct towards women within vivāha dharma (the dharma of marriage). Wives, he says, must be guarded with watchfulness and given upacāras (attentions and honour) as fitting, and women can be shaped into good wives by daily upacāras. Then he names the four means:

• An excellent woman is won by sāma and dāna.
• A middling woman is won by dāna and bheda.
• A low woman is won by bheda and daṇḍa.

With a low woman the śishṭas (the cultured) first use bheda and daṇḍa, and then, looking to her children, also use sāma and dāna. This, Brahmā says, is the duty of the śishṭas in strī-prasādhana (the winning over of women).

In the same chapter he warns that hatred towards a husband comes from causes such as unevenness in upacāras, partiality, harsh words out of place and severe punishment, and that a man must not commit the faults that ruin his wives. Whoever conducts himself by this teaching attains in full the dharma, artha and kāma of this world.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 8

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 7–8
• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 33–40 (Vidura-nīti, Prajāgara Parva)
• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 218, 226, 234, 241, 253, 259
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 4; Skandha 6, Chapter 1; Skandha 7, Chapters 5–6; Skandha 8, Chapter 21; Skandha 10, Chapter 27
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 8