Kautilya to the front!

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BBC reports: Tuesday, 14 May, 2002, 11:13 GMT 12:13 UK

 

India defence

looks to

ancient text

 

The book includes a special diet for soldiers in combat

 

 

By Shaikh Azizur Rahman

in Bombay

 

 

 

 

Indian scientists are turning to an ancient

Hindu text in their search for the secrets of

effective stealth warfare.

 

They believe the book,

the Arthashastra,

written more than

2,300 years ago, will

give Indian troops the

edge on their enemies.

 

India's Defence

Minister George Fernandes has approved

funding for the project, and told parliament

recently that experiments had begun.

 

The research is being carried out by experts

from the Defence Research and

Development Organisation and scientists

from the University of Pune and National

Institute of Virology in western India.

 

The book includes the recipe for a single

meal that will keep a soldier fighting for a

month, methods of inducing madness in the

enemy as well as advice on chemical and

biological warfare.

 

Powders and remedies

 

The book was written by military strategist

Kautilya, also known as Chanakya and

Vishnugupta, a prime minister in the court

of India's first emperor Chandragupta

Maurya, in the fourth century BC.

 

"All of us are excited

about the

possibilities and do

not for a moment

think that the idea is

crazy," said Professor

SV Bhavasar, a space

scientist who has

spent many years

researching the

Arthashastra.

 

"Decoding ancient

texts is not an easy

task but we are very hopeful of success," he

added.

 

According to a Pune University report, the

book says that soldiers fed with a single

meal of special herbs, milk and clarified

butter can stay without food for an entire

month.

 

Shoes made of camel skin smeared with a

serum made from the flesh of owls and

vultures can help soldiers walk hundreds of

miles during a war without feeling tired.

 

A powder made from fireflies and the eyes

of wild boar can endow soldiers with night

vision.

 

Chemical warfare

 

Kautilya wrote in the Arthashastra that a

ruler could use any means to attain his goal,

and Book XIV touches on aspects of

chemical and biological warfare.

 

The book says that

smoke from burning

a powder made from

the skin and excreta

of certain reptiles,

animals and birds can

cause madness and

blindness in the

enemy.

 

The book also

provides the formula

to create a lethal

smoke by burning

certain species of

snakes, insects and plant seeds in makeshift

laboratories.

 

"Our focus at present is on how humans

can control hunger for longer durations and

walk for longer period without experiencing

fatigue,

 

Project leader Dr VS Ghole, head of the

environmental engineering department of

Pune university, said the team was now

focusing on the methods of controlling

hunger and increasing stamina.

 

"Once we have made some headway we will

go into researching Kautilya's notes on

night vision and other fields," he said.

 

Professor SV Bhavasar said the team also

had plans to research other ancient Hindu

texts.

 

These include manuscripts which "claim to

provide secrets of manufacturing planes

which can not be destroyed by any external

force, could be motionless in the sky and

even invisible to enemy planes."

 

 

========================================================

Michael Witzel

Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University

2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138, USA

 

ph. 1- 617-496 2990 (also messages)

home page: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm