Talk:Digvijaya
By Swami Harshananda
digvijaya (‘conquering [in all] directions’)
Expeditions by ambitious kings for conquering others’ territories or for collecting ransoms from them have been known to exist right from the most ancient times. Such expeditions were called ‘digvijaya’.
Kautilya’s Arthaśāstra (12.1) classifies such digvijayas into three kinds:—
(1) dharmavijaya: Here the conqueror is satisfied if the defeated ruler agrees to be submissive. (2) lobhavijaya: The conqueror is satisfied if he gets land and money.
(3) asuravijaya: This is the lowest and abominable type since the conqueror robs the vanquished king of all his possessions.
The dharmaśāstra works condemn the last one.
References[edit]
* The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore