Digvijaya

By Swami Harshananda

Digvijaya literally means ‘conquering in all directions’ and also means 'victory over many countries or kingdoms all around'.

Expeditions by ambitious kings for conquering other's territories or for collecting ransoms from them were called ‘digvijaya’.

Digvijaya As per Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra

Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra classifies such digvijayas into three kinds:

1. Dharmavijaya : 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 : The conqueror robs the defeated king of all his possessions

The dharmaśāstra works condemn the last one.

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari

Explore Other Articles

Candradhara
Citraśikhaņdī
Badarīnātha
Stridhana
Dhartarasţra