'Saam comes before dand': CJI Surya Kant explains how Kautilya shaped India's mediation tradition

Aug 02, 2026

Jaipur (Rajasthan), August 01, 2026(ANI): Speaking during Commonwealth Peace Mediation Conference, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, said, "If you remember India, then you start remembering the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, and the old our historical stories, and every story tells a new dimension of mediation that I need not to repeat. It was very well thoughtfully referred yesterday in the inaugural address. But let me tell you out of the this very history a brief reference to Kautilya's Arthashastra. That was of course centuries later. Kautilya prescribes four modes of governance and rule of law. 'Saam, Daam, Dand and Bhed'. The 'Saam' is persuasion or conciliation. 'Daam' was incentives or prize. 'Dand' was punishment or force. And 'Bhed' was division or exploitation. That was the rule for the king, that divide and rule, for the king. So Arthashastra, Kautilya, the one of the best philosophers I have ever read in in the history, he talks of the first option he gives of 'Saam' - persuasion or conciliation. Basically. the principle of mediation is originating from that very philosophy which really ultimately led to the laying down of the codified principles of governance and governance in which the rule of law plays a vital role."