Abhisatyakarma (The Work of an Invader) is a chapter from the ancient Sanskrit statecraft manual Arthashastra, traditionally ascribed to Kautilya (Chanakya) of the Mauryan era (c. 4th century BCE). It instructs rulers and commanders on the art of invasion: planning campaigns, logistics, use of spies and deception, securing supply lines, exploiting enemy weakness, and integrating conquered lands. Themes of pragmatic realism, psychological warfare, and administrative foresight run through its counsel—how to break resistance, co-opt local elites, and convert conquest into stable governance. Today its value lies less in exhortations to war than in its rigorous lessons on intelligence, strategic planning, economic motives, and the ethical ambiguities of power in geopolitics and statecraft.