Commentary on the Essence of Battle

...[he] becomes the victor. The intelligent man original: "buddhimantaḥ", transcribed here as "suddhimantaḥ" should be appointed as the commander of the king's forces in battles and similar conflicts.

4. The digits for the Eight-Cell Alphabetical Grid original: "vargāṣṭakāṃkāḥ" are: 8, 8, 3, 5, 8, ti, 6, da, 7, 4, 3, 7, 1, ka, 1, lā, 3, ri, 2. These numbers and syllables form a mnemonic code used to assign specific powers or values to the grid cells described below.

In that context, when the names of two opponents are compared, the one who possesses the higher value achieves victory.

The eight groups (vargas): the phonetic categories of the Sanskrit alphabet—beginning with the vowels, then the Ka, Ca, Ṭa, Ta, Pa, Ya, and Śa groups—should be written in the eight cells in the following order:

• In the first cell, one should write the sixteen vowels (svaras): the "breath" sounds of the alphabet, starting with 'A'.
• In the second cell, the Ka-group the velar consonants: Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha, Ṅa should be written.
• In the third cell, the Ca-group the palatal consonants: Ca, Cha, Ja, Jha, Ña should be written.
• In the fourth cell, the Ṭa-group the retroflex consonants: Ṭa, Ṭha, Ḍa, Ḍha, Ṇa should be written.
• In the fifth cell, the Ta-group the dental consonants: Ta, Tha, Da, Dha, Na should be written.
• In the sixth cell, the Pa-group the labial consonants: Pa, Pha, Ba, Bha, Ma should be written.
• In the seventh cell, the Ya-group the semi-vowels: Ya, Ra, La, Va should be written.
• In the eighth cell, the Śa-group the sibilants and 'Ha': Śa, Șa, Sa, Ha should be written.

In this manner, the characters of the eight groups are written one below the other within the eight cells. Then, above each of those cells, the following digits and mnemonic syllables should be written in sequence:

Then, for the two warriors...