Chapter 140

“Yudhishthira said, ‘When both righteousness and men, O Bharata, decay inconsequence of the gradual lapse of Yuga, and when the world becomesafflicted by robbers, how, O Grandsire, should a king then behave?'[419]

“Bhishma said, ‘I shall tell thee, O Bharata, the policy the king shouldPursue at such distressful times. I shall tell thee how he should bearhimself at such a time, casting off compassion. In this connection iscited the old story of the discourse between Bharadwaja and kingSatrunjaya. There was a king named Satrunjaya among the Sauviras. He wasa great car-warrior. Repairing to Bharadwaja, he asked the Rishi aboutthe truths of the science of Profit,–saying,–How can an unacquiredobject be acquired? How again, when acquired, can it be increased? Howalso, when increased, can it be protected? And how, when protected,should it be used?–Thus questioned about the truths of the science ofProfit, the regenerate Rishi said the following words fraught withexcellent reason unto that ruler for explaining those truths.

“The Rishi said, ‘The king should always stay with the rod ofchastisement uplifted in his hand. He should always display his prowess.Himself without laches, he should mark the laches of his foes. Indeed,his eyes should ever be used for that purpose. At the sight of a king whohas the rod of chastisement ever uplifted in his hand, every one isstruck with fear. For this reason, the king should rule all creatureswith the rod of chastisement. Men possessed of learning and knowledge oftruth applaud Chastisement. Hence, of the four requisites of rule, viz.,Conciliation, Gift, Disunion, and Chastisement, Chastisement is said tobe the foremost. When the foundation of that which serves for a refuge iscut away, all the refugees perish. When the roots of a tree are cut away,how would the branches live? A king possessed of wisdom should cut awaythe very roots of his foe. He should then win over and bring under hissway the allies and partisans of that foe. When calamities overtake theking, he should without losing time, counsel wisely, display his prowessproperly, fight with ability, and even retreat with wisdom. In speechonly should the king exhibit his humility, but at heart he should besharp as a razor. He should cast off lust and wrath, and speak sweetlyand mildly. When the occasion comes for intercourse with an enemy, a kingpossessed of foresight should make peace, without reposing blind trust onhim. When the business is over, he should quickly turn away from the newally. One should conciliate a foe with sweet assurances as if he were afriend. One, however, should always stand in fear of that foe as livingin a room within which there is a snake. He whose understanding is to bedominated by thee (with the aid of thine intellect) should be comfortedby assurances given in the past. He who is of wicked understanding shouldbe assured by promises of future good. The person, however, that ispossessed of wisdom, should be assured by present services. The personwho is desirous of achieving prosperity should join hands, swear, usesweet words, worship by bending down his head, and shed tears.[420] Oneshould bear one’s foe on one’s shoulders as long as time is unfavourable.When however, the opportunity has come, one should break him intofragments like an earthen jar on a stone. It is better, O monarch that aking should blaze up for a moment like charcoal of ebony-wood than thathe should smoulder and smoke like chaff for many years. A man who hasmany purposes to serve should not scruple to deal with even an ungratefulperson. If successful, one can enjoy happiness. If unsuccessful, oneloses esteem. Therefore in accomplishing the acts of such persons, oneshould, without doing them completely, always keep something unfinished.A king should do what is for his good, imitating a cuckoo, a boar, themountains of Meru, an empty chamber, an actor, and a devoted friend.[421]The king should frequently, with heedful application, repair to thehouses of his foes, and even if calamities befall them, ask them abouttheir good. They that are idle never win affluence; nor they that aredestitute of manliness and exertion; nor they that are stained by vanity;nor they that fear unpopularity; nor they that are alwaysprocrastinating. The king should act in such a way that his foe may notsucceed in detecting his laches. He should, however, himself mark thelaches of his foes. He should imitate the tortoise which conceals itslimbs. Indeed, he should always conceal his own holes. He should think ofall matters connected with finance like a crane.[422] He should put forthhis prowess like a lion. He should lie in wait like a wolf and fall uponand pierce his foes like a shaft. Drink, dice, women, hunting, andmusic,–these he should enjoy judiciously. Addiction to these isproductive of evil. He should make bows with bamboos, etc.; he shouldsleep cautiously like the deer; he should be blind when it is necessarythat he should be so, or he should even be deaf when it is necessary tobe deaf. The king possessed of wisdom should put forth his prowess,regardful of time and place. If these are not favourable, prowess becomesfutile. Marking timeliness and untimeliness reflecting upon his ownstrength and weakness, and improving his own strength by comparing itwith that of the enemy, the king should address himself to action. Thatking who does not crush a foe reduced to subjection by military force,provides for his own death like the crab when she conceives. A tree withbeautiful blossoms may be lacking in strength. A tree carrying fruits maybe difficult of climbing; and sometimes trees with unripe fruits looklike trees with ripe fruits. Seeing all these facts a king should notallow himself to be depressed. If he conducts himself in such a way, thenhe would succeed in upholding himself against all foes. The king shouldfirst strengthen the hopes (of those that approach him as suitors). Heshould then put obstacles in the way of the fulfilment of those hopes. Heshould say that those obstacles are merely due to occasion. He shouldnext represent that those occasions are really the results of gravecauses. As long as the cause of fear does not actually come, the kingshould make all his arrangements like a person inspired with fear. When,however, the cause of fear comes upon him, he should smite fearlessly. Noman can reap good without incurring danger. If, again, he succeeds inpreserving his life amid danger, he is sure to earn great benefits.[423]A king should ascertain all future dangers; when they are present, heshould conquer them; and lest they grow again, he should, even afterconquering them, think them to be unconquered. The abandonment of presenthappiness and the pursuit of that which is future, is never the policy ofa person possessed Of intelligence. The king who having made peace with afoe sleeps happily in truthfulness is like a man who sleeping on the topof a tree awakes after a fall. When one falls into distress, one shouldraise one’s self by all means in one’s power, mild or stern; and aftersuch rise, when competent, one should practise righteousness. The kingshould always honour the foes of his foes. He should take his own spiesas agents employed by his foes. The king should see that his own spiesare not recognised by his foe. He should make spies of atheists andascetics and send them to the territories of his enemies. Sinful thieves,who offend against the laws of righteousness and who are thorns in theside of every person, enter gardens and places of amusement and housesset up for giving drinking water to thirsty travellers and public innsand drinking spots and houses of ill fame and holy places and publicassemblies. These should be recognised and arrested and put down. Theking should not trust the person that does not deserve to be trusted norshould he trust too much the person that is deserving of trust. Dangersprings from trust. Trust should never be placed without previousexamination. Having by plausible reasons inspired confidence in theenemy, the king should smite him when he makes a false step. The kingshould fear him, from whom there is no fear; he should also always fearthem that should be feared. Fear that arises from an unfeared one maylead to total extermination. By attention (to the acquisition ofreligious merit), by taciturnity, by the reddish garb of ascetics, andwearing matted locks and skins, one should inspire confidence in one’sfoe, and then (when the opportunity comes) one should jump upon him likethe wolf. A king desirous of prosperity should not scruple to slay son orbrother or father or friend, if any of these seek to thwart his objects.The very preceptor, if he happens to be arrogant, ignorant of what shouldbe done and, what should not, and a treader of unrighteous paths,deserves to be restrained by chastisement. Even as certain insects ofsharp stings cut off all flowers and fruits of the trees on which theysit, the king should, after having inspired confidence in his foe byhonours and salutations and gifts, turn against him and shear him ofeverything. Without piercing the very vitals of others, withoutaccomplishing many stern deeds, without slaughtering living creaturesafter the manner of the fisherman, one cannot acquire great prosperity.There is no separate species of creatures called foes or friends. Personsbecome friends or foes according to the force of circumstances. The kingshould never allow his foe to escape even if the foe should indulgepiteous lamentations. He should never be moved by these; on the otherhand, it is his duty to destroy the person that has done him an injury. Aking desirous of prosperity should take care to attach to himself as manymen as he can, and to do them good. In behaving towards his subjects heshould always be free from malice. He should also, with great care,punish and check the wicked and disaffected. When he intends to takewealth, he should say what is agreeable. Having taken wealth, he shouldsay similar things. Having struck off one’s head with his sword, heshould grieve and shed tears. A king desirous of prosperity should drawothers unto himself by means of sweet words, honours, and gifts. Eventhus should he bind men unto his service. The king should never engage infruitless disputes. He should never cross a river with the aid only ofhis two arms. To eat cow-horns is fruitless and never invigorating. By,eating them one’s teeth are broken while the taste is not gratified. Thetriple aggregate has three disadvantages with three Inseparable adjuncts.Carefully considering those adjuncts, the disadvantages should beavoided.[424] The unpaid balance of a debt, the unquenched remnant of afire, and the unslain remnant of foes, repeatedly grow and increase.Therefore, all those should be completely extinguished and exterminated.Debt, which always grows, is certain to remain unless whollyextinguished. The same is the cause with defeated foes and neglectedmaladies. These always produce great feat. (One should, therefore, alwayseradicate them). Every act should be done thoroughly One should be alwaysheedful. Such a minute thing as a thorn, if extracted badly, leads toobstinate gangrene. By slaughtering its population, by tearing up itsroads and otherwise injuring them, and by burning and pulling down itshouses, a king should destroy a hostile kingdom. A kings should befar-sighted like the vulture, motionless like a crane, vigilant like adog, valiant like a lion, fearful like a crow, and penetrate theterritories of his foes like a snake with ease and without anxiety. Aking should win over a hero by joining his palms, a coward by inspiringhim with fear, and a covetous man by gifts of wealth while with an equalhe should wage war. He should be mindful of producing disunion among theleaders of sects and of conciliating those that are dear to him. Heshould protect his ministers from disunion and destructions. If the kingbecomes mild, the people disregard him. If he becomes stern, the peoplefeel it as an affliction. The rule is that he should be stern when theoccasion requires sternness, and mild when the occasion requiresmildness. By mildness should the mild be cut. By mildness one may destroythat which is fierce. There is nothing that mildness cannot effect. Forthis reason, mildness is said to be sharper than fierceness. That kingwho becomes mild when the occasion requires mildness and who becomesstern when sternness is required, succeeds in accomplishing all hisobjects, and in putting down his foes. Having incurred the animosity of aperson possessed of knowledge and wisdom, one should not draw comfortfrom the conviction that one is at a distance (from one’s foe).Far-reaching are the arms of an intelligent man by which he injures wheninjured. That should not be sought to be crossed which is reallyuncrossable. That should not be snatched from the foe which the foe wouldbe able to recover. One should not seek to dig at all if by digging onewould not succeed in getting at the root of the thing for which one digs.One should never strike him whose head one would not cut off. A kingshould not always act in this way. This course of conduct that I havelaid down should be pursued only in seasons of distress. Inspired by themotive of doing thee good I have said this for instructing thee as to howthou shouldst bear thyself when assailed by foes.

“Bhishma continued, ‘The ruler of the kingdom of the Sauviras, hearingthese words spoken by that Brahmana inspired with the desire of doing himgood, obeyed those instructions cheerfully and obtained with his kinsmenand friends blazing prosperity.'”