Chapter 57

“Bhishma said, ‘The king, O Yudhishthira, should always be ready foraction. That king is not worth of praise who, like a woman, is destituteof exertion. In this connection, the holy Usanas has sting a Sloka, Omonarch. Listen to it with attention, O king, as I recite it to thee:’Like a snake swallowing up mice, the earth swallows tip these two, theking that is averse to battle and the Brahmana that is exceedinglyattached to wives and children.[163] It behoveth thee, O tiger amongkings, to bear this always in thy heart. Make peace with those foes withwhom (according to the ordinance) peace should be made, and wage war withthem with whom war should be waged. Be he thy preceptor or be he thyfriend, he that acts inimically towards thy kingdom consisting of sevenlimbs, should be slain.[164] There is an ancient Sloka sung by kingMarutta, agreeable to Vrihaspati’s opinion, O monarch, about the duty ofkings. According to the eternal provision, there is punishment for eventhe preceptor if he becomes haughty and disregardful of what should bedone and what should not, and if he transgresses all restraints. Jadu’sson, king Sagara, of great intelligence, from desire of doing good to thecitizens, exiled his own eldest son Asamanjas. Asamanjas, O king, used todrown the children of the citizens in the Sarayu. His sire, therefore,rebuked him and sent him to exile. The Rishi Uddalaka cast off hisfavourite son Swetaketu (afterwards) of rigid penances, because thelatter used to invite Brahmanas with deceptive promises of entertainment.The happiness of their subjects, observance of truth, and sincerity ofbehaviour are the eternal duty of kings. The king should not covet thewealth of others. He should in time give what should be given, If theking becomes possessed of prowess, truthful in speech, and forgiving intemper, he would never fall away from prosperity. With soul cleansed ofvices, the king should be able to govern his wrath, and all hisconclusions should be conformable to the scriptures. He should alsoalways pursue morality and profit and pleasure and salvation(judiciously). The king should always conceal his counsels in respect ofthese three, (viz., morality, profit, and pleasure). No greater evil canbefall the king than the disclosure of his counsels. Kings should protectthe four orders in the discharge of their duties. It is the eternal dutyof kings to prevent a confusion of duties in respect of the differentorders. The king should not repose confidence (on others than his ownservants), nor should he repose full confidence (on even his servants).He should, by his own intelligence, took after the merits and defects ofthe six essential requisites of sovereignty.[165] The king who isobservant of the laches of his foes, and judicious in the pursuit ofmorality, profit, and pleasure, who sets clever spies for ascertainingsecrets and seeks to wean away the officers of his enemies by presents ofwealth, deserves applause. The king should administer justice like Yamaand amass wealth like Kuvera. He should also be observant of the meritsand defects of his own acquisitions and losses and of his own dominions.He should feed those that have not been fed, and enquire after those thathave been fed. Possessed of sweet speech, he could speak with a smiling(and not with a sour) countenance. He should always wait upon those thatare old in years and repress procrastination. He should never covet whatbelongs to others. He should firmly follow the behaviour of the righteousand, therefore, observe that behaviour carefully. He should never takewealth from those that are righteous. Taking the wealth of those that arenot righteous he should give it unto them that are righteous. The kingshould himself be skilful in smiting. He should practise liberality. HeShould have his soul under control. He should dress himself withsplendour. He should make gifts in season and regular in his meals. Heshould also be of good behaviour. The king desirous of obtainingprosperity should always bind to his service men that are brave, devoted,incapable of being deceived by foes,[166] well-born, healthy,well-behaved, and connected with families that are well-behaved,respectable, never inclined to insult others, conversant with all thesciences, possessing a knowledge of the world and its affairs, unmindfulof the future state of existence, always observant of their duties,honest, and steadfast like mountains. There should be no differencebetween him and them as regards objects of enjoyment. The onlydistinction should consist in his umbrella and his power or passingorders. His conduct towards them, before or behind, should be the same.The king who behaves in this way never comes to grief. That crooked andcovetous king who suspects everybody and who taxes his subjects heavily,is soon deprived of life by his own servants and relatives. That king,however, who is of righteous behaviour and who is ever engaged inattracting the hearts of his people, never sinks when attacked by foes.If overcome, he soon regains his position. If the king is not wrathful,if he is not addicted to evil practices and not severe in hispunishments, if he succeeds in keeping his passions under control, hethen becomes an object of confidence unto all like the Himavat mountains(unto all creatures). He is the best of kings who hath wisdom, who ispossessed of liberality, who is ready to take advantage of the laches offoes, who has agreeable features, who is conversant with what is bad foreach of the four orders of his subjects, who is prompt in action, who hashis wrath under control, who is not vindictive, who is high-minded, whois not irascible by disposition, who is equal engaged in sacrifices andother religious acts, who is not given to boasting, and who vigorouslyprosecutes to completion all works commenced by him. He is the best ofkings in whose dominions men live fearlessly like sons in the house oftheir sire. He is the best of kings whose subjects have not to hide theirwealth and are conversant with what is good and what is bad for them. He,indeed, is a king whose subjects are engaged in their respective dutiesand do not fear to cast off their bodies when duty calls for it; whosepeople, protected duly, are all of peaceful behaviour, obedient, docile,tractable, unwilling to be engaged in disputes, and inclined toliberality. That king earns eternal merit in whose dominions there is nowickedness and dissimulation and deception and envy. That king trulydeserves to rule who honours knowledge, who is devoted to the scripturesand the good of his people, who treads in the path of the righteous, andwho is liberal. That king deserves to rule, whose spies and counsels andacts, accomplished and unaccomplished, remain unknown to his enemies. Thefollowing verse was sung in days of old by Usanas of Bhrigu’s race, inthe narrative called Ramacharita, on the subject, O Bharata, of kinglyduties: ‘One should first select a king (in whose dominions to live).Then should he select a wife, and then earn wealth. If there be no king,what would become of his wife and acquisition’?’ Regarding those that aredesirous of kingdom, there is no other eternal duty more obligatory thanthe protection (of subjects). The protection the king grants to hissubjects upholds the world.[167] Manu, the son of Prachetas, sang thesetwo verses respecting the duties of kings. Listen to them with attention:’These six persons should be avoided like a leaky boat on the sea, viz.,a preceptor that does not speak, a priest that has not studied thescriptures, a king that does not grant protection, a wife that utterswhat is disagreeable, a cow-herd that likes to rove within the village,and a barber that is desirous of going to the woods.'”[168]