Chapter 83

“Yudhishthira said, ‘What should be the characteristics, O grandsire, ofthe legislators, the ministers of war, the courtiers, the generalissimos,and the counsellors of a king!’

“Bhishma said, ‘Such persons as are possessed of modesty, self-restraint,truth, sincerity, and courage to say what is proper, should be thylegislators. They that are always by thy side, that are possessed ofgreat courage, that are of the regenerate caste, possessed of greatlearning, well pleased with thee, and endued with perseverance in allacts, should, O son of Kunti, be desired by thee for becoming thyministers of war at all seasons of distress, O Bharata! One who is ofhigh descent, who, treated with honour by thee, always exerts his powersto the utmost on thy behalf, and who will never abandon thee in weal orwoe, illness or death, should be entertained by thee as a courtier. Theythat are of high birth, that are born in thy kingdom, that have wisdom,beauty of form and features, great learning, and dignity of behaviour,and that are, besides, devoted to thee, should be employed as officers ofthy army. Persons of tow descent and covetous dispositions, who are cruetand shameless would court thee, O sire, as long as their hands wouldremain wet.[244] They that are of good birth and good behaviour, that canread all signs and gestures, that are destitute of cruelty, that knowwhat the requirements are of place and time, that always seek the good oftheir master in all acts, should be appointed as ministers by the king inall his affairs. They that have been won over with gifts of wealth,honours, regardful receptions, and means of procuring felicity, and whoon that account may be regarded by thee as persons inclined to benefitthee in all thy affairs, should always be made sharers of thy happiness.They that are unchangeable in conduct, possessed of learning and goodbehaviour, observant of excellent vows, large-hearted, and truthful inspeech, will always be attentive to thy affairs and will never abandonthee, They, on the other hand, that are disrespectable, that are notobservant of restraints, that are of wicked souls, and that have fallenaway from good practices, should always be compelled by thee to observeall wholesome restraints. When the question is which of two sides shouldbe adopted, thou shouldst not abandon the many for adopting the side ofone. When, however, that one person transcends the many in consequence ofthe possession of many accomplishments, then thou shouldst, for that one,abandon the many. These are regarded as marks of superiority, viz.,prowess, devotion to pursuits that bring fame, and observance ofwholesome restraints. He, again, that honours all persons possessed ofability, that never indulges in feelings of rivalry with personspossessed of no merit, that never abandons righteousness from lust orfear or wrath or covetousness, that is adorned with humility, that istruthful in speech and forgiving in temper, that has his soul undercontrol, that has a sense of dignity, and that has been tried in everysituation, should be employed by thee as thy counsellor. High descent,purity of blood, forgiveness, cleverness, and purity of soul, bravery,gratefulness, and truth, are, O son of Pritha marks of superiority andgoodness. A wise man who conducts himself in this way,[245] succeeds indisarming his very foes of their hostility and converting them intofriend. A king that has his soul under restraint, that is possessed ofwisdom, and that is desirous of prosperity, should carefully examine themerits and demerits of his ministers. A king desirous of prosperity andof shining in the midst of his contemporaries, should have for ministerspersons connected with his trusted friends, possessed of high birth bornin his own kingdom, incapable of being corrupted, unstained by adulteryand similar vices, well tested, belonging to good families, possessed oflearning, sprung from sires and grandsires that held similar offices, andadorned with humility. The king should employ five such persons to lookafter his affairs as are possessed of intelligence unstained by pride, adisposition that is good, energy, patience, forgiveness, purity, loyalty,firmness, and courage, whose merits and faults have been well tested, whoare of mature years, who are capable of bearing burthens, and who arefree from deceit. Men that are wise in speech, that are possessed ofheroism, that are full of resources under difficulties, that are of highbirth, that are truthful, that can read signs, that are free fromcruelty, that are conversant with the requirements of place and time, andthat desire the good of their masters, should be employed by the king ashis ministers in all affairs of the kingdom. One who is bereft of energyand who has been abandoned by friends can never work with perseverance.Such a man, if employed, fails in almost every business. A ministerpossessed of little learning, even if blessed with high birth andattentive to virtue, profit, and pleasure, becomes incompetent inchoosing proper courses of action. Similarly, a person of low descent,even if possessed of great learning, always errs, like a blind manwithout a guide, in all acts requiring dexterity and foresight. A person,again, who is of infirm purposes, even if possessed of intelligence andlearning, and even if conversant with means, cannot long act withsuccess. A man of wicked heart and possessed of no learning may set hishand to work but he fails to ascertain what the results will be of hiswork. A king should never repose trust on a minister that is not devotedto him. He should, therefore, never disclose his counsels to a ministerthat is not devoted to him. Such a wicked minister, combining with theother ministers of the king, may ruin his master, like a fire consuming atree by entering its entrails through the holes in its body with the aidof the wind. Giving way to wrath, a master may one day pull down aservant from his office or reprove him, from rage, in harsh words, andrestore him to power again. None but a servant devoted to the master canbear and forgive such treatment. Ministers also become sometime highlyoffended with their royal masters. That one, however, amongst them, whosubdues his wrath from desire of doing good to his master,–that personwho is a sharer with the king of his weal and woe,–should be consultedby the king in all his affairs. A person who is of crooked heart, even ifhe be devoted to his master and possessed of wisdom and adorned with.numerous virtues, should never be consulted by the king. One who isallied with foes and who does not regard the interests of the king’ssubjects, should be known as an enemy. The king should never consult withhim. One who is possessed of no learning, who is not pure, who is stainedwith pride, who pays court to the king’s enemies, who indulges in brag,who is unfriendly, wrathful, and covetous should not be consulted by theking. One who is a stranger, even if he be devoted to the king andpossessed of great learning, may be honoured by the king and gratifiedwith assignment of the means of sustenance, but the king should neverconsult him in his affairs. A person whose sire was unjustly banished byroyal edict should not be consulted by the king even if the king may havesubsequently bestowed honours upon him and assigned to him the means ofsustenance. A well-wisher whose property was once confiscated for aslight transgression, even if he be possessed of every accomplishmentshould not still be consulted by the king. A person possessed of wisdom,intelligence, and learning, who is born within the kingdom, who is pureand righteous in all his acts, deserves to be consulted by the king. Onewho is endued with knowledge and wisdom, who is acquainted with thedispositions of his friends and foes, who is such a friend of the king asto be his second self, deserves to be consulted. One who is truthful inspeech and modest and mild and who is a hereditary servant of the king,deserves to be consulted. One who is contented and honoured, who istruthful and dignified, who hates wickedness and wicked men, who isconversant with policy and the requirements of time, and who iscourageous, deserves to be consulted by the king. One who is competent towin over all men by conciliation should be consulted, O monarch, by theking that is desirous of ruling according to the dictates of the scienceof chastisement. One upon whom the inhabitants of both the capital andthe provinces repose confidence for his righteous conduct, who iscompetent to fight and conversant with the rules of policy, deserves tobe consulted by the king. Therefore, men possessed of such qualities, menconversant with the dispositions of all and desirous of achieving highacts, should be honoured by the king and made his ministers. Their numberalso should not be less than three.[246] Ministers should be employed inobserving the laches of their masters, of themselves, of the subjects,and of the foes of their master. The kingdom has its root in the counselsof policy that flow from ministers, and its growth proceeds from the samesource. Ministers should act in such a way that the enemies of theirmaster may not be able to detect his laches. On the other hand, whentheir laches become visible, they should then be assailed. Like thetortoise protecting its limbs by withdrawing them within its shell,ministers should protect their own counsels. They should, even thus,conceal their own laches. Those ministers of a kingdom that succeed inconcealing their counsels are said to be possessed of wisdom. Counselsconstitute the armour of a king, and the limbs of his subjects andofficers. A kingdom is said to have its roots in spies and secret agents,and its strength is said to lie in counsels of policy. If masters andministers follow each other for deriving support from each other,subduing pride and wrath, and vanity and envy, they may then both becomehappy. A king should also consult with such ministers as are free fromthe five kinds of deceit. Ascertaining well, in the first instance, thedifferent opinions of the three amongst them whom he has consulted, theking should, for subsequent deliberation, repair to his preceptor forinforming him of those opinions and his own. His preceptor should be aBrahmana well versed in all matters of virtue, profit, and pleasure.Repairing, for such subsequent deliberation, to him, the king should,with collected mind, ask his opinion. When a decision is arrived at afterdeliberation with him, the king should then, without attachment, carry itout into practice. They that are conversant with the conclusions of thescience of consultation say that kings should always hold consultation inthis way. Having settled counsels in this way, they should then bereduced to practice, for then they will be able to win over all thesubjects. There should be no dwarfs, no humpbacked persons, no one of anemaciated constitution, no one who is lame or blind, no one who is anidiot, no woman, and no eunuch, at the spot where the king holds hisconsultations. Nothing should move there before or behind, above orbelow, or in transverse directions. Getting up on a boat, or repairing toan open space destitute of grass or grassy bushes and whence thesurrounding land may be clearly seen, the king should hold consultationsat the proper time, avoiding faults of speech and gestures.'”