Verse 7.153

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

दूतसम्प्रेषणं चैव कार्यशेषं तथैव च ।
अन्तःपुरप्रचारं च प्रणिधीनां च चेष्टितम् ॥ १५३ ॥

dūtasampreṣaṇaṃ caiva kāryaśeṣaṃ tathaiva ca |
antaḥpurapracāraṃ ca praṇidhīnāṃ ca ceṣṭitam || 153 ||

—or the sending of ambassadors, the remaining details of undertakings, on the affairs of the harem, and on the work of spies;—(153)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

He shall deliberate upon the sending of ambassadors to the king with whom he intends to enter into alliance, or on whom he is going to declare war.

He shell also deliberate upon the ‘remaining details’ of such undertakings as have been already taken in hand,—with a view to complete them.

Protected by a trusted body-guard, he shall enter the harem situated in another apartment of his palace; and there he shall visit the senior and absolutely pure and trusted queen, and not one who is not pure and free from suspicions. For one Bhadrasena, the king’s brother, hidden in one of the rooms and under the bed of his mother, once killed the king;—a queen struck the king of Avanti on his abdomen with her anklet besmeared with poison, through her association with another man; another queen struck the King Viduratha of Sauvīra with a weapon hidden in her hair. So all these secret places the king shall examine with care; and he shall prohibit the association of the maids of his harem with strangers with shaved head or with matted locks, or with maid-servants from outside.

He shall deliberate also upon the work—the transactions—of his spies, who may have gone to work as beggars with bowls and under other disguises.—(153)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 410);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 159);—again on p. 317, where ‘praṇidhi’ is explained as ‘spy.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Kāmandaka (12.25).—(See under 122.)