Verse 7.186

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

शत्रुसेविनि मित्रे च गूढे युक्ततरो भवेत् ।
गतप्रत्यागते चैव स हि कष्टतरो रिपुः ॥ १८६ ॥

śatrusevini mitre ca gūḍhe yuktataro bhavet |
gatapratyāgate caiva sa hi kaṣṭataro ripuḥ || 186 ||

He shall be very much on his guard against an ally who may be secretly serving the enemy, as also against one who has gone away and returned; as he is the more dangerous enemy.—(1 86)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Who is serving his enemy secretly,’—hidden;—against such an ‘ally’, as also against ‘one who has gone away and returned’—‘he shall be very much on guard; he shall be careful, watchful, in regard to them; i.e. he shall not trust them. Because such a person is ‘the more dangerous enemy’—worse than one who is openly hostile to him.

The use of the epithets ‘very much on guard’ and ‘more dangerous’ implies that the person who has gone over to the other side and returned again should not be received back.

Such a person is of four kinds:—(1) He who has gone away for some reason, and comes back for some reason contrary to the reason for which he had gone, e.g. he went away on account of some defect in his chief, and comes back on having thought of his good qualities; (2) he who has come back for some reason; from among these the person who comes back for some reason shall be dismissed, as being fickle-minded and careless in his acts, and hence no confidence can be reposed in him;—(3) he who has gone for some reason, and returns also for the same reason; e.g. he goes on account of some bad quality of his chief, and returns also on account of some bad quality in his new chief; such a person shall be received with honour, and if his return is found to be due to his attachment to the former chief, he shall be taken back; (4) on the other hand, if he be found to have been deputed by the enemy of his chief with a view to cause some injury to his former chief, then he shall not be taken back.—(186)

When the king has started on his expedition against a hostile kingdom.—

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 397).