Verse 7.206-211

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

सह वाऽपि व्रजेद् युक्तः सन्धिं कृत्वा प्रयत्नतः ।
मित्रं हिरण्यं भूमिं वा सम्पश्यंस्त्रिविधं फलम् ॥ २०६ ॥
पार्ष्णिग्राहं च सम्प्रेक्ष्य तथाक्रन्दं च मण्डले ।
मित्रादथाप्यमित्राद् वा यात्राफलमवाप्नुयात् ॥ २०७ ॥
हिरण्यभूमिसम्प्राप्त्या पार्थिवो न तथैधते ।
यथा मित्रं ध्रुवं लब्ध्वा कृशमप्यायतिक्षमम् ॥ २०८ ॥
धर्मज्ञं च कृतज्ञं च तुष्टप्रकृतिमेव च ।
अनुरक्तं स्थिरारम्भं लघुमित्रं प्रशस्यते ॥ २०९ ॥
प्राज्ञं कुलीनं शूरं च दक्षं दातारमेव च ।
कृतज्ञं धृतिमन्तं च कष्टमाहुररिं बुधाः ॥ २१० ॥
आर्यता पुरुषज्ञानं शौर्यं करुणवेदिता ।
स्थौललक्ष्यं च सततमुदासीनगुणौदयः ॥ २११ ॥

saha vā'pi vrajed yuktaḥ sandhiṃ kṛtvā prayatnataḥ |
mitraṃ hiraṇyaṃ bhūmiṃ vā sampaśyaṃstrividhaṃ phalam || 206 ||
pārṣṇigrāhaṃ ca samprekṣya tathākrandaṃ ca maṇḍale |
mitrādathāpyamitrād vā yātrāphalamavāpnuyāt || 207 ||
hiraṇyabhūmisamprāptyā pārthivo na tathaidhate |
yathā mitraṃ dhruvaṃ labdhvā kṛśamapyāyatikṣamam || 208 ||
dharmajñaṃ ca kṛtajñaṃ ca tuṣṭaprakṛtimeva ca |
anuraktaṃ sthirārambhaṃ laghumitraṃ praśasyate || 209 ||
prājñaṃ kulīnaṃ śūraṃ ca dakṣaṃ dātārameva ca |
kṛtajñaṃ dhṛtimantaṃ ca kaṣṭamāhurariṃ budhāḥ || 210 ||
āryatā puruṣajñānaṃ śauryaṃ karuṇaveditā |
sthaulalakṣyaṃ ca satatamudāsīnaguṇaudayaḥ || 211 ||

Or, having made peace with his enemy, he, may return, accompanied by the latter,—finding in this the due fulfilment of the threefold reward consisting of an ally, gold and territory.—(206)

In his ‘circle’, having paid due attention to the ally who forms his rear guard, and also to the ally who occupies the position next to the said ally, the king shall obtain the result of his expedition either from his friend or from his foe.—(207)

The king does not prosper so much by gaining gold and territory as he does by obtaining a firm ally, even though this latter be weak, if fraught with future possibilities.—(208)

Even a weak ally is highly commended, if he is righteous and grateful, has his people content, and is loyal and persevering in his actions—(209)

The wise ones describe that enemy to be most troublesome who is intelligent, of noble race, brave, clever, charitable, grateful and firm.—(210)

Gentlemanliness, knowledge of men, bravery, compassionate disposition, and constant liberality are the qualities to be sought for in a Neutral.—(211)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

(verses 7.206-211)

For all men, agencies of happiness and unhappiness are set up by Destiny, which is also styled ‘merit-demerit’; and when men fall into troublesome positions, they pacify the unfavourable Destiny leading to it by special efforts put forth towards the alleviating of the evil influences; so that they are rendered favourable in the final result. (?)

The ‘knowledge of men’ stands for worldly experience. The man who is worldly wise is capable of rendering great help.

The ‘brave’ man is generally clever in business.

The ‘compassionate’ man, is one who is of sympathetic nature, and always saves men from undue greed (?)

The ‘liberal’ man is one who is always capable of providing a large amount of wealth, (206-211)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(verse 7.206)

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrddaya (Rājanīti, p. 412), which adds the following notes:—The particle ‘vā’ indicates that what the verse is speaking of is the alternative to war;—‘prayatnato yuktaḥ,’ ‘having become fully equipped with all the equipments, such as sending the ambassador and so forth, necessary for marching on the conquering expedition,’—‘saha’, ‘with the enemy,’—‘sandhim kṛtvā,’ ‘having made peace’;—‘sampaśyan,’ ‘rightly discerning,’ the ‘triple result’ in the shape of ‘friend, gold and territory’, and hence making peace on the acquisition of any one of these three, he should ‘depart’, return to his own kingdom.

(verse 7.207)

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya, (Rājanīti, p. 412), which adds the following notes:—‘Maṇḍale,’ ‘in the circle of twelve enemies’;—the ‘pārṣṇigrāha’, is the enemy whose territory lies immediately in the rear of the king who is marching on an expedition against a state in his front;—‘ākranda’ is the king whose territory lies behind that of the said pārsṇigraha,—‘samprekṣya’, ‘having duly examined the strength and weakness of both these’;—‘mitrāt’, ‘from the king against whom he was marching and with whom he has made peace;’—‘amitrāt’, ‘from the enemy against whom he was marching and who has not made peace with him’,—the king undertaking the expedition shall obtain the point of his expedition—in the shape either of victory over the enemy, or one of the ‘three results’ of peace, in the shape of ‘fri end, gold and territory.’

(verse 7.208)

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 277);—and in Rājanītiratnākara (p. 29a).

(verse 7.209)

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 277).

(verse 7.210)

This verse is quoted in Smṛtitattva (p. 743), as describing the ‘dangerous enemy’;—in Vīramitrodaya (Lakṣaṇa, p. 218);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 323).

(verse 7.211)

‘Sthaulalakṣyam’—‘Great liberality’ (Kullūka, Nārāyaṇa, Rāghavānanda and Nandana);—Kullūka asserts that both Govindarāja and Medhātithi explain the term as being ‘not sharp-sighted.’ As regards Medhātithi, whose explanation Buhler could not decipher, his words are—‘Sthūlalakṣaḥ prabhūtasyāpi arthameṣām sarvakālam kṣamate’, which means that the man who is ‘sthūlalakṣa’ looks with equanimity upon the ever-increasing prosperity of these (i.e., other kings). This may imply absence of sharp-sightedness.—Hopkins says “Medhātīthi and Govindarāja erroneously interpret as subtility”. While Govindarāja is said by Buhler to explain the term to mean ‘sūkṣmadars-hitvam but this is evidently wrong; as the initial ‘a’ Buhler has failed to notice in the manuscript

This verse is quoted in Vīramitṛodaya (Rājanīti, p. 323).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verse 7.208)

Yājñavalkya (1.351).—‘Among all gains—those of gold, land and so forth,—the gain of a friend is the best of all.’

Matsyapurāṇa (Vīramitrodaya-Rājanīti, p. 277 ).—‘ There are three kinds of friends—(1) hereditary, (2) the subsidiaries of the enemy, and (3) artificial friend.’

Arthaśāstra (Part II, p. 292).—‘Among the three gains—of Friend, Gold and Rand, the preceding is superior to the succeeding; Gold and Friend superior to land, and Friend superior to Gold.’