Verse 7.215

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

उपेतारमुपेयं च सर्वोपायांश्च कृत्स्नशः ।
एतत् त्रयं समाश्रित्य प्रयतेतार्थसिद्धये ॥ २१५ ॥

upetāramupeyaṃ ca sarvopāyāṃśca kṛtsnaśaḥ |
etat trayaṃ samāśritya prayatetārthasiddhaye || 215 ||

(a) The employer of the expedients, (b) the end to be attained by the expedients and (c) the expedients themselves,—taking his stand upon all these three, he shall strive for the accomplishment of his purpose.—(215)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Sādhayet kāryamātmanaḥ’ is another reading for the last quarter of the verse.

‘The employer of the Expedients’—i.e. himself; having obtained himself, he shall accomplish his purpose, as if he were his own friend.

‘All expedients’— collectively and severally.

‘The end to be attained’— this also refers to all kinds of business in general.

‘Taking his stand upon’— having resorted to; this resorting to is accomplished by pondering over them,—as to whether the expedients are efficient enough, what would be the proper thing to do, by what means is such and such end to be attained,—all this be shall duly ponder over.

‘All’— refers to ‘the three’,—and means entirely.

The meaning thus comes to be that—‘for the accomplishment of his purpose he shall employ that particular expedient which may be capable of accomplishing it’.

As a matter of fact, the ends to be attained by means of the Expedients are endless in number; so that it is not possible to mention them all in detail; and hence they have been mentioned briefly and collectively. And all this shall be duly pondered over. It is with reference to the peculiar nature of the ends that it has been declared as follows:—

‘The careful man makes peace; the careful man has recourse to his own prowess; both these should be equipped with statesmanship, without which one would be as good as a thief.’—(215)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Upetāram’—‘The employer of the means, i.e., the king himself’ (Medhātithi, Govindarāja, Kullūka, Nārāyaṇa and Rāghavānanda);—‘the king’s minister’ (Nandana).

‘Āśritya’—‘Undertaking’ (Medhātithi);—‘depending upon’ (Govindarāja and Kullūka);—‘pondering over’ (Nārāyaṇa and Raghavānanda).

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 413), which explains ‘upetāram’ as ‘the employer of the means, i.e., the king himself,’—and ‘upeyam’ as ‘one who is to be won by the means employed, i.e., the enemy’—again, on p. 319, where also the explanations are repeated;—and in Nītimayūkha (p. 50).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Arthaśāstra (Part II, pp. 248 and 343).—‘He may have recourse to the methods, either singly or severally or collectively and win over the subjects.’