Chapter CXI - Commendable traits in kings etc. (in the Nitisara)

Suta said:—Now I shall deal with the commendable traits in kings, and servants in regal employ, which a king should keep a constant eye upon, during their entire period of service. A king should rule his kingdom according to the tenets of true religion, and in the light of truth and justice, and protect the country from the inroads of foreign invaders. Like a florist who makes a festoon by culling flowers from flower-bearing trees without uprooting them, a king should collect a tithe of the income of his subjects by the way of imperial revenue, without creating any hardship on, or grinding, them with an unbearable taxation. As a milkman milches a cow without exhausting the supply in, or cutting away, her teats, so a king shall justly tap the resources of an enemy’s country brought under his sway, without draining it dry or carrying fire and sword through its entire length. Hence a king should rule the world for the advancement of order and prosperity, since the Earth with the fame, valour and strength which follows a just and vigorous rule, belongs to her protector.

That king, who, having bridled his senses, dedicates himself to the service of God and the well-being of the world (Es) and the Brahmanas, is alone capable of justly ruling his subjects. Even amidst when flushed with victory and prosperity, a king should devote his Self to the pursuit of virtue, since the riches of the world are always liable to decay, whereas the opulence of the soul knows no perishing. Pleasant indeed it is to gratify one’s desires. Pleasant, indeed, are the riches of the world, but they are fickle and transitory as the flurried and wistful glances of an amorous damsel.

Old age, like a tigress, is lying in wait just to spring upon a man; and Diseases, like victorious enemies, are consuming his limbs—and life, like water in a leaky vessel, is fast ebbing away. Ah, wherefore should he not attend to the well-being of his own Self? Why do you continue in complacent quietitude, oh men? Why do you allow yourselves to be smitten with the amorous glances of youthful maidens? Why do you not think of what will befall you after death? Life is transitory; and each moment, the Ghati-yantra (a timemeasuring apparatus somewhat like our modern clock) of the heart ticks out the footfalls of approaching Death.

He, who looks at another’s wife as his own mother, at another’s goods as (worthless) brickbats, and upon all men as similarly susceptible to impressions of pleasure and pain as his own self, sees but right. Kings desire realms, O lord of the Brahmanas, only for the end that their commands might not be frustrated. Kings collect money only to leave its residue at the disposal of the Brahmanas after first providing for their own legitimate wants. Omkar is the natural sound of the Brahmanas. Recitation of Omkar leads to the expansion of the suzerainty of a king and contributes to his health and prosperity in life.

Even the Munis, though otherwise incapable of earning, are found to make provisions for times of scarcity, and hence it is doubly incumbent on a sovereign, who rules his liege subjects in a paternal spirit, to keep his treasuries well-replenished at all times. He who has money, has many friends. He who has money, has many relations—he who has it is a learned man. He only is really worthy who has a long purse at his command. Friends, wives and sons forsake a man in distress and fall off in his days of adversity. They return to him with the return of fortune. Hence money is the only true friend a man may have in this life. Blind is the king who is bereft of knowledge. A blind prince may see through the eyes of his spies, but an ignorant king is always in the dark. Transient is the sovereignty of the prince whose sons, servants and priests are not always on the alert, and whose senses have lost their wonted vigour. The king who has conquered the hearts of his friends, sons and servants may already count upon the sovereignty of the whole ocean-girdled earth with the homage of the potentates of her different divisions. The king, who defies the dictates of reason and the injunctions of the Shastras, is dead both in this world and the next. Even in defeat or discomfiture a king should not give vent to grief or despondency. Equally indifferent to pleasures and pain, he shall always try to preserve his equanimity. The wise grieve not at the loss of fortune. Does not the moon-come back resplendent out of the jaws of the Rahu? Fie to him who thinks only of his body and its comforts. Grieve not at the loss of flesh and muscular strength. Whoever has not heard it that the sons of Pandu managed to retrieve their fortune even amidst almost insurmountable difficulties?

A king shall protect the courtesans by hearing their songs and witnessing their dances and theatrical performances, and bis subjects with the cultivation of sciences of money-making and warfare. An unjust and groundless chastisement of his servant by a king is often retalliated by an attempt at poisoning him. A king shall renounce all fickleness in his dealings and be always truthful and pleasantly disposed to his servants, subjects and the Brahmanas. A king, who being elated by the fealty of his friends and relations yields to the snares of gossip and falconry, is easily conquered by his adversary. A king shall not always roar nor frown, but protect his servants without infringing the rules of statecraft. Pleasures and luxurious habits are the two things which should be foresworn by a king. The luxurious and the voluptuous are easily defeated by their enemies in battle; Even the gods stand in dread of him who is possessed of energy, daring, fortitude, strength, valour and intelligence. It is an evil providence that mars the success of an energetic exertion, still a man must exert and command success.