Verse 7.12

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

तं यस्तु द्वेष्टि संमोहात् स विनश्यत्यसंशयम् ।
तस्य ह्याशु विनाशाय राजा प्रकुरुते मनः ॥ १२ ॥

taṃ yastu dveṣṭi saṃmohāt sa vinaśyatyasaṃśayam |
tasya hyāśu vināśāya rājā prakurute manaḥ || 12 ||

He, who, through folly, is hostile towards him, doubtlessly perishes; because the King makes up his mind for his quick destruction.—(12).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The King shall be kept pleased, not so such with a view to obtaining desirable things from him, as for saving oneself from trouble; this is what is reiterated by the text.

He who is hostile to the King,—i.e., acts against him—‘he doubtlessly perishes’; ‘because, for his quick destruction.’ etc.—Other men may forgive a fault, on account of the difficulties involved in complaining of it to the King; which involves expenditure of money, where difficulties crop up again and again by reason of the freaks of witnesses and so forth; but in the case of the King himself, there is no such difficulty; and when once he makes up his mind to destroy a man, the man is surely ruined; the King being all-powerful; and further, if he were to appear like making special efforts for chastising such a man, this (show of weakness) would militate against his puissance (?).—(12).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 392);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 23), which adds the following notes:—‘Tam’ stands for the king,—‘dveṣṭi’ means ‘disobeys him’,—‘Sa vinaśyati’, ‘he becomes subjected by the king to death’.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 7.3-13)

See Comparative notes for Verse 7.3.