Verse 9.294 [The Seven ‘Limbs’ of the Kingdom (saptāṅga)]

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

स्वाम्य्ऽमात्यौ पुरं राष्ट्रं कोशदण्डौ सुहृत् तथा ।
सप्त प्रकृतयो ह्येताः सप्ताङ्गं राज्यमुच्यते ॥ २९४ ॥

svāmy'mātyau puraṃ rāṣṭraṃ kośadaṇḍau suhṛt tathā |
sapta prakṛtayo hyetāḥ saptāṅgaṃ rājyamucyate || 294 ||

The master and the minister, the capital city, the people, the treasury and the army, and the ally,—these are the seven constituents; and the kingdom is described as having ‘seven limbs.’—(294)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The ‘Removal of Thorns’ having been dealt with, the author now proceeds to describe such duties of the king as bear entirely upon the administration of the kingdom. If the administration is carried on in this manner, the kingdom is safe: so also there is safety in the kingdom if law-suits are justly disposed of and thorns are effectively removed. Then again, in most cases the ‘thorns’—i.e., the worst criminals—consist of persons attached to the Queen or to the Princes, to the king’s favourities or to the commanders of armies and so forth; and it is possible that the king may not remove this, being guided by some such notion as—‘In the event of a dangerous upheaval among the people I shall have great need for the army-commander, or for the tributary chief,—why should I punish him, simply for some offence against the people?’—and it is in view of this that the author is proceeding with the subjects of the ‘constituents’ of the kingdom. And from what follows, it is clear that the People stand on the same footing as the King himself,—being as much a ‘constituent’ of the kingdom as the latter; though there may be some difference in the degree of their relative importance. For instance, if there is disurbance among the people due to some act of the Minister, this should be suppressed; because the people are of greater importance than the Minister; or, the king may desist from hasty action, and try to find out the^‘thorn’ and remove him. it is for this reason that portions of the teachings contained in Discourse VII ate extracted and set forth in the present connection.

‘Master’—i.e. the King himself.

‘Minister’—the Councillor, the Priest, the Army-Commander.

‘Capital City’—the city containing the king’s residence.

‘People’—the public.

‘Treasury’—store of gold and silver and other valuables.

^‘Army’—consisting of elephants, horses and foot-soldiers.

^‘Ally’—one having the same end in view: as has been described^‘next to him comes the Ally.’

These are the ‘constituents’—causes, components—of the kingdom; in the same manner as the potsherds are of the jar.

Or the term ‘prakṛti’ may he taken as standing for ‘svabhāva,’^‘nature;’ the sense in that case would be that the kingdom is of the nature of these.

It is these seven that have been divided into seventy-two parts, the details of which have been already described.—(294)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 278).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 9.294-297)

Yājñavalkya (1.352).—‘The Master, the Minister, the People, the Fort, the Treasury, Forces, and Allies,—these are the constituent factors of the kingdom, which is, on that account, called seven-limbed.’

Kāmandaka (1.16).—‘King, Minister, Kingdom, Fort, Treasury, Army and Allies are known to form the seven constituents of the state; good sense and unebbing energy are its primary stay.’

Do. (4.1-2).—‘King, Minister, Kingdom, Fort, Treasury, Army and Allies are the seven constituents of the State. They contribute to one another’s weal, etc.’

Do. (8.4-5),—‘Minister, Fort, Kingdom, Treasury and Army these five have been said, by persons well-versed in Polity, to be the principal constituents of a Central Sovereign. These five and the allied sovereigns, and in the seventh place, the central monarch himself;—these together have been said by Bṛhaspati to compose what is known as government with seven constituents.’

Do. (14.1).—‘The constituents, beginning with the Minister and ending with the Ally are said to be the constituents of government. Of all the weaknesses, the gravest is the weakness of the Ruler himself.’