SECTION LVII
"Bhishma said, 'The king, O Yudhishthira, should always be ready for
action. That king is not worth of praise who, like a woman, is destitute
of exertion. In this connection, the holy Usanas has sting a Sloka, O
monarch. Listen to it with attention, O king, as I recite it to thee:
'Like a snake swallowing up mice, the earth swallows tip these two, the
king that is averse to battle and the Brahmana that is exceedingly
attached to wives and children.[163] It behoveth thee, O tiger among
kings, to bear this always in thy heart. Make peace with those foes with
whom (according to the ordinance) peace should be made, and wage war with
them with whom war should be waged. Be he thy preceptor or be he thy
friend, he that acts inimically towards thy kingdom consisting of seven
limbs, should be slain.[164] There is an ancient Sloka sung by king
Marutta, agreeable to Vrihaspati's opinion, O monarch, about the duty of
kings. According to the eternal provision, there is punishment for even
the preceptor if he becomes haughty and disregardful of what should be
done and what should not, and if he transgresses all restraints. Jadu's
son, king Sagara, of great intelligence, from desire of doing good to the
citizens, exiled his own eldest son Asamanjas. Asamanjas, O king, used to
drown the children of the citizens in the Sarayu. His sire, therefore,
rebuked him and sent him to exile. The Rishi Uddalaka cast off his
favourite son Swetaketu (afterwards) of rigid penances, because the
latter used to invite Brahmanas with deceptive promises of entertainment.
The happiness of their subjects, observance of truth, and sincerity of
behaviour are the eternal duty of kings. The king should not covet the
wealth of others. He should in time give what should be given, If the
king becomes possessed of prowess, truthful in speech, and forgiving in
temper, he would never fall away from prosperity. With soul cleansed of
vices, the king should be able to govern his wrath, and all his
conclusions should be conformable to the scriptures. He should also
always pursue morality and profit and pleasure and salvation
(judiciously). The king should always conceal his counsels in respect of
these three, (viz., morality, profit, and pleasure). No greater evil can
befall the king than the disclosure of his counsels. Kings should protect
the four orders in the discharge of their duties. It is the eternal duty
of kings to prevent a confusion of duties in respect of the different
orders. The king should not repose confidence (on others than his own
servants), nor should he repose full confidence (on even his servants).
He should, by his own intelligence, took after the merits and defects of
the six essential requisites of sovereignty.[165] The king who is
observant of the laches of his foes, and judicious in the pursuit of
morality, profit, and pleasure, who sets clever spies for ascertaining
secrets and seeks to wean away the officers of his enemies by presents of
wealth, deserves applause. The king should administer justice like Yama
and amass wealth like Kuvera. He should also be observant of the merits
and defects of his own acquisitions and losses and of his own dominions.
He should feed those that have not been fed, and enquire after those that
have been fed. Possessed of sweet speech, he could speak with a smiling
(and not with a sour) countenance. He should always wait upon those that
are old in years and repress procrastination. He should never covet what
belongs to others. He should firmly follow the behaviour of the righteous
and, therefore, observe that behaviour carefully. He should never take
wealth from those that are righteous. Taking the wealth of those that are
not righteous he should give it unto them that are righteous. The king
should himself be skilful in smiting. He should practise liberality. He
Should have his soul under control. He should dress himself with
splendour. He should make gifts in season and regular in his meals. He
should also be of good behaviour. The king desirous of obtaining
prosperity should always bind to his service men that are brave, devoted,
incapable of being deceived by foes,[166] well-born, healthy,
well-behaved, and connected with families that are well-behaved,
respectable, never inclined to insult others, conversant with all the
sciences, possessing a knowledge of the world and its affairs, unmindful
of the future state of existence, always observant of their duties,
honest, and steadfast like mountains. There should be no difference
between him and them as regards objects of enjoyment. The only
distinction should consist in his umbrella and his power or passing
orders. His conduct towards them, before or behind, should be the same.
The king who behaves in this way never comes to grief. That crooked and
covetous king who suspects everybody and who taxes his subjects heavily,
is soon deprived of life by his own servants and relatives. That king,
however, who is of righteous behaviour and who is ever engaged in
attracting the hearts of his people, never sinks when attacked by foes.
If overcome, he soon regains his position. If the king is not wrathful,
if he is not addicted to evil practices and not severe in his
punishments, if he succeeds in keeping his passions under control, he
then becomes an object of confidence unto all like the Himavat mountains
(unto all creatures). He is the best of kings who hath wisdom, who is
possessed of liberality, who is ready to take advantage of the laches of
foes, who has agreeable features, who is conversant with what is bad for
each of the four orders of his subjects, who is prompt in action, who has
his wrath under control, who is not vindictive, who is high-minded, who
is not irascible by disposition, who is equal engaged in sacrifices and
other religious acts, who is not given to boasting, and who vigorously
prosecutes to completion all works commenced by him. He is the best of
kings in whose dominions men live fearlessly like sons in the house of
their sire. He is the best of kings whose subjects have not to hide their
wealth and are conversant with what is good and what is bad for them. He,
indeed, is a king whose subjects are engaged in their respective duties
and do not fear to cast off their bodies when duty calls for it; whose
people, protected duly, are all of peaceful behaviour, obedient, docile,
tractable, unwilling to be engaged in disputes, and inclined to
liberality. That king earns eternal merit in whose dominions there is no
wickedness and dissimulation and deception and envy. That king truly
deserves to rule who honours knowledge, who is devoted to the scriptures
and the good of his people, who treads in the path of the righteous, and
who is liberal. That king deserves to rule, whose spies and counsels and
acts, accomplished and unaccomplished, remain unknown to his enemies. The
following verse was sung in days of old by Usanas of Bhrigu's race, in
the narrative called Ramacharita, on the subject, O Bharata, of kingly
duties: 'One should first select a king (in whose dominions to live).
Then should he select a wife, and then earn wealth. If there be no king,
what would become of his wife and acquisition'?' Regarding those that are
desirous of kingdom, there is no other eternal duty more obligatory than
the protection (of subjects). The protection the king grants to his
subjects upholds the world.[167] Manu, the son of Prachetas, sang these
two verses respecting the duties of kings. Listen to them with attention:
'These six persons should be avoided like a leaky boat on the sea, viz.,
a preceptor that does not speak, a priest that has not studied the
scriptures, a king that does not grant protection, a wife that utters
what is disagreeable, a cow-herd that likes to rove within the village,
and a barber that is desirous of going to the woods.'"[168]
