Rāja-Sahāya and Durga in the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa

Rājadharma is the dharma (right duty) of a king. In Chapters 25 and 26 of the second part (Dvitīya Khaṇḍa) of the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Puṣkara teaches about two practical sides of ruling: the king’s sahāyas (allies and helpers), both natural and won by effort, and the seven kinds of durga (fortified stronghold) that a king can build.

These two chapters are the practical military heart of the Purāṇa’s teaching on kingship. They show how a king should manage his relations with other states and how he should protect his kingdom with physical defences.

Royal Sahāyas (Allies)

Puṣkara sorts the king’s sahāyas into groups.

Natural sahāyas are those whose interests already match the king’s own:

  • Prāktana-mitra: the old, traditional ally, whose friendship has come down through generations of treaties. This is the most reliable ally.
  • Dharma-bandhu: those who are bound to the king by shared dharma and shared observances.
  • Vipatti-bandhu: those who stood by the kingdom in its times of trouble. They are proven allies.

Cultivated sahāyas are those who can be made allies through wise policy:

  • States that share a border with a common enemy
  • States that share trade routes and gain from the same peace
  • States linked to the king through royal marriage

Unreliable sahāyas are those the king must deal with carefully:

  • States that are too powerful. They may decide that the king’s weakness helps them grow.
  • States that have recently had a reason for grievance, even if the grievance seems settled.
  • States ruled by a king who is too ambitious. Sooner or later, ambition turns on those who are close by.

The rule is simple. Win natural allies with generosity and honour. Win cultivated allies with material benefit. And never fully trust those whose interests only match yours for a while.

The Seven Types of Durga (Fortifications)

Puṣkara names seven kinds of durga:

  1. Jala-durga: a fort surrounded by water. It may be a fort on an island, or a fort whose approaches are guarded by moats that can be flooded. Water is the best passive defence. Even a small garrison can hold a jala-durga for as long as needed against a large army.
  2. Giri-durga: a fort built on or inside a mountain. It is the most naturally defensible of all durgas, because the paths leading to it are narrow and easy to guard. Puṣkara notes that a king who holds the high ground of his land in effect holds the land itself.
  3. Vana-durga: a fort hidden inside a thick forest and protected by it. The forest hides the fort and its supply paths, and makes it hard to bring up siege machines. It is especially useful as a fortress to fall back to.
  4. Dhāra-durga: a fort with very broad, deep walls and a tightly packed layout inside. The walls themselves are the fortress. It is built to withstand stone-throwing siege engines.
  5. Dharma-durga: the most unusual kind, a “fortress of dharma”. This is a city or region so filled with a righteous way of life, a united people and a respected king that enemies hold back from attacking. What stops them is not walls but the moral unity and loyalty of the people. Puṣkara calls this the highest durga, the one no army can truly break through.
  6. Mahī-durga: a fort built on a broad, flat, raised plain, protected by earthworks (ramparts of packed earth) rather than stone walls. Earthworks cost little, absorb the blows of siege weapons without shattering, and can be repaired quickly.
  7. Nara-durga: a “human fortress”. This is an army so well trained, loyal and disciplined that it can defend any ground. A king who has the true loyalty of his army has a fortress wherever that army stands.

The Teaching on the Dharma-Durga

Puṣkara speaks longest about the Dharma-durga. He stresses that it is the only durga that can never be defeated. The other six can be broken by enough force, cleverness or time. But consider a kingdom in which:

  • The king is just and easy to approach
  • Brāhmaṇas are honoured and protected
  • Trade is honest and taxes are fair
  • Even the poorest citizen can turn to the king for justice

Such a kingdom protects itself from within. Enemies are held back by the thought of facing a united people. They find no unhappy groups inside the kingdom to side with them. And in the end they are defeated by the moral strength that upholds a righteous king’s cause, even in hard times.

Sources

  • Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Uttarārdha (Dvitīya Khaṇḍa), Chapters 25–26