27 - The Education of the Sons (continued). 

Mádalasá instructs Alarka in a king’s duties- Enforcing especially the necessity for self-control, prudence and maintenance of the laws. 

Jada spoke.

1 Now being talked to in this way by his mother every day,

2 the child Alarka grew in age and intelligence. Then this son Ritadhvaja, on roaching boyhood, received investiture with the sacred thread, and being intelligent did obeisance

3 his mother and said, “What I ought to do now for happiness this world and the next world, tell all that to me who am bowing respectfully before thee?”

Madálasá spoke.

4 “My child, a king inaugurated in his kingdom must in the it place conciliate his subjects, without obstructing his own

5 duty. Eschewing the seven vices, which are radically injurirous he must guard himself from his adversaries without departing

6 from good counsel. Just as a man meets destruction in eight ways from a fine-wheeled chariot, so undoubtedly does even a king without departing from good counsel.

7 And let him recognise the bad and good ministers through bis enemies’ faults; and he must strenuously trace out his

8 enemy’s spies by spies. But a king must not confide in friends, acquaintances, or relatives; let a king trust even in

9 an unfriendly person, if so obliged by his affairs. A king must himself be conversant with the stationary, prosperous and deteriorating conditions of state policy, be familiar with the merits of the six measures of military policy, * and not be enslaved by desire.

* Viz., sandhi, peace; vigraha, war; yána, marching; asana, enoamping dvaidhi-bháva, dividing his forces; and samashraya, alliance.

10     “A king must first subdue himself, and his ministers, then his dependants, and afterwards his citizens; then let him,

11 fight against his enemies. But he who, without having indeed conquered these, desires to conquer his adversaries, he with his own self unsubdued and with unsubdued ministers, †

† For ‘jitátmá jitámátyaḥ read ‘jitátmájitamátyaḥ? 

 12 is killed by his enemies’ party. A king must therefore, my son, first conquer desire and the other passions; for when they are conquered, victory is his assuredly; vanquished by

13 them, a king perishes. Desire, and anger, and covetousness intoxication and pride, joy also, and enemies - these in truth

14 tend to destroy kings. Let him restrain himself, recollecting how Pándu himself was killed when engrossed in love:

 15 and how Anuhráda†† killed his own son through anger; and how Aila§ was killed through covetousness; how Vena||was killed by dvijas through intoxication: how Anáyus’ ¶ son Bali

†† Son of of Hiranya kashipu. 

§ Purúravas.

|| A son of Anga. 

¶ She was his mother. 

 16 was killed through pride; Puranjaya through joy. Recollecting how, when these were conquered, high-souled Marutta vanquished all, let a king cast out these his own faults. 

17     “A king should learn the ways of the crow, cuckoo and bee, of the deer, serpent and peacock, of the gooso, cock and

18 the red goat. A king should act like an insect against an opponent; and a king should carry out the ways of the ants at

19 a fitting time. A king, who possesses the natural character of the moon and the sun, ought to know for the sako of good policy the behaviour of sparks of fire and of the seeds of the

20 seemul tree.* And a king ought to gather wisdom from a courtezan, the lotus flower,† and a grasshopper, a doe-hare, and the breast of pregnant women, and also from a woman of the cow-herd caste. 

*S’hálmali; see note * p. 82. The pods contain a quantity of silky cotton which is blown about, when the pods burst.

†Nelumbium speciosum; see note § p. 29. 

21     “A king should assume the five forms of Indra, the Sun, Yama and the Moon, and also of the Wind in the work of

22 government. Just as Indra nourishes the people on the earth with showers of water for four months, so should a king

23 nourish them with largesses. Just as the Sun draws up the water with his rays for eight months, so should a king collect

24 the tolls and other dues by truly subtle means. Just as Yama restrains friend and foe when the time arrives, so a king should be impartial towards friend and foe, towards the

25 vicious and the virtuous. Just as by gazing on the full Moon, a man grows affectionate, so, where the people are all peaceful, that is the practice he should adopt from the moon.

26 Just as the Wind moves mysterious among all creatures, so hould a king move among the citizens, ministers and others, and among his relatives by the agency of spies. 

27     “The king, my child, goes to Svarga, whose mind is attracted neither by covetousness, nor by love, nor by riches, as

28 by other motives. The king goes to Svarga, who keeps within their duty erring foolish men, who are swerving from 

29 their duty. He, in whose kingdom the duties of the four classes and the four periods of a bráhman’s life do not fall into desuetude, has, my child, eternal happiness after death

30 and in a future state. A king’s highest duty, and that which brings supreme felicity for him, is the maintenance amon men of their own laws, * since it is disturbed by evil-minded

* Dharma

31 men. By protecting creatures indeed, a king reaches success; he who duly protects gains by his efforts a portion, righteousness.”