Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts) (11 page)

Vaishampayana said, ‘O descendant of the Bharata lineage! When the great-souled Pandavas were seated there and the great-souled gandharvas were also seated in the sabha, the immensely
energetic rishi Narada was on a tour of the worlds and came there, accompanied by other rishis. O lord of kings! The devarshi’s radiance was infinite and he could travel as he willed. He wished to please himself by seeing the Pandavas’ sabha and arrived with Parijata, the wise Parvata, Sumukha and Soumya. On seeing rishi Narada, the chief of the Pandavas,
³⁷
who knew everything about dharma, instantly arose, with his younger brothers. With humility, he worshipped him happily and offered him a seat in accordance with the prescribed rites. The righteous one offered him homage with jewels and everything that he desired. Having been thus worshipped by all the Pandavas, the great rishi who was learned in the Vedas asked Yudhishthira questions mixed with dharma, artha and kama.

‘Narada asked, “Is your wealth spent properly? Does your mind find pleasure in dharma? Do you find happiness without making your mind suffer? O god of men! Do you follow the undecaying actions followed by your grandfathers before you, to bring dharma and artha to men? Do you hurt dharma by artha or artha by dharma or both for the sake of pleasures that kama brings? O supreme among victorious ones! O benefactor who knows the value of time! Do you always divide your time equally to the service of artha, dharma and kama? O unblemished one! Do you use the six royal qualities
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to judge the seven means?
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Do you test your strengths and weaknesses in the fourteen ways?
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O supreme among victorious ones! After examining yourself and your enemies, do you follow the eight duties
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before concluding an alliance? O bull among the Bharata lineage! Are your six chief officers
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always devoted to you and not corrupted and lazy because of the riches they have earned? Are your deliberations based on reason and service of messengers and not divulged by you, your advisers or ministers? Do you pursue peace and war at the appropriate times? Do you follow the right course for those who are neutral and in the middle? O brave one! Are your ministers like you—wise, pure, capable of living, of good lineage and loyal to you? O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The root of royal victories is in counsel, kept secret by advisers who are skilled in advice and learned in the sacred texts. You have surely not become a slave to sleep and you are awake at the appropriate time. In the dead of the night, do you think about what should be done and what should not? Surely you do not seek advice from only one, or from too many. Surely the counsel obtained from your ministers does not spread throughout the kingdom. When you have decided on action that has great utility but is easily accomplished, do you implement them quickly without placing obstructions in the way? Do you examine the outcome of your action, known and unknown? Once begun, do they have to be restarted or are they confused at the start? O king! O hero! Do people know of action accomplished or partly accomplished, but not those intended and not accomplished? Have you appointed wise teachers, knowledgeable in all the shastras, to instruct all the princes and chief warriors? Do you purchase a single learned man for one thousand foolish ones? In times of distress, it is the learned one who brings the greatest good. Are all your forts stocked with riches, food, weapons, water, instruments, artisans and archers? Even a single adviser who is intelligent, brave, self-controlled and clever can bring great prosperity to a king or a king’s son. Do you use groups of three spies, who do not know one another, to find out about the eighteen ministers on the other side and the fifteen on your own territory?
⁴³
O destroyer
of enemies! Unknown to them, do you always keep watch over your adversaries, with care and on guard?

‘“Is your priest humble, born of a good lineage, famous, untouched by jealousy and do you pay him homage? Is he in charge of the sacrificial fires and is he intelligent and upright, knowledgeable in the rituals? Does he always know the time when sacrifices and offerings must be rendered? Is the appointed astrologer skilled in the knowledge of rituals and in treating all the omens and destinies? Have you appointed superior servants in superior positions and medium ones in medium positions? Have you employed inferior servants in inferior positions? For the best tasks, have you appointed the best advisers, those who are without deceit and pure, up to their fathers and grandfathers? O bull among the Bharata lineage! Surely your subjects are not oppressed by harsh punishments when the ministers govern your kingdom. Do they slight you the way sacrificial priests slight those who have fallen
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or wives slight oppressive husbands addicted to desire? Is your general bold, brave, intelligent, persevering, pure, well born, loyal and skilled? Are the chief warriors of your army skilled in every kind of warfare and are they known to exhibit great valour and prowess? Do you treat them respectfully? Are your soldiers given their rations and wages on time? Do you know that non-payment of rations and wages on time makes servants angry with their masters? The learned have described this as a great calamity. Are the sons of good families chiefly loyal to you? In the field of battle, are they ever ready to give up their lives for you? In military affairs, is there a single one who is beyond control and causes harm to many because of selfish reasons? If a man performs an extraordinary act beyond what he is required to do, does he obtain greater honour, rations and wages? Do you reward, with wealth and honour, men
who are learned, humble and skilled in any type of knowledge in accordance with their qualities? O bull among the Bharata lineage! Do you support the wives of men who have given up their lives for you and those who have otherwise come to grief for your sake? O Partha! Do you offer protection, like to a son, to an enemy who has been defeated in battle, or surrenders, having become fearful and weak? O lord of the earth! Are you impartial towards everyone on earth and can they fearlessly come to you, like a father or a mother? O bull among the Bharata lineage! When you get to know that an enemy is in distress, do you inspect the three parts of your force
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and swiftly advance on him, knowing that the rear of the army is the root of defeat? O great king! Do you pay wages to your soldiers in advance? O scorcher of enemies! Do you distribute riches from the enemy kingdom among the chiefs of your army, in accordance with what they deserve? O Partha! After having first controlled your own self and senses, do you seek to defeat enemies who are enslaved by their own passions and senses? Before marching against your enemies, do you first employ the four techniques of sama, dana, danda and bheda,
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in accordance with their qualities? O lord of the earth! Do you first strengthen your base before marching out? Do you attack to win and having won, do you protect? Does your army have four types of forces
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and is it divided into eight wings,
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well trained by superior officers and capable of defeating the enemy? O scorcher of enemies! O great king! When attacking the enemy in battle, surely you do not kill during seasons of sowing and harvesting. Do the various agents in your kingdom and in those of the enemies carry on their appointed tasks and protect each other?

‘“O great king! Are the servants who protect your food, garments and perfumes approved by you? Are your treasury, granary, stable, gates, armoury and revenue department guarded well by loyal servants
whose virtue has been proved? O lord of the earth! Surely you first protect yourself against your servants, private and public, then protect them from your kinsmen and against each other. Do they know in the forenoon of your pleasures in drinking, gambling and sporting with women?
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Are expenses covered with half the revenue, or a third or a quarter? Do you always sustain with food and riches your relatives, superiors, the aged, merchants, artisans, dependents, the helpless and the distressed? Do accountants and writers employed to look after revenue and expenditure always report to you in the forenoon about both? Surely you do not dismiss without reason servants who have your welfare at heart, are loyal, are capable and who have not committed errors before. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Once you have determined the good, the indifferent and the bad, do you appoint them to the right posts? O lord of the earth! Do you appoint those who are avaricious, prone to thievery, quarrelsome and are under age? Do you oppress the kingdom with the strength of avaricious thieves, minors and women? Are the farmers content? Are the tanks in the kingdom large and full and placed at right distances, so that the harvest is not destroyed because of lack of rainfall? If food and seeds are scarce, do you grant farmers charitable loans at the rate of one
pratika
for one hundred?
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O son! Are the professions
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undertaken by those who are honest? O son! The happiness of the world depends on these professions. O king! Are the five
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who are entrusted with the five duties brave and wise? Are they to be trusted and do they bring welfare to the countryside by working together? To protect the city, is the village guarded like a
city and is the hamlet guarded like a village? Are all the remote parts under your supervision? Are thieves who steal and loot in your cities pursued over uneven and even terrain by your soldiers and forced to flee? Do you comfort and protect the women? But surely you do not trust them, nor reveal any secrets before them.

‘“After hearing from your spies and reflecting on what needs to be done and knowing those who happen to be inside,
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do you sleep comfortably and in security? O lord of the earth! O Pandava! Having slept during the first and second divisions
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of the night, do you awake in the last
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and think about dharma and artha? After waking at the right time and knowing the mysteries of time, do you always reveal yourself to men, properly adorned and accompanied by your ministers? O destroyer of enemies! Do guards dressed in red garments, armed with swords and adorned with ornaments, attend to you so as to protect you? O lord of the earth! In punishing those who deserve it and honouring those who deserve it, do you act like Yama, impartial between those you like and those you do not like? O Partha! Do you cure bodily ailments through medicines and restraint and mental ailments by serving the aged? The physicians appointed to look after your body must always be devoted to you and have your welfare at heart and are surely skilled in the eight divisions.
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O lord of the world! Out of greed, delusion or pride, surely you do not dismiss plaintiffs and defendants who come to you. From greed or delusion, do you withhold a livelihood from men who seek your protection out of love and trust? Do citizens and residents of your kingdom, bought by your enemies, unite and rise up against you? O Yudhishthira! Is your weak enemy restrained with force and is your strong enemy restrained with good counsel or force or both? Are the chief rulers
of the land devoted to you? If instructed by you, are they ready to give up their lives for you?

‘“For the sake of your own welfare, do you pay homage to brahmanas and righteous ones, in accordance with their learning and qualities? Do you follow dharma with its three
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sources, as practised by those who have come before you? Do you practise the rituals followed by them? Are brahmanas with good qualities offered tasty food in your house and paid dakshina?
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With steadfastness of mind and complete self-control, do you perform
vajapeya
,
pundarika
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and other sacrifices? Do you bow in homage before relatives, superiors, gods, ascetics, places of worship, trees that bring welfare to men and brahmanas? O unblemished one! Is your intelligence and conduct like this, so that it bestows long life and fame and helps the cause of dharma, kama and artha? The kingdom of one who conducts himself in this way is never destroyed. Such a king subjugates the earth and attains great happiness. O bull among men! Surely no pure-souled and respected man is falsely charged with theft and put to death by avaricious ones who have no knowledge of the sacred texts and are not skilled. Surely he who is a thief and has been apprehended with stolen goods and tools in front of witnesses is not set free out of covetousness.
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O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Corrupted by bribes, do your advisers see falsely when disputes arise between the poor and the rich? Do you abhor the fourteen royal vices—atheism, falsehood, anger, negligence, procrastination, avoidance of the wise, laziness, restlessness of mind, consultation with only one person, consultation with those who are ignorant of artha, failure to act on something that has been decided, divulgement of counsel, abandonment of beneficial plans and addiction to material objects? Is your study
of the Vedas successful? Are your riches successful? Is your marriage successful? Is your learning successful?”

‘Yudhishthira asked, “How does the study of the Vedas become successful? How do riches become successful? How does marriage become successful? How does learning become successful?”

‘Narada replied, “The Vedas become successful in agnihotra.
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Riches become successful in consumption and donations. Marriage becomes successful when sons are born through union. Learning becomes successful in good conduct.”’

Vaishampayana said, ‘Having said this, the immensely ascetic sage Narada then again questioned the righteous Yudhishthira.

‘Narada asked, “O king! Do those who are paid from taxes on trade only take agreed taxes from merchants who come from far away in search of gain? When they bring their wares, are they treated well in your city and kingdom and not cheated with deception? O son! You always know about the ways of dharma and artha. Do you listen to words of dharma and artha from the aged, who always know what brings artha? Are honey and ghee given to brahmanas to increase crops, cattle, flowers, fruit, dharma and artha? Do you always give all the artisans materials, implements and wages for a period up to four months? O great king! Do you examine the work and praise the creator? Do you honour good ones among good people? O bull among the Bharatas! O lord! Do you follow all the sutras, especially those about elephants, horses and chariots? O bull among the Bharatas! Are sutras on the science of arms, instruments and architecture of cities regularly studied in your house? O unblemished one! Are you familiar with all the weapons,
brahma danda
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and all poisons that destroy enemies? Do you protect your kingdom against fear from fire, snakes, predators, disease and rakshasas? Knowing the ways of dharma, do you nurture like a father the blind, the dumb, the crippled, the deformed, the orphaned and mendicant ascetics?”’