English (machine translation)

Translation of The Polity of Śukra (Śukranīti)

Language: English
Extent: 1,500 passages, 37,380 words
Text: complete digital text
Source: pramana-mt · Machine translation by Gemini 3.8 Flash (2026-10-10 – 2026-10-17) of in.niti.artha.sukraniti · Machine output without human authorship: no copyright is claimed (CC0 1.0). The original text keeps its own…

Text

p3

Having bowed to the support of the universe, the cause of creation, preservation, and dissolution, / and having worshipped him, Bhārgava, being questioned, saluted, honored, and praised

p4

duly spoke the essence of polity to those gods of old. / Formerly, the lord Svayambhū declared the treatise on polity

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measuring ten million verses in an abridgment for the welfare of the world. / But its essence was abridged by Vasiṣṭha and others, as well as by us, for the purpose of growth,

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for the sake of kings and others of short life, [though once] expanded by reasoning. / For other sciences illuminate only a single part of action,

whereas the treatise on polity sustains everyone and maintains the order of the world; / for it is traditionally taught to be the root of righteousness, wealth, and desire, and the giver of liberation.

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Therefore, a king should always diligently study the treatise on polity, / through knowledge of which kings and others conquer enemies and please their people.

p9

Kings who are ever skilled in good polity become powerful. / Does not the knowledge of words and their meanings come without grammar?

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[Does not the knowledge] of empirical entities [come] without Nyāya and logic? / Does not the ordering of injunctions and rituals [come] without Mīmāṃsā?

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Does not the impermanence of the body and the rest [become known] without Vedānta? / For these sciences illuminate only their own chosen subjects,

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and are ever maintained by people following those respective doctrines; / this is mere intellectual skill; what use would they be to men of worldly affairs?

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The maintenance of the affairs of the entire world cannot exist without polity, / just as the maintenance of the body of embodied beings cannot exist without food.

p14

The treatise on polity fulfills all desires and is agreed upon by all; / it is exceedingly necessary also for the king, since he is the lord of all.

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The enemies of those devoid of polity are like diseases of those who eat unwholesome food: / some arise immediately, some in time, and some do not.

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The supreme righteousness of a king is the protection of the subjects / and the constant suppression of the wicked; therefore, both cannot exist without polity.

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Impolicy is indeed full of vulnerabilities, constantly causing fear to the king; / it is declared to increase enemies and to cause a great diminution of the army.

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He who acts abandoning polity, being arbitrary, partakes of sorrow; / and serving an arbitrary master is indeed licking the edge of a sword.

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A king endowed with polity is easily served, but one endowed with impolicy is difficult to serve. / Where both polity and army are present, there prosperity faces in every direction.

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Just as the entire realm may act for [his] welfare without being urged, / so should polity be maintained by the king for his own benefit.

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A divided realm, a divided army, a divided assembly of ministers and others— / this is the ineptitude of a king whose impolicy is constant.

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Through austerity he acquires splendor: a ruler, a protector, and a pleaser of subjects; / through his past actions and through austerity, the king maintains this earth.

p23

Time differs through the nature of rain, cold, heat, and the movements of constellations, / and through the conduct, greater or lesser, whether desirable or undesirable.

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The king is the instigator of conduct, for he is the cause of time; / if time were the authority, why would righteousness reside in the agents?

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Through fear of the king's punishment, the people become devoted to their own duties; / he who is intent upon one's own duty becomes splendid in this world.

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Without one's own duty there is no happiness, for one's own duty is supreme austerity; / that austerity which is in the form of one's own duty, by whomsoever it is ever augmented—

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the gods become his servants, how much more so men on earth? / With proper punishments, through great fears, he should make the subjects intent upon righteousness,

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the king himself being intent upon his own duty; otherwise, there is a loss of splendor. / Whether consecrated or unconsecrated, when he attains kingship,

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protecting all the subjects daily through intellect, through army, through valor, and then through polity, / he should always wield punishment without flaw.

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Even the small wealth of an intelligent person constantly increases; / even beasts come under control through valor, polity, army, and riches.

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Austerity is threefold: pure, passionate, and dark; / according to how intensely one performs austerity, such a king he indeed becomes.

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He who is devoted to his own duty, a protector of the subjects, / a sacrificer of all sacrifices, and a subduer of the host of enemies,

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eminent in generosity, forgiving, heroic, free from craving even regarding worldly pleasures, / and dispassionate—that pure king reaches liberation at the end.

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The dark king is the opposite: he becomes an inheritor of hell at the end— / pitiless, intoxicated with pride, violent, and devoid of truth.

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The passionate king is deceitful, greedy, sensual, fraudulent, and dishonest, / one thing in mind and another in speech, fond of conflict in action,

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fond of the low, arbitrary, devoid of polity, and inwardly deceitful; / that lowest of kings will at the end become an animal or an immobile thing.

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The pure king enjoys shares of the gods, the dark king shares of the Rākṣasas, / and the passionate king shares of humans; therefore, one should set the mind on purity.

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Human birth arises from an equality of purity and darkness; / whatever a mortal takes refuge in, like to that he becomes by destiny.

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Action alone is the cause here regarding a good state or an evil state; / it is action alone, even of the past; who is inactive even for a moment?

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Neither Brahmin, Kshatriya, nor Vaishya is so by birth here, / nor Shudra, nor indeed barbarian; they are differentiated by qualities and actions.

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Are all those who were born from Brahmā indeed Brahmins? / Splendor of Brahminhood is not attained from caste, nor from the father.

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Devoted to the worship of the deity through knowledge, rituals, and meditation, / tranquil, self-controlled, and compassionate—he is made a Brahmin by qualities.

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Skilled in protecting the world, heroic, self-controlled, powerful, / and disposed to the suppression of the wicked—he indeed is called a Kshatriya.

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Those who are skilled in buying and selling, constantly living by trade, / protecting cattle and doing agriculture—they are known as Vaishyas on earth.

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Devoted to serving and honoring the twice-born, heroic, peaceful, having senses conquered, / carriers of the plough, wood, and grass—those low ones are designated Shudras.

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Having abandoned the practice of their own duties, pitiless, oppressors of others, / fierce, and constantly violent—they are indeed undiscerning barbarians.

p47

An intellect arises in men appropriate to the experience of the fruit of prior actions; / in an evil action or in a meritorious one, he is not able to act otherwise.

p48

Such an intellect is produced as is the rise of the fruit of action; / such indeed are the helpers as is destiny.

p49

"Everything happens solely by the power of prior actions"—if this is settled, / then teachings making known what ought and ought not to be done would be useless.

p50

The wise whose conduct is venerable consider human effort supreme; / those unable to exert human effort, the impotent, worship fate.

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Indeed, everything is grounded in both fate and human effort. / Action is of two kinds: that done in a previous birth, and that acquired here.

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The stronger one will always counteract the weaker; / this is so through attaining the fruit of knowledge regarding their relative strength, not otherwise.

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When the attainment of a result is not seen to have a visible cause, / it is caused by prior action; that it is not otherwise is certain.

p54

When men obtain even a great fruit from slight activity, / that too is only from prior [action]; some say it is born of prior action in this very life.

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They say that human effort is produced through activity in this very life; / [it is like] the careful protection of a lamp having an oiled wick from the wind.

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Even if there is no remedy for matters destined to happen, / the destruction of the wicked is better, as far as the rise of one's intellect and strength extends.

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Therefore, through adverse and favorable fruits, / and as slight, middling, or excessive, even a king should consider fate to be threefold.

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Adversity was recognized in the destruction of the grove for Rāvaṇa, and in the cattle-raid for Bhīṣma and others, / [arising] from a single monkey and a single man.

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The favorableness of time was evident in the case of Rāghava and Arjuna; / when fate is favorable, even a slight action bears good fruit.

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A great, good action may yield an undesirable fruit when [fate] is adverse: / Bali was bound because of his gift, and Hariścandra likewise.

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What is desired arises from good action, and what is undesired from the opposite of that. / Knowing good and evil from the treatise, one should abandon evil and practice good.

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The king is the cause of the time, and therefore of good and bad action. / Through noble deeds and active punishment, he should establish his subjects in their own duties.

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The ruler, the minister, the ally, the treasury, the realm, the fort, and the army: / the kingdom is said to have seven limbs; among them, the king is remembered as the head.

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The minister is the eye, the ally the ear, the treasury the mouth, the army the mind, / the fort and the realm are the two hands and two feet: these indeed are remembered as the limbs of the kingdom.

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In due order I will declare the virtues of these limbs, which constantly bestow prosperity, / endowed with which virtues they indeed become flourishing.

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The king is recognized by the elders as the cause of the growth of this world, / producing delight to the eyes like the moon to the ocean.

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If the ruler of men were not a proper guide, then the subjects / would founder here like a rudderless ship in the ocean.

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Without a protector, the subjects surely do not remain in their respective duties; / but without subjects, the master does not shine at all on earth.

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Proceeding with justice, the king unites himself and his subjects / with the three aims of life; otherwise, he surely destroys [them].

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Having practiced righteousness in the Dvaita forest, the king enjoyed heaven; / but practicing unrighteousness, Nahuṣa reached the underworld.

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Veṇa was ruined by unrighteousness, while Pṛthu prospered through righteousness; / therefore, placing righteousness foremost, the king should strive for wealth.

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The king who is devoted to righteousness is a portion of the gods; another is a portion of demons / who violates righteousness and causes affliction to his subjects.

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When, in the absence of a king, everything was fleeing in all directions from fear, / the Lord created the king for the protection of all this.

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Extracting eternal portions of Indra, Vāyu, Yama, the Sun, / of Fire, Varuṇa, / and also of the Moon and the Lord of Wealth,

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he becomes the lord of moving and unmoving beings through his own austerity. / The king is skilled in taking his share and in protection, like Indra.

p76

The king is like the wind, the impeller of fragrance, [as the impeller] of good and bad actions; / he is the promoter of righteousness and the destroyer of unrighteousness, [like] the sun [destroying] darkness.

p77

The king is a punisher of bad deeds; like Yama, he inflicts punishment. / Like Fire, the king is pure, enjoying all shares for the sake of protection.

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Varuṇa nourishes all with the juices of water; the king [does so] with his wealth. / The moon gladdens with its rays; the king [does so] with his virtues and deeds.

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Like the Lord of Wealth, he is skilled in guarding treasuries and riches. / Without all these portions, the king does not shine, like the moon [without its digits].

p80

Father, mother, preceptor, brother, kinsman, Kubera, and Yama: / the king is constantly endowed with the seven virtues of these, and not otherwise.

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Skilled in achieving good qualities for his subjects, like a father; / a pardoner of offenses, providing nourishment, like a mother;

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an adviser of welfare to his disciple, a teacher of fine learning, like a preceptor; / a recoverer of his own share from the father's wealth in accord with the treatise, like a brother;

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a protector of secrets regarding one's self, wife, and bow, like a kinsman or friend; / a giver of wealth like Kubera; and a strict punisher like Yama.

p84

These virtues reside in a noble king who is flourishing; / these seven virtues should never be abandoned by a king.

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He who forgives an offense when he is capable of strict restraint is truly patient; / without patience, the king does not shine despite all good qualities.

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Casting aside his own vices, he tolerates harsh words; / through gifts, honors, and hospitality, he always gladdens his subjects.

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Self-controlled, heroic, skilled in weapons and missile weapons, a slayer of enemies, / dependent [on council], intelligent, endowed with sacred and practical knowledge,

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avoiding the vile, far-sighted, serving the elderly, endowed with sound polity, / resorted to by the virtuous—such a king should be known as a portion of the deities.

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The contrary one is a portion of a demon, destined for hell. / His retinue of helpers is indeed constantly similar to the king's portion.

p90

The king approves what is done by them, and is pleased and rejoices; / [this occurs] constantly through their conduct, not otherwise, due to the power of destiny.

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The fruit of actions done must necessarily be experienced by men; / without remedies, [it is experienced]; even when a remedy is applied,

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it serves for experience in the same way, like a treated patient. / When the cause of harm has been taught, who would strive to do that very thing?

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The mind takes delight in a good result, never in a bad result. / Having consulted the treatises that teach what is good and bad, one should act accordingly.

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Discipline is the root of polity; discipline arises from certainty in the treatises. / Conquest of the senses belongs to discipline; endowed with that, one masters the treatise.

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First, the king should establish himself in discipline, / then his sons, then his ministers, then his servants, and then his subjects.

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A king should not merely be clever at advising others. / Even a virtuous king may at times be devoid of authority over his subjects;

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but subjects should never be without a king, even if they have bad qualities. / Just as Indrāṇī is never a widow, so too are subjects at all times.

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Lost is the kingly majesty and sovereignty of one whose ministers are not subdued, / whose heirs are undisciplined, and whose sons and others are wicked.

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With subjects ever devoted to him, intent on protecting the subjects, / and disciplined in self, a king enjoys immense prosperity.

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One should bring under control with the goad of knowledge the elephant of the senses, / which runs wild and causes havoc in the wilderness of scattered sense objects.

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Out of greed for the bait of sense objects, the mind impels the senses. / One should restrain it with effort; when it is conquered, one has conquered the senses.

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For he who is unable to subdue even his own mind alone, / how indeed will he conquer the earth up to the ocean?

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With heart distracted by intoxicating sense objects that turn bitter at the close of experience, / a king wanders into delusion like an elephant.

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Sound, touch, form, taste, and fifth, smell: / each one of these alone is sufficient to bring about destruction.

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Pure, feeding on darbha sprouts, capable of roaming far away, / the deer seeks its own death through delusion induced by the hunter's song.

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Resembling the peak of a great mountain, uprooting trees in play, / the bull elephant enters captivity through delusion aroused by the touch of a female elephant.

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With eyes captivated by the sight of an oil lamp's glistening flame, / the moth meets death, suddenly falling in from delusion.

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Submerged in deep water, living far even from a fisherman, / the fish tastes the baited iron hook to its death.

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Though capable of cutting through and flying away with its wings, / the bee meets captivity in a lotus through greed for scent.

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If sense objects, like poisons, destroy one by one, / how will all five combined not bring about ruin?

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Gambling, women, and liquor: this triad produces great misfortune / when improperly pursued, but yields wealth, sons, and wisdom when pursued with proper strategy.

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Dharmaputra, Nala, and others were ruined by fair gambling. / Accompanied by deceit, gambling suffices to yield wealth for those who know it.

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Even the name of women brings pleasure and agitates the mind; / how much more the sight of them, whose eyebrows dance with coquetry?

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Skilled in private dalliance, speaking softly with stammering words, / her eyes reddened at the corners: what man would a woman not bring under her power?

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A woman inevitably makes even a sage's mind impassioned. / What can be said of one who has conquered his senses, let alone of those with uncontrolled minds?

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And many who strove after women met destruction— / Indra, Daṇḍaka, Nahuṣa, Rāvaṇa, and others; therefore,

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only for a man not addicted to her does a woman always bring happiness. / She is a helpmate in domestic duties; without her, no other exists.

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One who drinks excessive liquor surely suffers a loss of intellect; / but drunk in moderation, liquor fosters intellect, clarity of thought,

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courage, and mental resolve; otherwise it brings destruction. / Desire and anger, intoxicating to the extreme, should be employed as appropriate:

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Desire should be directed toward protecting the subjects, anger toward destroying enemies, / and greed toward maintaining the army by a king seeking victory.

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Desire for intercourse with another's wife, greed for the wealth of others, / and anger in punishing one's own subjects must never be held by kings.

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Is a man called a householder on account of union with another's wife? / Is he a hero by punishing his own subjects, or wealthy with others' wealth?

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A king who does not protect, a Brahmin who does not practice austerity, / and a wealthy man who does not give: the gods strike them down and abandon them.

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Sovereignty, generosity, and wealth are the fruit of austerity; / begging, servitude, and poverty are the fruit of sin.

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Therefore, having consulted the treatises and properly restrained his mind, / the king should conduct his behavior for happiness here and in the hereafter.

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Suppression of the wicked, gift-giving, protection of the subjects, / performing sacrifices such as the Rājasūya, lawful acquisition of treasuries,

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making kings tribute-payers, crushing foes, / and continuously acquiring land: royal conduct is eightfold.

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Those who have not enlarged their army, not made kings tribute-payers, / and not properly protected their subjects are indeed sterile sesame seeds among kings.

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The king from whom the subjects shrink in fear, whose actions they condemn, / and who is abandoned by the wealthy and the virtuous, is the lowest of kings.

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A king who is excessively attached to actors, singers, courtesans, boxers, eunuchs, and low-born people / is censurable; he stands right in the jaws of his enemy.

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He who always hates the intelligent, delights in deceivers, / and does not recognize his own vice, that king is bound for his own destruction.

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He who forgives no fault, inflicts heavy punishment, seizes wealth, / and torments people upon hearing of his own vices—

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when a king is like this, the populace is agitated and estranged. / Finding out through secret spies: 'Who censures my conduct,

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and by what attitudes do ministers and other experts adorn it? / What kind of affection is there toward me, or whose disaffection is there?'—

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having heard everything secretly, both his vices and virtues, / and having learned his own vices from the people through spies at all times,

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the king should continually abandon them for good fame and never despise his subjects. / If informed by spies, 'O King, the people are censuring you,'

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he who out of wickedness displays anger conceals his own faults. / Even the virtuous Sītā was abandoned by Rāma because of public censure.

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Even though capable, he did not inflict even a slight punishment on the washerman. / Even a person endowed with knowledge and discernment, or granted immunity by the king,

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does not out of fear speak of a king's fault to his face, even a grave one. / The sacred tradition states that the gods, headed by Viṣṇu, are fond of praise;

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how much more so mortal men? Because anger is born of censure, / a king should impose fair shares of punishment, be very forgiving, and always please his people.

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Youth, life, the mind, shadow, fortune, and sovereignty— / knowing these six to be fleeting, one should be devoted to righteousness.

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Because of stinginess, dishonor, deceit, harsh speech, / and the king's heavy punishment, the subjects indeed abandon the king.

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Through qualities contrary to these, the subjects along with their descendants are kept loyal. / A single fault spreads ill fame; how much more so an accumulation [of them]?

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Hunting, dice, and drinking are condemned for kings; / indeed, disasters arising from them were seen among Pāṇḍu, the king of Niṣadha, and the Vṛṣṇis.

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Desire, anger, delusion, greed, pride, and arrogance: / he should cast off this group of six; once this is abandoned, the king is happy.

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King Daṇḍaka [perished] from desire, and Janamejaya from anger; / the royal sage Aila from greed, and the Asura Vātāpi from delusion;

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the Rākṣasa descendant of Pulastya from pride, and King Dambhodbhava from arrogance. / Indeed, these met their destruction by resorting to the sixfold group of internal enemies.

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Having cast off the sixfold group of internal enemies, the glorious son of Jamadagni / and the fortunate Ambarīṣa enjoyed the earth for a long time.

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Increasing righteousness and wealth in this world, which are respectfully cultivated by the virtuous, / he, having subdued the group of senses, should attend upon his elders.

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Association with elders is for [learning] sacred treatises; sacred treatise is for the increase of discipline. / A king disciplined by learning becomes an object of trust for the virtuous.

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Even when incited by men of wicked conduct, he does not engage in improper acts, / having determined what is good by the sacred revelation, tradition, the world, and his own mind.

150

The wise king, skilled in the art of receiving and giving back, / undertakes that action which is designated as righteous.

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For a king whose senses are subdued and who follows the treatise on polity, / fortunes surge high and his glories touch the sky.

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Dialectic, the triple Veda, economics, and eternal science of polity— / a king should constantly study these four branches of knowledge alone.

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In dialectic are established the science of logic, Vedānta, and the like; / in the triple Veda are established righteousness and unrighteousness, desire and freedom from desire;

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wealth and non-wealth are established in economics, and polity and impolicy in the science of polity. / All castes and all stages of life are established in these branches of knowledge.

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The ancillary texts, the four Vedas, Mīmāṃsā, extensive Nyāya, / the treatises on righteousness, and the Purāṇas—all this is called the triple Veda.

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Lending with interest, agriculture, commerce, and cattle rearing are meant by economics. / A virtuous man endowed with economics has no fear regarding his livelihood.

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Subdual is known as punishment; therefore the king is punishment [personified]. / His polity is the science of polity, and it is called polity because it leads.

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Through dialectic, by knowing the self, he dispels joy and sorrow; / abiding properly in the triple Veda, he attains both worlds.

159

Since harmlessness is the supreme righteousness for all living beings, / therefore the king should protect miserable people with harmlessness.

160

Seeking his own happiness, he must never torment miserable people. / When tormented, a miserable person slays the king by his own death.

161

He should keep company with virtuous people for the sake of righteousness and happiness. / Being attended upon by virtuous people, a great man shines exceedingly.

162

Just as the moon or a lake with freshly blossomed blue lotuses / delights the mind, so does the conduct of virtuous people.

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One should shun the company of the wicked, like a harsh desert land, / scorched by the rays of the summer sun, terrifying, and devoid of shelter.

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It would be better to keep company with venomous serpents whose faces / are darkened by the smoke of fire vomited in their breaths, but never with the wicked.

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Just as folded hands are offered to a worthy, virtuous person, / one who seeks what is beneficial should make an even more courteous gesture to a wicked person.

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He should constantly gladden the world with speech that captivates the heart. / Even if he gives wealth, a man of cruel speech terrifies creatures.

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Even when tormented, an intelligent man should not utter words / by which a person is deeply pained, as if pierced in the heart.

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Only pleasant words should constantly be spoken, whether to the good or to enemies. / One dear to the people speaks sweet words, like a peacock making its call.

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The sounds of an impassioned swan, a cuckoo, or a peacock / do not captivate [the mind] in the way the words of the wise do.

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Those who speak pleasing words, who desire what is pleasing and honorable, / who are illustrious and of praiseworthy conduct, are gods in human form.

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There is no such means of winning people over in the three worlds / as compassion, friendship toward creatures, charity, and sweet speech.

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Purified in mind by sacred revelation and faith, he should constantly worship the deity, / [revere] elders like the deity, and treat friends like himself.

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Surrounded by virtuous men learned in the Vedas, he should win over elders with prostration, / and gods with virtuous deeds for the sake of prosperity.

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He should win over a friend with goodwill, and kinsmen with goodwill; / wife and servants with love and respect, and other people with courtesy.

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He who is strong, intelligent, heroic, and possessed of proper valor / enjoys the earth filled with wealth; he is indeed a king among kings.

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Valor, strength, intellect, and heroism are the foremost qualities. / Lacking these, a king endowed with other qualities, even if wealthy,

176_93

cannot enjoy even a tiny earth, and quickly perishes from his kingdom. / Compared to a king of great wealth, even a petty ruler shines,

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and becomes endowed with unimpeded command and splendor through these very qualities; / but other ordinary qualities of a king are not capable of subduing the earth.

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This [earth] is the mine of all wealth, crushing both gods and demons; / for the sake of the earth, kings destroy even their own lives.

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By him who protected wealth and life for the sake of enjoyment, / but did not protect the earth—what is gained by his wealth and life?

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Accumulated wealth is not sufficient for unrestrained expenditure / without a constant source of revenue, for whomsoever it may be, truly even for Kuvera.

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A king is honored for these qualities, not a king born in a noble family; / he is not honored for family in the way he is for strength, heroism, and valor.

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He from whose kingdom a revenue amounting to a hundred thousand karṣas is produced / each and every year, constantly without oppressing the subjects,

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That king is declared a sāmanta up to the limit of three hundred thousand [karṣas]; / beyond that, ending at one million, the king is remembered as a māṇḍalika.

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Beyond that, up to two million, he would be a rājā; / ending at five million, he is celebrated as a mahārāja.

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Then, up to ten million, a svarāj; beyond that, a samrāj; / up to one hundred million, and immediately after that, a virāj.

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Ending at five hundred million, and beyond that a universal ruler, / to whom the earth with its seven continents is constantly subject.

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A king was made by Brahmā in the state of servitude to his subjects by the wages of his own share, / but possessing the form of a master, truly for constant protection.

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Those servants appointed on earth who are equal to a sāmanta and the rest, / they should indeed be called sāmantas, taking kingly shares in succession.

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Those fallen from the rank of sāmanta and the rest, maintained by wages equal to that / by a mahārāja and others, are known as inferior sāmantas.

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One who is the lord of a hundred villages is also designated a sāmanta; / when appointed over a hundred villages by the king, he is a sub-sāmanta.

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One appointed over ten villages is proclaimed a nāyaka; / an āśāpāla enjoys the revenue of ten thousand villages, and so does a svarāj.

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A village would consist of a krośa, [yielding] a thousand silver karṣas; / half a village is called a palli, and half a palli is called a kumbha.

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A krośa is declared by Prajāpati to be five thousand cubits, / or according to Manu the extent of a krośa is four thousand cubits.

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The area of a krośa of Brahmā is two and a half crore cubits; / that area is declared to be twenty-five hundred nivartanas.

196

The length of the middle joint of the middle finger is an aṅgula; / its length is eight barley-corns, and its thickness is five.

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By twenty-four of those aṅgulas a prājāpatya cubit is remembered; / that is the best in land-measurement, while others are considered inferior.

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A daṇḍa consists of four cubits, or a light one consists of five cubits; / its aṅgula is of five barley-corns; that is indeed Manu's measurement.

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