Garudapurana 1.111

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 111 / Sūta said: / I shall declare the characteristics of a ruler and also of his servants; / for a king should always thoroughly examine everything.

Dedicated to truth and dharma, he should constantly protect the realm; / having conquered the armies of his enemies, he should protect the earth according to dharma.

He should gather [taxes] flower by flower, and not cut down the root, / like a garland-maker in a forest, not like a charcoal-burner.

Milkers enjoying the milk do not ruin it; / a foreign kingdom should be enjoyed by earth-protectors, not devastated.

One who does not cut off the udder of a cow obtains milk for the sake of nourishment; / likewise a kingdom oppressed by [harsh] application does not prosper.

Therefore he should protect the earth with every effort; / to the protector belong the earth, renown, lifespan, glory, and strength.

Having worshipped Viṣṇu, righteous, devoted to the welfare of cows and brāhmaṇas, / with senses conquered, the ruler is able to protect the subjects.

Having obtained impermanent sovereignty, a king should turn his mind to dharma; / in an instant wealth may perish; riches and the like are not under one's control.

Sensual pleasures are truly delightful; fortunes are truly charming; / yet life is indeed unstable, fleeting as the glance of a woman's eye.

Old age stands threatening like a tigress; diseases strike the body like enemies; / life drains away like water from a broken vessel; yet no one in this world acts for their own true good.

Why [hesitate] fearlessly, O humans? Do good to others, which is fitting and beneficial hereafter; / or rejoice with women, struck by Love’s arrows with gentle, sidelong glances; / do not commit sin; devoted to the twice-born and Hari, worship [Him] constantly; / life reaches its end, slipping away under the guise of death shaped like a water-clock.

He who regards another’s wife as a mother, another’s property as a lump of earth, / and all living beings as himself, is a wise man.

For this purpose indeed, O foremost brāhmaṇas, do rulers desire kingship: / so that their word is not obstructed in any matters.

For this purpose indeed kings amass wealth: / having preserved themselves, whatever wealth remains belongs to the twice-born.

By the sound of 'Oṃ' from brāhmaṇas the kingdom prospers; / that king prospers through spiritual discipline and is not afflicted by diseases.

Even incompetent sages amass wealth; / how much more then a ruler protecting his subjects like sons?

He who has wealth has friends; he who has wealth has relatives; / he who has wealth is a real man in this world; he who has wealth is wise.

Friends, sons, wives, and well-wishers abandon one bereft of wealth; / and they resort again to one possessing wealth; for in this world, wealth is a man’s true kin.

A king who is destitute of the scriptures is indeed blind; / a blind man sees through a spy, but one devoid of scriptures does not see.

He whose sons, servants, ministers, and household priests / have their senses asleep—his kingdom does not last long.

By whom these three—sons, servants, and relatives—have been won over, / by him, together with [other] kings, the earth bounded by the four oceans is conquered.

A king who transgresses what is enjoined by scripture and what is grounded in reason / surely perishes in this world and in the next.

Having encountered misfortune, a king should not indulge in mental distress; / balanced in intellect, serene in spirit, he should remain equal in pleasure and pain.

The steadfast, when facing hardship, do not despond; / having entered the mouth of Rāhu, does the moon not rise again?

Fie, fie on men pampered by bodily pleasures! Let one not grieve the body wasted by lack of wealth; / for the sons of Pāṇḍu, possessing a noble wife though bereft of wealth, having cast off suffering, attained happiness once more.

Having examined the art of the gandharvas, musical instruments, and the courtesan classes, / the king should protect the science of archery and the sciences of polity in the world.

A ruler who becomes angry at a servant without cause / imbibes the maddening poison discharged by a black cobra.

He should restrain his glance from fickleness and restrain false speech, / always indeed toward a common person, a learned brāhmaṇa, and his retinue of servants.

A king who acts playfully, prideful of his servants and kinsmen, / is always swiftly overcome by enemies in [matters of] rule.

A ruler should never knit his brow with an aggressive shout; / a king who punishes servants without fault is the lowest of kings; / a lord of the earth should abandon playful pleasures to be enjoyed here.

Enemies engaged in conflict are subdued by those acting with ease.

Effort, daring, fortitude, intellect, strength, and valor— / one who has this sixfold drive, even a god fears him.

When an undertaking carried out with effort meets with no success, / fate is indeed the determining factor; human effort must always be made.

Thus ends the one hundred and eleventh chapter, in the Great Purāṇa of Garuḍa, in the first section called Ācārakāṇḍa, on the Essence of Polity.