[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Purāṇas](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana) › [Garuḍapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt) › 1.111 # Garudapurana 1.111 English (machine translation) 1.111 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [1.111.33](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.33) — 1 part ### [1.111.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.1) 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. ### [1.111.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.2) 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. ### [1.111.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.3) 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. ### [1.111.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.4) Milkers enjoying the milk do not ruin it; / a foreign kingdom should be enjoyed by earth-protectors, not devastated. ### [1.111.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.5) 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. ### [1.111.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.6) Therefore he should protect the earth with every effort; / to the protector belong the earth, renown, lifespan, glory, and strength. ### [1.111.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.7) Having worshipped Viṣṇu, righteous, devoted to the welfare of cows and brāhmaṇas, / with senses conquered, the ruler is able to protect the subjects. ### [1.111.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.8) 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. ### [1.111.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.9) Sensual pleasures are truly delightful; fortunes are truly charming; / yet life is indeed unstable, fleeting as the glance of a woman's eye. ### [1.111.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.10) 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. ### [1.111.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.11) 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. ### [1.111.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.12) 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. ### [1.111.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.13) For this purpose indeed, O foremost brāhmaṇas, do rulers desire kingship: / so that their word is not obstructed in any matters. ### [1.111.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.14) For this purpose indeed kings amass wealth: / having preserved themselves, whatever wealth remains belongs to the twice-born. ### [1.111.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.15) By the sound of 'Oṃ' from brāhmaṇas the kingdom prospers; / that king prospers through spiritual discipline and is not afflicted by diseases. ### [1.111.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.16) Even incompetent sages amass wealth; / how much more then a ruler protecting his subjects like sons? ### [1.111.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.17) 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. ### [1.111.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.18) 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. ### [1.111.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.19) 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. ### [1.111.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.20) He whose sons, servants, ministers, and household priests / have their senses asleep—his kingdom does not last long. ### [1.111.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.21) 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. ### [1.111.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.22) A king who transgresses what is enjoined by scripture and what is grounded in reason / surely perishes in this world and in the next. ### [1.111.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.23) 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. ### [1.111.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.24) The steadfast, when facing hardship, do not despond; / having entered the mouth of Rāhu, does the moon not rise again? ### [1.111.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.25) 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. ### [1.111.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.26) 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. ### [1.111.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.27) A ruler who becomes angry at a servant without cause / imbibes the maddening poison discharged by a black cobra. ### [1.111.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.28) 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. ### [1.111.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.29) A king who acts playfully, prideful of his servants and kinsmen, / is always swiftly overcome by enemies in \[matters of\] rule. ### [1.111.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.30) 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. ### [1.111.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.31) Enemies engaged in conflict are subdued by those acting with ease. ### [1.111.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.32) Effort, daring, fortitude, intellect, strength, and valor— / one who has this sixfold drive, even a god fears him. ### [1.111.33](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.33) When an undertaking carried out with effort meets with no success, / fate is indeed the determining factor; human effort must always be made. ### [1.111.33.p1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111.33.p1) 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. ## Linked texts (1) - [Garuḍapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda.1.111.1) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.garuda~en-mt.1.111) · Pramāṇa