A History of Sanskrit Literature c14.s6.13

c14.s6.13

We are in a more normal world when we find Kalhaṇa concerned to prove to us that evil deeds meet retribution, by an enumeration³ of the cases in which the avarice of kings resulted in the alienation of their subjects, though as a true Brahmin he admits that the use made of evil gains may sanctify the means, as when they are bestowed on Brahmins. But beyond this Kalhaṇa does not advance to any philosophy of history; he only exercises a criticism of individual actions on the basis of established rules of the Çāstras. Thus Kamalavardhana's folly in seeking to attain by diplomacy what could only be won by the sword is shrewdly commented on,¹ and Jayasiṅha's fiasco in the Kiṣangaṅgā valley is explained² as due to the folly of attack without adequate information, and undue deliberation in the face of the foe. His own contribution to an art of governing Kashmir is placed in the mouth of Lalitāditya³ and is very much in the spirit of the *Kauṭilīya Arthaçāstra*, but with the great advantage of reference to particular conditions, as is indicated by the distinctly Kashmirian flavour of the advice given. The border tribes are never to be left in peace, even if they give no offence, lest they acquire wealth and plunder the country. The peasants are not to be allowed to keep more than one year's consumption of grain or more oxen than essential for working their land. The maxim is clearly aimed at the Ḍāmaras, whose exactions from the peasants were the source of the turbulence which plagued the country and won them from the poet the sobriquet of robbers (*dasyus*). Border forts are to be guarded securely, and high offices are to be shared among the great families, so as to prevent ill feeling and conspiracies; above all, no faith is to be put in the loyalty of the changeable and untrustworthy people.