The Mauryan Polity c7.s2.9

c7.s2.9

Kauṭalya raises a question why such attention should be bestowed on education and himself answers it excellently well. A prince with a disciplined mind and body could carry on administration on sound lines.² He alone would be able to control the organs of his senses properly and use them in the right direction. No learning, no discipline; then arise all troubles for all men and specially so for kings. An unlettered person is not able to discriminate between vice and virtue, nor to appreciate the evils of such vices. Vices are due primarily to anger (kopa) and desire (kāma). The triad of evils due to anger is abuse of decorum, abuse of money, and abuse of proper justice. The evils of kāma or desire are said to be fourfold, hunting, gambling, women, and drinking.³ This does not mean that the king was prohibited from hunting, or in any way enjoying life. Only excess was condemned. They could be indulged in but within certain limitations. Excessive indulgence will be an abuse and a vice. We know from Megasthenes¹ that the king actually went out a hunt on certain occasions. Ktesias informs us that in India the king is not allowed to make himself drunk but that the Persian king is allowed to do so on one particular day, that on which sacrifice is offered to Mitras.² Though one need not give full support to such an ideal statement it is reasonable to assume that the king was expected to cultivate temperate habits and lead a temperate life which would enable him to bring his sense-organs under control.³ For it is said³ that the vices of anger would generate people's fury against him, and the vices of *Kāma* would lead to negligence of the government and consequently to the discontent of the subjects. In both the cases the king would alienate the sympathies of his peoples with the result that the administration would seriously suffer. The fruits of discipline are then said to be freedom from lust, anger, avariciousness, pride, indolence, and extreme joy. These six are said to be the inveterate enemies of the king, and he who does not get over them cannot be in a position to control the whole kingdom.⁴