History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.114.4

v4.c62.114.4

Vide the Viṣṇudharmottara II.65.12-15 for the two meanings of arthadūṣaṇa⁶⁷. Kām. does not agree that hunting has many good points in its favour and advises the king to prepare a separate well-guarded hunting ground of one-half *yojana* in length and breadth if he really desires to hunt (XIV. 28-42). The Mānasollāsa (vol. II) in the 15th chapter of the 4th viṁśati deals with hunting as a sport for kings and points out how a forest is to be preserved for royal hunting and how it is to be guarded and enumerates 31 methods of hunting. Kām. warns the king who wants to retain his kingdom against fondness for women (XIV. 57-58). He further says that a king may even indulge in fondness for women and may even drink moderately, but he must totally avoid gambling and hunting (XIV. 65). Kauṭilya regards gambling as the worst of the vices for a king (VIII. 3 last sentence in prose). In the Daśakumāracarita (VIII) there is an elaborate (but ironical) description of the mental and other benefits derived from the four principal vices due to *kāma*. Kām. I. 54 states that hunting, gambling and wine in the case of kings must be condemned, since calamities befell Pāṇḍu, Nala and the Vṛṣṇis (respectively) by being addicted to these. Even an ideal king like Rāma was fond of hunting. Śukra (I. 332-333) points out that hunting has much in its favour, but there is one great defect in it viz. slaughter of animals. Śukra (I.