History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.205.2

v4.c62.205.2

to Kauṇapadanta), making the prince addicted to sensual pleasures (acc. to Vātavyādhi), proper pre-natal care and proper education after birth about dharma and restraint (acc. to Kauṭ.). This symposium shows how the problem of the king's safety against bad princes taxed the ingenuity of all ancient writers on Arthaśāstra and how Kauṭilya advocated the only reasonable course possible. The Matsyapurāṇa, chap. 220, also relies on training, discipline and gradual transfer of responsibility and advises the imprisonment of a bad prince in a well-guarded place furnished with comforts suitable to his position¹¹⁴. In I. 20 Kauṭilya gives practical hints against the danger of fire and poisons: e. g. he says that poisonous snakes will not enter a building provided with Jīvantī, Śvetā and other plants; that cats, peacocks, mongoose and spotted deer when let loose eat serpents, that certain birds like parrots, *mainas*, malbar bird shriek when they suspect snake poison, the heron loses his consciousness in the vicinity of poison; the pheasant (jīvañjīvaka) feels exhausted; the young cuckoo dies; the eyes of *cakora* become redder¹¹⁵. Kām. (VII. 10-13) repeats the words of Kauṭ. 1.20 and the Matsya (219. 17-22) refers to the effects of poison on the same birds and a few others. The Matsyapurāṇa in chap. 219-220 closely follows Kauṭ. and Kām. and appears to be based on them (e. g. Matsya 219. 30 latter half is the same as Kām. VII. 24 first half). Vide Yaśastilaka III. pp.