History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.248.4

v4.c62.248.4

Only the qualities required by Kauṭilya in amātya are set out here: He must be a native of the country, born of high family, influential, well-trained in arts, far-sighted, wise, of good memory, vigilant, eloquent, bold, intelligent, endowed with enthusiasm and dignity, capable of endurance, pure (in mind and actions), well-disposed, firmly devoted (to the king), endowed with character, strength, health, spiritedness, free from arrogance and fickleness, affectionate, who would not have recourse to hatred (even when offended by the king). Kauṭilya states that amātyas are of three kinds, the best, middling and inferior, of which the first must be endowed in full with the qualities set out by him and the other two are deficient by one quarter and a half respectively. In Śānti 83. 35-40 the faults that disqualify a person for being a mantrin are stated and verses 41-46 set out the qualifications for a mantrin, one of which deserves special notice, viz. (verse 46) he should have secured the confidence of the pauras and jānapadas. Many works prescribe that the ministers were to be hereditary if the son was capable like his father, e. g. Manu VII. 54, Yāj. I. 312, Rāmāyaṇa II. 100. 26 (=Sabhāparva 5. 43), Agni. 220. 16-17, Śukra II. 114. The Matsya 215. 83-84 and Agnipurāṇa (220. 16-17) add the very sensible remark that such hereditary ministers should not be allowed to dispose of the cases of their *dāyādas* (agnates). The Viṣṇudharmottara (II. 24. 55-56) contains the same rule.