History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.487

v4.c62.487

The Mahābhārata is careful to point out that an army constitutes the most inferior kind of *bala* (power). Udyogaparva (37. 52-55) states that *bala* is of five kinds viz. brute force (*bāhubala*), that due to the acquisition of ministers (*amātyalābha*), that derived from wealth (*dhanalābha*), that from noble descent (*abhijātabala*) and the power of wisdom (prajñābala), which last is the best of all. These are quoted by the Budhabhūṣaṇa p. 79. In Śānti. 134. 8 it is said²⁸³ that there is nothing that the strong cannot accomplish and that whatever the strong do is pure. In another place it is said 'everything is wholesome to the powerful' (Āśramavāsi 30. 24). In Ādi 175. 45 a warrior's power is scorned and the power of the spiritual merit of brāhmaṇas is extolled as the real power.