Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c13.s1.57

c13.s1.57

Nor should he confide completely in anyone. Nobles and warriors have to be controlled anyhow. A king should foment their mutual jealousies so that all their actions, good or bad, might come to his knowledge. "In trying to get over each other and become famous they will not entertain any idea of treachery to the sovereign." In a council an officer is only too likely to oppose a colleague's proposal through mere spite. The king must discover individual motives. Bad ministers only too often manage affairs so as to make themselves indispensable and thrust their own favourites into offices. From a single instance the king should judge of the character of unscrupulous persons and guard against them. An officer who has only recently been raised to the order of Doras (a sort of peerage) should not be admitted to counsels, lest his head should be turned and he should betray the counsels to his friends. If a councillor is suspected, he should be watched through spies. Officials should be promoted step by step and degradations should be avoided. In one passage Kṛṣṇadeva seems to favour the practice of putting offices into commission but he may only mean that work should be fairly distributed, and as he goes on to emphasise the staff should not be inadequate.