Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c6.178

c6.178

judgment, advanced in years. They must all be obedient to the king. All royal servants must be trustworthy, incorruptible, and possessed of practical experience. Respectable, indifferent and low servants should be employed on corresponding jobs. The revenue must be spent on proper objects. Every forenoon the king should ascertain his income and expenditure from his officers. The expenditure should be covered by a fourth, third or a half of the income. The troops must regularly receive their pay and rations. The misery due to arrears of pay and irregularity in the distribution of rations leads to mutiny, which the learned have pronounced to be one of the greatest of ‘mischiefs.’ Officers of extraordinary ability should be rewarded by an increase in pay and rations. So, too, meritorious servants of all kinds. No one should combine too many army offices in his hands. The king should be impartial and accessible to all. Strict order must be enforced in the realm. Thieves and robbers must be pursued over the even and uneven parts of the country. Justice must be strictly impartial. Women should be consoled and protected. Brāhmaṇas and wise men should be worshipped. A single learned man should be bought in exchange for a thousand ignorant men. The king should never undertake anything without reflection. He should consult many people but never those who are unacquainted with the science of profit. Agricultural prosperity, in all its aspects, should be promoted. Safeguards should be provided against all sorts of dangers. Magnificent courts should be held. Charity must be practised on a lavish scale. The kingdom is to be governed on the principles of paternalism. But a ruthless policy is to be followed in dealing with foreign states. The officers of the enemy should be bribed with jewels. The enemy should be slain regardless of the seasons of harvesting or a state of famine.¹