Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c7.30

c7.30

A number of ministers are essential for the discharge of governmental functions. Not even an easy undertaking can be accomplished single-handed, much less the government of a realm which yields great revenues. There ought to be seven or eight ministers—men of birth, learning, heroic valour, trained warriors, all well-tried. Every day they should be consulted on peace, war, finance, endowments and general administration. The king should consult them first individually and then collectively and ultimately decide for himself. Besides the ministers, there was another august personage in whom the king had to repose unstinted confidence. The learned Brāhmaṇa, that is, the royal priest, must be fully consulted before the commencement of any enterprise. Consultations must always be held in secret, in a lonely place, in a solitary forest or at the back of a hill or a terrace, at midnight or midday. Women, old men, barbarians, the sick, the deformed, the dumb, the deaf, the blind, idiots and animals must be removed far from places of counsel. They all, and particularly women, betray secrets. A king whose plans are not betrayed enjoys the whole earth though he be poor in treasure.