Rajadharmanushasana Parva — How a kingdom should be protected

Yudhishthira said How, O king, may a kingdom be firmly established, and how should it be protected? I wish to know this. Tell me all this, O foremost of Bharata's race.

Bhishma said 'Listen to me with close attention. I shall tell you how a kingdom may be consolidated, and how also it may be protected.

A headman should be selected for each village. Over ten villages (or ten headmen) one superintendent should be appointed. Over two such superintendents there should be one officer. Above the latter should be appointed persons under each of whom should be a hundred villages; and above the last kind of officers, should be appointed men each of whom should given a thousand villages.

The headman should determine the characteristics of every person in the village and all the crimes also that demand punishment. He should report everything to the officer in charge of ten villages. The latter, again, should report the same to the officer in charge of twenty villages.

The latter, again, should report the conduct of all the persons with in his province to the officer in charge of a hundred villages.

The village headman should control over all the produce and the properties of the village. Every headman should contribute his quota for maintaining the chief of ten villages, and the laiter should do the same for maintaining the chief of twenty villages.

The lord of a hundred villages should receive all honours from the king and should have for his support a large village, O chief of the Bharatas, populous and rich.

Such a village, so given to a lord of a hundred villages, should be, however, with the jurisdiction of the chief of a thousand villages. That high officer, again, viz., the lord of a thousand villages, should have a small town for his support.

He should use for his ownself the grain and gold and other things derivable from it. He should perform all the duties relating to its wars and manage all its other internal affairs.

Some pious minister, should carefully supervise the administrative affairs and mutual relations of those officers. In every town, again, there should be an officer for looking after all matters relating to his jurisdiction.

Like some dreadful planet moving above all the asterisms below, the last mentioned officer should move and act above all the officers subordinate to him. Such an officer should learn the conduct of those under him through his spies.

Such high officers should protect the people from all persons having murderous inclination, all wicked men, all robbers, and all cheats, and all of whom are regarded to be possessed by the devil.

Looking after sales and the purchases, the state of the roads, the food and dress, and the stocks and profits, and the traders, the king should impose taxes on them.

Knowing every time the quantity of the manufacturers, the receipts and expenses of the manufacturers, and the state of the arts, the king should levy taxes upon the artisans regarding the arts they follow.

The king, O Yudhishthira, may levy high taxes, but he should never levy such taxes as would oppress his people.

No tax should be levied without determining the out-turn and the amount of labour necessary for its production. Nobody would work without sufficient causes.

The king should, after proper thought, impose taxes in such a way that he and the person who labours to produce the article taxed may both partake of the out-turn.

The king should not, by his greediness, destroy his own foundations as well as those of others. He should always avoid those acts for which he may incur the hatred of his people. Indeed, by acting thus he may win popularity.

The subjects hate that king who becomes notorious for greediness. How can a king who is hated acquire prosperity? Such a king can never secure what is for his well-being.

An intelligent king should milk his kingdom like calves. If the calf be permitted to suck, it grows strong, O Bharata, and carries heavy loads.

If, on the other hand, O Yudhishthira, the cow is milked too much, the calf becomes lean and incapable of making itself very useful to its owner. Similarly, if the kingdom be drained inordinately, the subjects become helpless and incapable of achieving any great act.

That king who protects his kingdom himself and shows leniency to his subjects and supports himself upon what is easily got, succeeds in doing much.

Does not the king then acquire wealth enough to meet his wants? The entire kingdom becomes then to him his treasury, and his treasury becomes his bed room.

If the denizens of the cities and the provinces be poor, the king should, whether they depend upon him directly or indirectly, show them mercy to the best of his power.

Punishing all robbers who infest the boundaries, the king should protect the people of his villages and make them happy. Partaking of the king's happiness and misery, the subjects become greatly pleased with him.

First of all, for making collection, the king should visit the principal centres of his kingdom one after another and try to fill his people with fear.

He should tell them, Here, a great danger threatens us. Our enemies have engendered a great calamity for us! I have every reason, however, to hope that the danger will pass away, for the enemy, like a flowering bamboo, will very soon be destroyed.

Many enemies of mine, having risen up and combined with a large body of robbers, wish to put our kingdom into difficulties, for themselves being destroyed.

To meet this calamity and dreadful danger, I seek your wealth for concerting measures for your protection

When the danger passes away, I will repay you what I now take. Our foes, however, will not return what they (if unopposed) will take from you by force.

On the other hand, they will even kill all your relatives with your very wives. Forsooth, you wish wealth for the sake of your children and wives.

I am happy to see your prosperity, and I solicit you as I would my own children. I shall take from you what you can easily spare for me. I do not wish to give pain to any one.

In seasons of danger, you should, like strong bulls, bear such burdens. In seasons of distress, you should not value wealth too highly.

A king knowing Time should, with such agreeable, sweet, and complimentary words, send his agents and make collections from his subjects.

Pointing out to them the necessity of repairing his forts and of meeting the expenses of his establishment and other heads, striking them with the fear of foreign invasion, and pointing to them the necessity that exists for protecting them and enabling them to ensure the means of living in peace, the king should impose taxes upon the Vaishyas of his kingdom.

If the king does not care the Vaishyas, they become lost to him, and leaving his dominions retire into the woods. The king should, therefore, treat them leniently.

The king, O son of Pritha, should always conciliate and protect the Vaishyas, take measures for filling them with a sense of security and for ensuring them in the enjoyment of what they possess, and always do what they like.

The king, O Bharata, should always so treat the Vaishyas that their power to multiply money may be enhanced. The Vaishyas enhance the strength of a kingdom, improve its agriculture, and develop its trade.

A wise king, therefore, should always please them. Acting with carefulness and leniency, he should impose mild taxes upon them.

It is always easy to treat the Vaishyas kindly. There is nothing which does greater good to a kingdom, O. Yudhishthira, than such treatment of the Vaishyas of the kingdom.'