The Laws of Manu

by The Laws of Manu (retail) (epub)

  [69] (The king) should settle in dry, open country with plenty of grain, charming and not marshy, where most of the inhabitants are Aryans, the neighbours have been made to bow down, and there is a livelihood for his own (people). [70] He should establish a town there, relying for shelter upon the fortification of a desert, or of earth, or of water, or of trees, or of men, or of a hill. [71] But he should make every effort to rely for shelter upon a hill fort, for among these (six forts) a hill fort is distinguished by many good qualities. [72] The first three of these (forts) are inhabited by wild animals, animals that live in holes, and aquatic animals; the last three by monkeys, men, and immortals, in that order. [73] Just as their enemies do not injure these (creatures) when they take shelter in their forts, so enemies do not injure a king when he takes shelter in his fort. [74] One bowman stationed on the ramparts fights off a hundred; a hundred (fight off) ten thousand; and therefore a fort is prescribed.

  [75] That (fort) should be fully equipped with weapons, with money, grain, and animals to ride, with priests, artisans, machines, fodder, and water. [76] In the middle of it he should have made for himself a spacious house for all seasons, well protected, beautiful, provided with water and trees. [77] When he has moved into it, he should marry a charming wife of his own class, born in a great family, one who has (the right) marks as well as beauty and good qualities.

  [78] He should appoint a personal priest and officiating priests, who should perform for him the domestic rituals and those that involve three sacrificial fires. [79] The king should offer various sacrifices with fitting sacrificial gifts, and he should give luxurious objects and money to the priests for religious purposes. [80] He should have trustworthy people collect the annual tax from his kingdom, and he should bear in mind what has been handed down and held in memory among the people; he should behave to men like a father. [81] He should appoint various intelligent superintendents for this job and that, and they should inspect all that is done by the men who carry out his affairs.

  [82] He should be reverent to priests who have returned from their guru’s family, for that is said to be the incorruptible Vedic treasure of kings. [83] Neither thieves nor enemies take it away, and it is not destroyed; therefore the king should deposit this incorruptible treasure among priests. [84] What is offered as an oblation in the mouth of a priest is better than daily fire sacrifices; it is never spilt, dropped, or destroyed. [85] A gift to a non-priest yields the basic (reward); to someone who says he is a priest, double; to a teacher, a hundred thousand (times); and to one who has crossed to the far shore of the Veda, endless (reward). [86] For a small or great reward for a gift is obtained after death according to the particular qualities and the amount of faith of the recipient.

  [87] When a king who protects his subjects is challenged by kings who are his equal or stronger or weaker, he should remember the duties of rulers and not turn away from battle. [88] Not turning away from battle, protecting subjects, and obedience to priests are the ultimate source of what is best for kings. [89] Kings who try to kill one another in battle and fight to their utmost ability, never averting their faces, go to heaven. [90] Fighting in a battle, he should not kill his enemies with weapons that are concealed, barbed, or smeared with poison or whose points blaze with fire. [91] He should not kill anyone who has climbed on a mound, or an impotent man, or a man who folds his hands in supplication, or whose hair is unbound, or anyone who is seated or who says, ‘I am yours’; [92] nor anyone asleep, without armour, naked, without a weapon, not fighting, looking on, or engaged with someone else; [93] nor anyone whose weapons have been broken, or who is in pain, badly wounded, terrified, or fleeing – for he should remember the duties of good men. [94] But if a man flees from a battle in terror and is killed by others, he takes upon himself all the evil deeds of his master, whatever they may be; [95] and whatever (credit for) good deeds a man has earned for the hereafter, if he is killed while fleeing, his master takes all that upon himself. [96] Horses and chariots, elephants, parasols, money, grain, livestock, women, all sorts of things and non-precious metals belong to the man who wins them. [97] But the revealed Vedic canon says, ‘They must give the king a special portion of the booty.’ And the king must distribute to all the fighters whatever has not been won individually.

  [98] The unembellished, eternal duty of warriors has thus been explained; a ruler who kills his enemies in battle should not slip from this duty.

  [99] (The king) should try hard to get what he has not got and to guard what he has got; he should make what he guards grow, and he should deposit in worthy receptacles of charity what he has made to grow. [100] He should realize that these are the four ways of accomplishing the human goals; never tiring, he should strive to employ them properly. [101] By means of his army he should seek what he has not got; by careful attention he should guard what he has got; he should make what he guards grow by means of interest; and he should deposit in worthy receptacles of charity what he has made to grow.

  [102] His rod should be constantly erect, his manliness constantly displayed; matters that are to be concealed should be concealed constantly, and he should constantly search for his enemy’s weak spot. [103] The whole universe trembles before (a king) whose rod is constantly erect; he should therefore subjugate all living beings by that very rod. [104] He should behave without deceit, never with deceit; but he should recognize deceit when an enemy employs it and always be on his guard. [105] His enemy should not find out his weak spot, but he should find out his enemy’s weak spot. He should hide the members of the state as a turtle (hides his limbs), and he should guard his own vulnerable point. [106] He should plan his undertakings like a heron, attack like a lion, pounce on his prey like a wolf, and retreat like a rabbit.

  [107] When he is engaged in conquest in this manner, he should use conciliation and the other (three) expedients to bring under his control all those who may stand in his way. [108] But if they cannot be stopped by the first three expedients, he should overpower them by physical force and gradually bring them under his control. [109] Of the four expedients, conciliation and so forth, wise men recommend conciliation and physical force to make a kingdom grow constantly.

  [110] Just as a reaper pulls up the weeds and guards the grain, so a king should guard his kingdom and destroy those who stand in his way. [111] If a king is so deluded and unthinking as to starve his own kingdom, he, together with his relatives, will soon lose his kingdom and his life. [112] Just as the vital breath of those that breathe is destroyed by the torment of the body, so even the vital breath of kings is destroyed by the torment of the kingdom.

  [113] He should constantly follow this system for running his kingdom, for a king whose kingdom is well run thrives happily.

  [114] In the midst of two, three, five, or a hundred villages he should establish a company of soldiers under command, to run the kingdom. [115] He should appoint an overlord of (each) village, and a lord of ten villages, and a master of twenty, and a master of a hundred, and a lord of a thousand. [116] The village head himself should regularly inform the master of ten (villages) about the problems that arise in the village; and the master of ten (villages) (should inform) the master of twenty. [117] The master of twenty should report all of that to the master of a hundred, and the master of a hundred villages should personally inform the lord of a thousand. [118] The village head should obtain the food, water, fuel, and so forth that the people who live in the village are to give to the king every day. [119] The (master) of ten (villages) should get the benefits of (the land of) one family; the (master) of twenty, of five families; the superintendent of a hundred villages, of a village, and the overlord of a thousand, a town.

  [120] Another adviser of the king, unctuous and untiring, should inspect the affairs of these (overlords) that are connected with the villages as well as their separate individual affairs. [121] And in every city he should appoint one man to look after all matters, someone of high status and formidable appearance, like a planet among the st
ars. [122] That man should always personally make the rounds of all those (village overlords) and should find out thoroughly, through his spies, what they are doing in their districts. [123] For the men who are appointed by the king to protect (his subjects) generally become hypocrites who take the property of others, and he must protect those subjects from them. [124] The king should banish and confiscate all the property of those evil-minded men who take the money from parties to lawsuits.

  [125] He should establish a daily livelihood for women employed in work for the king and for menial servants, according to their status and the work. [126] A penny should be given as a wage to the lowest, and six to the highest, as well as clothing every six months and a ‘bucket’ of grain every month. [127] He should make merchants pay taxes, taking into consideration the purchase and sale (prices), the journey, and the (expenses for) food and supplies and security measures. [128] The king should always establish the taxes in his kingdom after due consideration, in such a way that both the king and the man who does the work are rewarded. [129] Just as the leech, the calf, and the bee eat their food little by little, so the king should take the yearly taxes from the kingdom little by little. [130] The king should take a fiftieth part of livestock and gold and an eighth, or a sixth, or a twelfth, of crops. [131] And he should take a sixth part of trees, meat, honey, and melted butter, perfumes, medicinal herbs, and spices, flowers, roots, and fruits, [132] leaves, vegetables, and grasses, animal hides and things made of bamboo, pots made of clay, and anything made of stone.

  [133] Even if he is dying (of hunger), a king must not take taxes from a priest who knows his Veda by heart, and no priest who knows his Veda by heart living in his territory should faint with hunger. [134] If a priest who knows his Veda by heart faints with hunger, the kingdom of the king in whose territory he lives will also soon faint with hunger. [135] (The king) should find out about his knowledge of the revealed canon and his behaviour and then devise a livelihood in keeping with his duty, and he should protect him in every way, as a father (protects) his natural son. [136] The king’s lifespan, wealth, and kingdom are increased by whatever religious merit (such a priest) accomplishes every day while he is protected by the king.

  [137] The king should have the common people in his kingdom who live by trade pay something, no matter what, each year, and call it taxes. [138] The king should have manual labourers, artisans, and servants who live on their own labour work (for him) one day every month. [139] He should not, through excessive thirst, cut off his own root or that of others, for by cutting off his own root he would injure himself and them. [140] The king should be both sharp and gentle when he hears a case, for a king who is both sharp and gentle is respected.

  [141] When he is tired of hearing men’s cases, he should establish his chief minister in that post, a man who knows justice and is wise, controlled, and born of a good family. [142] When he has in this way disposed of everything that he himself is to do, he should protect his subjects diligently and without carelessness. [143] (That king) is dead and does not live, from whose kingdom aliens carry off his subjects, screaming, while he and his retainers look on. [144] The supreme duty of a ruler is to protect his subjects, for a king who enjoys the rewards described above is bound to (that) duty.

  [145] He should arise in the last watch of the night and, unpolluted and with a concentrated mind, offer an oblation into the fire; then he should honour the priests and enter his fine court-room. [146] He should stay there greeting all his subjects, and then dismiss them; and when he has dismissed all his subjects he should take counsel with his counsellors. [147] He should take counsel unobserved, climbing to a private place on the back of a hill or a roof-terrace, or in a wilderness that has no vegetation. [148] A king whose counsel is not known by the common people when they come together will enjoy the entire earth even if he has a poor treasury. [149] At the time of taking counsel he should have removed idiots, the mute, blind, or deaf; animals and very old people; women, barbarians, and those who are ill or who lack a part of the body. [150] For those who are despised disclose counsel, and so do animals and, especially, women; therefore he should be cautious among them. [151] At noon or midnight, when he has rested and overcome his weariness, he should think, either alone or with those (advisers), about religion, profit, and pleasure, [152] and about attaining them when they are mutually opposed, about giving his daughters in marriage and protecting his sons, [153] about sending ambassadors and finishing what has to be done, about what is going on in the harem and the movements of his secret agents.

  [154] And (he should think), realistically, about the entire eight-fold activity (of a king) and the five-fold class (of other members), about affection and disaffection and what is being done by the circle (of neighbouring states), [155] and (think) hard about what is being done by the king in-between and the movements of the king who wishes to conquer, and about what is being done by the neutral king and the enemy. [156] These are, in summary, the (four) basic elements of the circle; and eight more are enumerated, so that there are traditionally said to be twelve. [157] And five other (members of the state) are enumerated: the ministers, territory, forts, treasury, and army. When these are counted separately (for each of the twelve elements or kings) they make a total of seventy-two. [158] The king should regard as his enemy both the king who is his immediate neighbour and any partisan of that enemy; and (he should regard) as his ally the immediate neighbour of his enemy, and as neutral (the king) beyond these two.

  [159] He should subdue all of these by conciliation and the (three) other expedients, used singly or in combination, and by manliness and political policy. [160] And he should always bear in mind the six tactics (of political policy): alliance, war, marching, camping, dichotomy, and seeking refuge. [161] When he has considered what has to be done, he should make use of alliance or war, marching or camping, dichotomy or seeking refuge.

  [162] But the king should know that there are two kinds of alliance and two kinds of war, and two kinds of marching and camping, and two kinds of seeking refuge. [163] Alliance, which has both present and future (consequences), should be known to have two distinguishing marks: when (the two kings) march together, or the opposite. [164] War is traditionally regarded as being of two kinds: waged of one’s own accord and for (one’s own) purpose or to avenge an ally, at the right time or the wrong time. [165] Marching is said to be of two kinds: alone, when an urgent matter arises by chance, or accompanied by an ally. [166] Camping is traditionally regarded as being of two kinds: when (the king) has been gradually weakened by fate or by (the consequences of) his former deeds, or to oblige an ally. [167] Those who know the qualities of the six tactics say that dichotomy, too, is two-fold: the army and its master stop (in two different places) to achieve the goal of an undertaking. [168] Seeking refuge is traditionally regarded as being of two kinds: for the sake of accomplishing a goal when one is hard pressed by enemies, and, among virtuous (kings), under a pretext. [169] He should engage in an alliance when he understands that his own future superiority is certain and that he is little pressed at present. [170] But he should wage war when he thinks that all his subjects are in very high spirits and that he himself has grown exceedingly mighty. [171] He should march against the enemy when he thinks that his own army is in high spirits and thriving and that the enemy’s (army) is the opposite. [172] And he should camp carefully, gradually conciliating his enemies, when he is very weak in his army and in his vehicles. [173] The king should accomplish his own undertaking by making a dichotomy of the army when he thinks that the enemy is stronger in every way. [174] But he should seek refuge quickly with a strong, righteous king when he is most vulnerable to the enemy’s armies. [175] He should constantly and with every effort serve like a guru the man who can control both his subjects and the enemy army. [176] If he sees a disadvantage in taking refuge even with him, then, even then, he should without hesitation fight a good fight. [177] A king who knows political policy should make use of all the expedients to see t
hat allies, neutral kings, and enemies do not become superior to him. [178] He should realistically consider the future and present of all undertakings, and the advantages and shortcomings of all past (undertakings). [179] If he knows the advantages and disadvantages (of his undertakings) in the future, can make quick decisions in the present, and knows the results of his undertakings in the past, he will not be overpowered by enemies. [180] He should arrange everything in such a way that allies, neutral kings, and enemies do not overmaster him; this is political policy in a nutshell.

  [181] But when a ruler marches against an enemy’s kingdom, then he should march gradually against the enemy’s fortress in the following manner. [182] The king should march in the fine month of mid-November to mid-December or around the months of mid-February to mid-April, depending on (the condition of) his army. [183] But he may also march to make war at other times, when he sees that victory is certain or when some disaster has befallen his enemy. [184] He should make the arrangements correctly at his base and for the march, secure his position, establish his spies properly, [185] clear and secure the three kinds of roads and his own six-fold army, and gradually advance against the enemy’s fortress in the martial manner. [186] He should be especially careful in dealing with an ally who secretly serves the enemy or towards anyone who has deserted and returned, for such a man is the worst enemy. [187] He should march on the road with the army in the formation of a rod, a cart, a boar, a crocodile, a needle, or an eagle.