In the last tidbit, we were on Chapter 5 of Manu Smriti.  I will skip Chapter 6, since that is about those who wish to retire to the forest, after having fulfilled their roles as householders.  Let me turn to Chapter 7 instead, which is about the duties of kings.  When there was no king, all the beings were terrified and fled in different directions.  The lord (the creator) then created a king so that everything could be protected (7.3).  To do this, he took the eternal elements from Indra, Anila (the wind-god), Yama, Arka (the sun), Agni, Varuna, Chandra and Vittesha (the lord of riches, Kubera) (7.4).  One of the duties of a king is to inflict punishment and he must be always vigilant in inflicting punishment on those who should be punished.  If he does not do this, the strong will oppress the weak, like a fish being roasted on a stake (shula) (7.20).  The crow will eat up sacrificial cakes and the dog will lick up sacrificial oblations (7.21).  सर्वो दण्डजितो लोको दुर्लभो हि शुचिर्नरः (7.22).  The world is conquered through punishment, the pure man is rare.

The king must avoid the ten sins that result from kama and the eight sins that result from anger (7.45).  What are these sins?  Kama is often interpreted as sexual desire. However, kama isn’t sexual desire alone.  It is all desire that is linked to the senses.  The ten sins that result from kama are hunting, gambling, sleeping during the day, censuring, women (presumably an excess), liquor, तौर्यत्रिक and unnecessary travel (7.47).  If we leave out तौर्यत्रिक, we have a list of seven sins.  What is तौर्यत्रिक? It means the three combinations of singing, dancing and music.  Excessive addiction to these then completes the complement of ten sins.  What about the eight sins that result from anger? These are calumny/tale-bearing, violence/rashness, injury, envy, malice, seizure of property (unjust seizure obviously), verbal abuse and harshness (7.48).  7.50 tells us that out of the ten sins that result from kama, liquor, gambling, women and hunting are the worst.  7.51 tells us that out of the eight sins that result from anger, injury, verbal abuse and the seizure of property are the worst.  The king must live in a town that is inside a fortress/citadel (durga).  Several different types of fortresses are described – those protected by a desert, those protected by stone, those protected by water, those protected by forests, those protected by men and those protected by mountains (7.70).  Of these, those protected by mountains are the best (7.71).  One archer placed on a rampart can protect against one hundred warriors and one hundred archers can guard against ten thousand warriors (7.74).

There are rules for fighting (7.90-.94).  You must not fight with concealed weapons.  You must not use barbed weapons, or those that are tipped with poison or flames. You must not strike someone who has climbed (presumably to escape), a eunuch or someone who has joined his hands in salutation.  You must not strike someone with disheveled hair, someone who has sat down, or someone who has surrendered to you.  You must not strike someone who is sleeping, or someone who has lost his armour, someone who is naked, or someone who is without weapons.  You must not strike someone who is a spectator and is not fighting, or someone who is fighting with others.  You must not strike someone whose weapons have been shattered, someone who is distressed, someone who is seriously wounded, someone who is frightened, or someone who is running away.

7.114-118 lays down a structure of governance, along the following lines.  There will be officers over 1 village, over 10 villages, over 20 villages, over 100 villages, over 1000 villages, and so on, vertically upwards.  A kula means a family/household.  It also means that much of land that can sustain a family/household.  An officer/ruler over 10 villages will be given 1 kula of land, an officer/ruler over 20 villages will be given 5 kulas of land, an officer/ruler over 100 villages will be given the revenue from one village and the officer/ruler of 1000 villages will be given the revenue of an entire town (7.119).  There will be fixed daily wage rates for those employed in royal service in the royal household (7.125). The lowest will be given 1 pana (a coin), the highest will be given 6 panas.  Once every six months, they will be given new clothes and every month, they will be given 1 drona (a measure) of grain (7.126).  7.129 tells us that the king’s taxation must not be excessive.  He must be like a leech, a calf or a bee, that is, he must not take excessively.  If it is cattle or gold, the king can tax 1/50th.  If it is crops, the king can tax 1/6th, 1/8th, or 1/12th (7.130).  If it is produce from trees, he should take 1/6th (7.131).  For those who live on manual labour, the king can demand one day’s free labour every month (7.138). In 7.187, you will find recommendations on a vyuha (battle-formation).  In 7.217-218, you will find recommendations on how the king should avoid being poisoned.  I need not repeat all this.  The point is that people tend to associate such prescriptions with Kautilya’s “Arthashastra”, or some other tracts on royal policy, not necessarily with Manu Smriti.  But in Chapter 7 of Manu Smriti, you will find quite a bit of this.  Read it. What is तौर्यत्रिक? It means the three

Authored by Bibek Debroy

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