Yudhishthira said 'What other special duties remain for the king to satisfy? How should he protect his kingdom and how vanquish his foes.

How should he engage his spies? How should he create confidence in the four orders of his subjects, his own servants, wives, and sons, O Bharata?

Bhishma said 'Listen, O king, with attention to the various duties of kings,-to those acts which the king or one who is in his position should first do.

The king should first conquer himself and then try to subdue his enemies. He can a king who has not been able to conquer his own self be able to conquer his enemies?

The conquest of these, viz., the five objects, is tantamount to the conquest of self. The king who has governed his senses is capable to resist his enemies.

He should place infantry in his forts, frontiers, towns, parks, and pleasure gardens, O delighter of the Kurus, as also, in all places where he himself goes, and within his own palace, O foremost of men.

He should appoint as spies men looking like idiots or like those who are blind and deaf. These should all be well-tried persons who are endued with wisdom, and who are able to bear hunger and thirst.

With proper attention the king should engage his spies to watch the actions of all his counsellors and friends and sons, in his city and the provinces, and in the territories of feudatory chiefs. His spies should be so employed that they may not know one another.

He should also, O foremost of Bharatas, know the spies of his enemies by himself placing spies in shops and places of amusement, amid gatherings of people, among beggars, in his pleasure gardens and parks, in meetings and assemblages of the learned, in the country, in public places, in the court, and in the houses of the citizens.

An intelligent king may thus ascertain the spies sent by his enemies. If these be known, the king may derive iinmense benefit, O son of Pandu.

When the king, after seeing everything finds himself weak, he should then, consulting with his ministers make peace with a stronger foe.

The wise king should quickly make peace with enemies even when he knows that he is not weak, if he can derive any advantage out of it.

Engaged in protecting his kingdom piously the king should make peace with accomplished persons capable of great work, virtuous and honest.

When the king finds himself overtaken with danger and about to be ruined, he should kill all offenders whom he had overlooked before and all such persons as are marked out by the people.

A king should not deal with a person who can neither benefit nor injure him, or with one who cannot save himself from distress,

As regards military operations, a king, who knows his own strength, should, commanding a large army cheerfully and courageously give the order to march, without announcing his destination, against one shorn of allies and friends or already at war with another and hence careless or one weaker than himself, having first made arrangements for the protection of his own city.

A king should not for ever live under a more powerful king. Though weak, he should try to assail the stronger and resolved upon this continue to rule his own.

He should assail the kingdom of the stronger one by neans of weapons fire, and the administering of poison. He should also create dissensions amongst his ministers and servants.

Brihaspati has said that an intelligent king should always avoid war for the acquisition of territory. The acquisition of territories should be made by the three well-known means (of conciliation, gift, and dissension).

The wise king should be satisfied with those acquisitions that are made by means of conciliation, gift, and dissension.

The king, O delighter of the Kurus, should take a sixth of the incomes of his subjects as tribute for performing the duties of their protection.

He should also take away by force the wealth, much or little, of the ten sorts of offenders mentioned in the scriptures, for the protection of his subjects.

A king should, forsooth, consider his subjects as his own children. In settling their disputes, however, he should not show any mercy.

For hearing the charges and defences in judicial suits, the king should always appoint wise persons endued with a knowledge of worldly affairs, for the state really depends upon a proper administration of justice.

The king should appoint honest and trustworthy men to look after his mines, salt, grain, ferries, and elephant corps.

The king, who always judiciously holds the rod of punishment, acquires great merit. The proper regulation of punishment is the great duty of kings and deserves great praise.

The king should master the Vedas and their auxiliaries, be possessed of wisdom, engaged in penances, charitable, and devoted to the celebration of sacrifices.

All these qualities should always be in a king. If the king fails to administer justice, he can neither acquire heaven nor fame.

If a king be attacked by a stronger one, the former, if intelligent, should seek refuge in a fort.

Collecting his friends for consultation, he should devise proper means. Adopting the policy of conciliation and of creating dissensions, he should devise means for fighting with the assailants.

He should place the inhabitants of the woods on the high roads, and, it, necessary, cause whole villages to be removed, removing all the inhabitants of minor towns or on the outskirts of great cities.

Giving repeated assurances to his wealthy subjects and the principal officers of the army, he should make the dwellers of the open country to take refuge in well-protected forts.

He should deposit all sorts of grain in his forts. If that is impossible, he should destroy them completely by fire.

He should engage men for destroying the crops on the fields of the enemy. Failing to do this, he should destroy those crops to do this, he should destroy those crops by means of his own men.

He should destroying all the bridges over the rivers in his kingdom. He should draw out the waters of all the tanks in his territories, or, if incapable to do so, cause them to be poisoned.

Disregarding the duty of protecting his friends, he should, considering present and future circumstances, seek the protection of another king who may happen to be the foe of his foe and who may be capable to fight with his enemy on the field of battle.

He should demolish all the minor forts in his kingdom. He should also cut down all the smaller trees except those called Chaitya.

He should cause the branches of all large threes to be cut off, but he should not touch the very leaves of Chaitya ones.

He should erect outer ramparts round his forts, and fill his trenches with water, putting pointed stakes at their bottom and filling them with crocodiles and sharks.

He should keep small outlets in his walls for firing guns from his fort, and carefully make arrangements for their defence like that of the greater gates.

In all his gates he should place destructive engines. He should place on ramparts Shataghnis and other weapons.

He should lay by wood for fuel and dig and repair wells for supply of water to the garrison.

He should have all houses made of grass and straw plastered over with mud, and if it is summer, he should, from fear of fire, collect in a safe place all the stores of grass and straw.

He should order all food to be cooked at night. No fire should be lighted during the day, except for the daily Homa.

Particular care should be taken of the fires lighted in smitheries and lying-in chambers. Fires in the houses of the inhabitants should be well covered.

For the better protection of the city, it should be announced that a person, lighting fires in the day time, will be sufficiently punished.

During such times, all beggars, cartmen, eunuchs, lunatics, should, O foremost of men, be driven out of the town, for if they are allowed to remain, evil will come.

In places of public resort, in Tirthas, in assemblies and in the houses of the citizens, the king should keep capable spies.

The king should have wide roads constructed, and open up shops, and places for the distribution of water, at proper stations.

Shops of necessary articles, arsenals, camps and quarters for soldiers, stables for horses and elephants, encampments, of soldiers, trenches, streets and lanes, houses and pleasure gardens should be so made that their situations may not be known to others, O Yudhishthira.

A king, who is attacked by a hostile army, should collect wealth, and store oil and fat and honey, and clarified butter, and medicines of all sorts,

And charcoal and munja grass, leaves, arrows, scribes and draftsmen, grass, fuel, poisoned arrows, weapons of all sorts such as darts, swords, lances and others, The king should store such articles.

He should especially keep ready various drugs, roots and fruits, the four kinds of physicians, actors and dancers, athletes, and persons capable of assuming various disguises. He should adorn his capital and please all his subjects.

The king should speedily subjugate such persons as may cause fear, be they his servants or counsellors or citizens or neighbouring kings.

Whenever any of his work is done the king should reward those who have helped in its accomplishment with wealth and other becoming presents and grateful speeches.

It has been laid down in the scriptures, O delighter of the Kurus, that a king satisfies his debt when he defeats his foe or kills him at once.

A king should take care of seven things. Listen to me as I name them. They are his own self, his ministers, his treasury, his servants for inflicting punishments, his friends, his provinces, and his capital. He should carefully protect his kingdom consisting of these seven limbs.

That king, O foremost of man, who is conversant with the collection of six and three objects, and the high collection of three, gains the sovereignty of the whole Earth.

Hear, O Yudhishthira, what is called the aggregate of six. They are ruling peacefully after making a treaty (with the foe), marching to battle, creating disunion among the enemy, concentration of army for filling the enemy with fear, preparation for war with readiness for peace, and alliances with others.

Listen now with attention to what are the triple objects. They are decrease, maintenance of what is, and growth. The great three fold objects consist of religion, Profit and Pleasure. These should be followed judiciously. By the help of religion a king succeeds in ruling the Earth for ever.

Regarding this matter, Angirasa's son Brihaspati himself has recited two verses. Blessed be you, O son of Devaki, you should

'Having satisfied all his duties and having protected the Earth, and having also protected the cities, a king enjoys great happiness in heaven.

Of what use are penances to that king, and what need has he of sacrifices who protects his people properly? Such a king should be known as one conversant with every virtue.

Yudhishthira said There is the science of punishment; there is the king, and there are the subjects. Tell me, O grandfather, what advantage is derived by one of those from the others.

Bhishma said Listen to me, O king, as I describe, O Bharata, the great virtues of the science of punishment in weighty and sacred words.

The science of punishment compels all men to satisfy the duties of their respective orders. Properly administered, it compels people to perform virtuous acts.

When the four orders perform their respective duties, when all healthy restrictions are kept up, when peace and happiness emanate from the science of punishment when the people are shorn of all fear, and the three higher orders try according to their respective duties, to preserve harmony people become truly happy at such times.

You should not doubt whether it is the king that makes the age, or, it is the age that makes the king; the truth is that the king makes the age.

When the king rules depending entirely on the science of punishment the foremost of ages called Krita is then said flourish.

Righteousness prevails in the Krita age. Nothing unrighteous exists then; the four orders are not inclined to take any pleasure in unrighteousness.

Forsooth, all men succeed in acquiring the objects they seek and preserving those that have been acquired. All the Vedic rites yield merit.

All the seasons are delightful and free from evil. The voice pronunciation, and minds of all men became clear and delightful.

Ailments disappear and all men enjoy long lives. Wives do not become widows, and no person becomes a miser.

The Earth yield crops without being cultivated and herbs and plants grow abundantly. Barks, leaves, fruits, and roots, become strong and profuse.

No unrighteousness is seen. Nothing but righteousness exists. These are the characteristics, O Yudhishthira, of the Krita.

When the king depends upon only three of the four parts of the science of punishment leaving out a fourth, the age called Treta sets in.

A fourth part of unrighteousness sets in by the observance of the great science by threefourths. The Earth gives crops but waits for cultivation; the herbs and plants grow by cultivation.

When the king follows the great science by only a half, leaving out the other half, then the age that sets in is called Dvapara.

A half of unrighteousness follows the observance of the great science by half. The Earth yields crops by half and that even by tillage.

When the king, leaving aside the great science altogether, oppresses his subjects by all manner and means the age that sets in is called Kali.

During the age called Kali, unrighteousness assumes the full proportion and nothing of righteousness is seen. The hearts of men of all the orders, are disinclined to their respective duties.

Shudras live by adopting lives of mendicancy, and Brahmanas live by serving others. Men cannot acquire the objects they seek and preserve those already acquired. Intermixture of the four castes takes place.

Vedic rites fail to yield fruits. All the seasons eases to the delightful and visited by evils.

The voice, pronunciation, and minds of men lose power. Diseases appear, and men die untimely.

Wives become widows, and many cruel men appear; the clouds do not rain in seasons and crops fail.

All kinds of moisture also fail, when the king does not, by duly following the great science, protect the subjects.

The king is the creator of the Krita age, of the Treta, and of the Dvapara. The king is the creator of the fourth age (called Kali).

If he creates the Krita age, he acquires eternal heaven. If he creates the Treta age, he acquires heaven for a limited period.

If he creates the Dvapara, he attains to blessedness in heaven in proportion to his merits. By creating the Kali age, the king incurs a heavy sin.

Sullied by wickedness, he suffers in hell for numberless years, for being drowned in the sins of his subjects, he incurs great sin and infamy himself.

Following the great science the learned Kshatriya should try to acquire those objects which he seeks and protect those which he has already acquired.

The science of punishment, which establishes all men in the observance of their respective duties, which is the basis of all healthy distinctions, and which truly keeps up the world and sets it agoing if properly administered, protects all men like parents protecting their children.

Know, O foremost of men, that the very lives of creatures depend upon it. The greatest merit of a king consists in his acquaintance with the science of punishment and administering it properly.

Therefore, O you of Kuru's race, protect your subjects righteously, with the help of that great science. By protecting your subjects and adopting such a conduct, you will, forsooth, attain to such blessedness in heaven which cannot be easily acquired.