Kural Page 6
“Stand and deliver”.
553.
A king who does not do justice daily
Will daily lose his land.
554.
A thoughtless tyrant will lose at once
His wealth and subjects.
555.
Won’t the tears of the oppressed allowed to flow
Wear out a king’s wealth?
556.
Just rule stabilizes a king;
Lacking it his glory fades.
557.
How fares the earth without rain? So fares
Life under a ruthless king.
558.
Wealth under a lawless king
Is worse than want.
559.
Where a king is unjust
Rains are withheld.
560.
Cows yield less and the six professions* cease
Where a protector does not protect.
57. Terrorism
561.
Call him king who probes and whose punishment
Is deterrent and proportionate.
562.
A wide sweep and a mild stroke ensures
Enduring power.
563.
A tyrant indulging in terrorism
Will perish quickly.
564.
A king decried as a tyrant will soon lose
Both property and life.
565.
The wealth of one inaccessible and sour-faced
Is no better than a demon’s.*
566.
The wealth of one harsh-spoken and cruel
Fleets and dissolves.
567.
Harsh words and excessive punishments
Are a file to a king’s iron might.
568.
That king will not prosper who does not
Consult his ministers, and treats them rough.
569.
A king who neglects his defences
Will die of fright in a war.
570.
The earth bears no heavier burden
Than a tyrant hemmed in by fools.
58. Compassion
571.
It is compassion, the most gracious of virtues,
Which moves the world.
572.
Compassion is human; lacking it
Men are a burden on earth.
573.
What use is a raga that cannot be sung?
Or eyes without sympathy?
574.
What use are eyes that look like eyes
But lack boundless sympathy?
575.
The jewel of the eye is sympathy; without it
Eyes are but sores.
576.
Like trees earth-bound which cannot move
Are eyes unmoved by pity.
577.
They are blind who lack sympathy;
And those only eyes which have it.
578.
The world is his who does his job
With sympathy.
579.
The rarer action is to sympathize
Even with those that hurt us.
580.
Refinement will drink with a smile
Even hemlock when offered.
59. Espionage
581.
A king’s pair of eyes
Are the classics on statecraft and spies.
582.
A king’s job is to know in time
Everything that happens to everyone each day.
583.
A king uninformed by spies
Cannot succeed.
584.
Employees, kinsmen and enemies
Are the people a spy should cover.
585.
Spies should always be
Unsuspected, intrepid and close.
586.
Garbed as a holy man a spy should go everywhere
Withstanding all strain.
587.
A spy should know and make sure
Of hidden things.
588.
What one spy has spied
Must be confirmed through another.
589.
Let not one spy know another;
And act when three spies agree.
590.
Never honour a spy in public
Lest your secret should be out.
60. Energy
591.
What is one’s own is one’s vigour:
Without it what does one own?
592.
The real asset is a resolute mind—
Riches and lands fleet.
593.
Those who have vigour will not lament
The loss of goods.
594.
To a man of unshaken vigour
Wealth will ask and find its way.
595.
The lotus rises with the water,
And a man as high as his will.
596.
Always aim high—failure then
Is as good as success.
597.
The strong-willed are not daunted by failure—
Pierced with arrows an elephant stands.
598.
A weakling cannot gain the world’s esteem
For strength.
599.
Huge and sharp-tusked though he be
An elephant fears a tiger.
600.
Energy is a man’s wealth: the immobile
Are trees in human form.
61. Sloth
601.
The smoke of sloth will dim and destroy
The light of inherent virtue.
602.
Those who would enhance their birth
Should keep sloth at bay.
603.
A slothful fool’s household
Will predecease him.
604.
The ease-loving sluggard ruins his house
And multiplies sin.
605.
The pleasure-junks of destruction are four;
Procrastination, forgetfulness, sloth and sleep.
606.
The slothful will not gain
Even with powerful aid.
607.
The ease-loving sluggard must endure
Censure and contempt.
608.
Sloth enslaves a house
To its enemies.
609.
Inherent defects can be changed
By exertion.
610.
An energetic king can get at once
All that Trivikrama bestrode.*
62. Manliness
611.
Do not give up saying, “It is impossible”.
Effort will overcome.
612.
The world gives up those who give up:
Stick to your task.
613.
To the persistent belongs the pride
Of doing good to others.
614.
A weakling’s philanthropy is a sword
In a eunuch’s hand.
615.
A comfort to his friends and a pillar is he
Who scorns delight and loves labour.
616.
Exertion leads to wealth,
Lack of it to want.
617.
The black elder sister dwells on a slothful lap
And the lotus-throned, they say, attends on zeal.*
618.
Ill-luck is never blamed—what is blamed
Is knowledge without exertion.
619.
Even if Fate will not, exertion will pay
The wages of effort.
620.
Those that strive undaunted will see
The back of Fate itself.
63. Fortitude
621.
Laugh at misfortune—nothing so able
To triumph over it.
622.
&nbs
p; Misfortune may rise like a flood—
A bold thought will quell it.
623.
Those whom grief cannot grieve
Will grieve grief.
624.
Trouble is troubled by him who bull-like
Drags his cart through every hurdle.
625.
The man who can defy ceaseless trouble
Troubles it.
626.
Will they whine, “We have nothing”.
Who never crowed, “We have much?”
627.
The wise are never perturbed to whom
Their body is but a butt of distress!*
628.
He will never be sad who scorns delight
And takes sorrow in his stride.
629.
He who never exulted in joy
Will not be depressed by sorrow.
630.
To take pain as pleasure
Is to gain your foe’s esteem.
(ii) The Limbs of the State
64. Ministers
631.
Call him minister who best contrives
The means, the time, the mode and the deed.
632.
Firmness, concern, learning, judgement and effort—
These five should mark a minister.
633.
To part, combine and reunite
Should come easy to a minister.
634.
Enquiry, deliberate action and advice
Should mark a minister.
635.
A helpful counseller knows the codes,
Is learned in discourse and ever resourceful.
636.
What can oppose a keen intelligence
Combined with learning?
637.
However well-versed in books,
Be practical.
638.
It is a minister’s duty to advise aright
Even an ignorant foe to learning.
639.
Better seventy crore open foes
Than one treacherous minister.
640.
The inefficient will leave undone
Even well-planned schemes.
65. Persuasiveness
641.
Persuasiveness is a great gift
Rich beyond all else.
642.
Speech can both make and mar, and hence
Should be guarded well.
643.
Eloquence charms the hearer and fills with longing
Those who have not heard.
644.
Speak fittingly than which there is
No greater virtue or wealth.
645.
Speak so that what you say
May never be gainsaid.
646.
To persuade and gain by what others say
Mark good counsellers.
647.
A good speaker, tireless, unforgetful and bold
Is hard to quell.
648.
The world will run and listen to a speech
Sweet and well-set.
649.
Those fond of talking much
Cannot be brief and faultless.
650.
The learned lacking expression
Are flowers without scent.
66. Honest Dealing
651.
A man’s friends bring him worldly goods:
His good deeds all he needs.
652.
Avoid always what does not lead
To fame and virtue.
653.
Those who seek greatness must avoid
What will stain their name.
654.
They will not be mean even in distress
Who see life steadily.
655.
Do not do what you will regret; and if you do,
Do not regret.*
656.
Do not do what the wise condemn
Even to save your starving mother.
657.
Better the poverty of the wise
Than wealth got with infamy.
658.
Those who do what is forbidden
May get their ends but will come to grief.
659.
Goods gained with others’ tears are lost with one’s own:
Well-got, even when lost, help hereafter.
660.
To stock ill-got wealth is to store
Water in unburnt clay.
67. Efficiency
661.
Efficiency is but strength of mind:
All aids mere aids.
662.
To shun ruin, and ruined not give up
Are the two rules the wise prescribe.*
663.
Let ends reveal deeds: a hand disclosed
Breeds endless woe.
664.
It is easy for anyone to talk,
But hard to act thereon.
665.
Efficient deeds inspired by fame
Redound to the king and win esteem.
666.
All one aims at can be gained
If one is but firm.
667.
Don’t despise by looks: the linchpin holds
The huge wheel in place.
668.
Decide clear-eyed and act firmly
Without delay.
669.
However great the hardship,
Pursue with firmness the happy end.
670.
The world has no use for those however strong
Who have no use for firmness.
68. Modes of Action
671.
The end of deliberation is decision:
To decide and dawdle is bad.
672.
Delay where delay is needed, but do not delay
When you must act.
673.
Strike where possible; elsewhere
Consider other means.
674.
Aggression or enmity left half-way
Is fire half put out.
675.
Five things should be pondered over before you act:
Resources, weapons, time, place and deed.*
676.
Weigh well before you plunge
The inputs, impediments and gain.
677.
The way to do a thing is to get
Inside an insider.
678.
Let one action get another
As an elephant an elephant.
679.
More urgent than helping friends
Is making friends with the enemy’s foes.*
680.
If you are weak and fear internal trouble
Seize conciliation.
69. Envoys
681.
Amiability, breeding and ways that attract kings
Are essential in an envoy.
682.
An envoy’s three essentials
Are loyalty, intelligence and sagacious speech.
683.
An envoy should be expert in knowledge
To succeed with the powerful.
684.
Let him go as envoy who has sense,
Personality and scholarship.
685.
An envoy’s words should be compact, unoffending,
Pleasant and useful.
686.
An envoy should be well-read, not nervous,
Persuasive and resourceful.
687.
It is best to know one’s job, time and place,
And rehearse one’s words.*
688.
Morality, sociability, courage and truth
Should characterize a messenger.
689.
A king’s herald will not even negligently
Utter words that leave a stain.
690.
A good envoy will maintain his ki
ng’s good
Even risking boldly his own life.
70. To Move with Kings
691.
Courtiers round a king, like men before a fire,
Should be neither too far nor too near.
692.
The way to gain gifts from a king
Is not to covet what he covets.
693.
Beware and ward off faults—suspicion roused
Is hard to clear.
694.
Avoid before the great
Whispers and knowing smiles.
695.
Neither eavesdrop nor pursue a king’s secret—
Wait till he tells himself.
696.
Speak to him shunning the unpleasant
And according to his mood, time and likes.
697.
Tell the useful and even when asked
Avoid always the useless.
698.
Don’t treat him lightly as young or kin
But act as befits his splendour.
699.
The level-headed do not presume on esteem
And do wrong.
700.
To presume on an old friendship and do wrong
Is to court disaster.
71. Mind Reading
701.
He is a jewel on this sea-girt earth
Who can read a thought without being told.
702.
The sure apprehension of another mind
Is the mark of a god.*
703.
He is worth any price who by intuition
Can read another’s thought.
704.
Only in their limbs do other men resemble
A thought reader.
705.
What use are eyes that cannot read
A man’s thoughts on his face?
706.
As a mirror shows what is in front
So the face reveals the full mind.
707.
What is as informed as the face
The index in front of joy and sorrow?
708.
Just stand and look before a feeling heart
To have your woes redressed.
709.
The eyes will reveal to those that can read them
Both love and hate.
710.
The astute, you will find, use for their gauge
Nothing but eyes.
72. Knowing an Assembly
711.
Meticulous masters of words
Must suit them carefully to the council.
712.
Orators who wish to do good
Should study the occasion with care.
713.
Those are poor orators, unavailing,
Who speak without knowing their audience.
714.
Sparkle mid the sparkling, and be chalk-white,
Among the blank.
715.