e of existence, always observant of their duties,
honest, and steadfast like mountains. There should be no difference
between him and them as regards objects of enjoyment. The only
distinction should consist in his umbrella and his power of passing
orders. His conduct towards them, before or behind, should be the same.
The king who behaves in this way never comes to grief. That crooked and
covetous king who suspects everybody and who taxes his subjects heavily,
is soon deprived of life by his own servants and relatives. That king,
however, who is of righteous behaviour and who is ever engaged in
attracting the hearts of his people, never sinks when attacked by foes.
If overcome, he soon regains his position. If the king is not wrathful,
if he is not addicted to evil practices and not severe in his
punishments, if he succeeds in keeping his passions under control, he
then becomes an object of confidence unto all like the Himavat mountains
(unto all creatures). He is the best of kings who hath wisdom, who is
possessed of liberality, who is ready to take advantage of the laches of
foes, who has agreeable features, who is conversant with what is bad for
each of the four orders of his subjects, who is prompt in action, who has
his wrath under control, who is not vindictive, who is high-minded, who
is not irascible by disposition, who is equal engaged in sacrifices and
other religious acts, who is not given to boasting, and who vigorously
prosecutes to completion all works commenced by him. He is the best of
kings in whose dominions men live fearlessly like sons in the house of
their sire. He is the best of kings whose subjects have not to hide their
wealth and are conversant with what is good and what is bad for them. He,
indeed, is a king whose subjects are engaged in their respective duties
and do not fear to cast off their bodies when duty calls for it; whose
people, protected duly, are all of peaceful behaviour, obedient, docile,
tractable, unwilling to be engaged in disputes, and inclined to
liberality. That king earns eternal merit in whose dominions there is no
wickedness and dissimulation and deception and envy. That king truly
deserves to rule who honours knowledge, who is devoted to the scriptures
and the good of his people, who treads in the path of the righteous, and
who is liberal. That king deserves to rule, whose spies and counsels and
acts, accomplished and unaccomplished, remain unknown to his enemies. The
fol