"Yudhishthira said, 'Thou hast, O Bharata, discoursed upon the many
duties of king-craft that were observed and laid down in days of old by
persons of ancient times conversant with kingly duties. Thou hast,
indeed, spoken in detail of those duties as approved by the wise. Do
thou, however, O bull of Bharata's race, speak of them in such a way that
one may succeed in retaining them in memory."Nilakantha explains that na nirddandvah means na nishparigrahah.

"Bhishma said, 'The protection of all creatures is regarded as the
highest duty of the Kshatriya. Listen now to me, O king, as to how the
duty of protection is to be exercised. A king conversant with his duties
should assume many forms even as the peacock puts forth plumes of diverse
hues. Keenness, crookedness, truth, and sincerity, are the qualities that
should be present in him. With thorough impartiality, he should practise
the qualities of goodness if he is to earn felicity. He must assume that
particular hue or form which is beneficial in view of the particular
object which he seeks to accomplish.i.e., 'speak in brief of them, or give us an abridgment of thy elaborate discourses.' A king who can assume diverse
forms succeeds in accomplishing even the most subtle objects. Dumb like
the peacock in autumn, he should conceal his counsel. He should speak
little, and the little he speaks should be sweet. He should be of good
features and well versed in the scriptures. He should always be heedful
in respect of those gates through which dangers may come and overtake
him, like men taking care of breaks in embankments through which the
waters of large tanks may rush and flood their fields and houses. He
should seek the refuge of Brahmanas crowned with ascetic success even as
men seek the refuge or loudly rivers generated by the rain-water
collected within mountain lakes. That king who desires to amass wealth
should act like religious hypocrites in the matter of keeping a coronal
lock.i.e., as the commentator explains, keenness, when he punishes and harmlessness when he shows favour. The king should always have the rod of chastisement uplifted
in his hands. He should always act heedfully (in the matter of levying
his taxes) after examining the incomes and expenses of his subjects like
men repairing to a full-grown palmyra for drawing its juice.i.e., 'should assume the qualities (such as keenness, etc.), necessary for his object.' K.P. Singha's version of the last line of 8 is erroneous. The Burdwan version is right. He
should act equitably towards his own subjects; cause the crops of his
enemies to be crushed by the tread of his cavalry, march against foes
when his own wings have become strong; and observe all the sources of his
own weakness. He should proclaim the faults of his foes; crush those that
are their partisans; and collect wealth from outside like a person
plucking flowers from the woods. He should destroy those foremost of
monarchs that swell with might and stand with uplifted heads like
mountains, by seeking the shelter of unknown shadesVrihadvrikshamivasravat is explained by Nilakantha as Vrihantak Vrikshah Yatra; asravat is explained as rasamprasravat. I think Vrihadvriksham may be taken as a full-grown Palmyra (1) tree. The sense is that as men always draw the juice from a full-grown tree and 'lot from a young one, even so the king should take care as to how taxes should be laid upon subjects that are unable to bear them. and by
ambuscades and sudden attacks. Like the peacock in the season of rains,
he should enter his nightly quarters alone and unseen. Indeed, he should
enjoy, after the manner of the peacock, within his inner apartments, the
companionship of his wives. He should not put off his mail. He should
himself protect his own self, and avoid the nets spread out for him by
the spies and secret agents of his foes. He should also win over the
affections of the spies of his enemies, but extirpate them when
opportunity occurs. Like the peacocks the king should kill his powerful
and angry foes of crooked policy, and destroy their force and drive them
away from home. The king should also like the peacock do what is good to
him, and glean wisdom from everywhere as they collect insects even from
the forest. A wise and peacock-like king should thus rule his kingdom and
adopt a policy which is beneficial to him. By exercising his own
intelligence, he should settle what he is to do. By consulting with
others he should either abandon or confirm such resolution. Aided by that
intelligence which is sharpened by the scriptures, one can settle his
courses of action. In this consists the usefulness of the scriptures. By
practising the arts of conciliation, he should inspire confidence in the
hearts of his enemies. He should display his own strength. By judging of
different courses of action in his own mind he should, by exercising his
own intelligence, arrive at conclusions. The king should be well-versed
in the arts of conciliatory policy, he should be possessed of wisdom; and
should be able to do what should be done and avoid what should not. A
person of wisdom and deep intelligence does not stand in need of counsels
or instruction. A wise man who is possessed of intelligence like
Vrihaspati, if he incurs obloquy, goon regains his disposition like
heated iron dipped in water. A king should accomplish all objects, of his
own or of others, according to the means laid down in the scriptures. A
king conversant with the ways of acquiring wealth should always employ in
his acts such men as are mild indisposition, possessed of wisdom and
courage and great strength. Beholding his servants employed in acts for
which each is fit, the king should act in conformity with all of them
like the strings of a musical instrument, stretched to proper tension,
according with their intended notes. The king should do good to all
persons without transgressing the dictates of righteousness. That king
stands immovable as a hill whom everybody regards—'He is mine.' Having
set himself to the task of adjudicating between litigants, the king,
without making any difference between persons that are liked and those
that are disliked by him, should uphold justice. The king should appoint
in all his offices such men as are conversant with the characteristics of
particular families, of the masses of the people, and of different
countries; as are mild in speech; as are of middle age; as have no
faults; as are devoted to good act; as are never heedless; as are free
from rapacity; as are possessed of learning and self-restraint; as are
firm in virtue and always prepared to uphold the interests of both virtue
and profit. In this way, having ascertained the course of actions and
their final objects the king should accomplish them heedfully; and
instructed in all matters by his spies, he may live in cheerfulness. The
king who never gives way to wrath and joy without sufficient cause, who
supervises all his acts himself, and who looks after his income and
expenditure with his own eyes, succeeds in obtaining great wealth from
the earth. That king is said to be conversant with the duties of
king-craft who rewards his officers and subjects publicly (for any good
they do), who chastises those that deserve chastisement, who protects his
own self, and who protects his kingdom from every evil. Like the Sun
shedding his rays upon everything below, the king should always look
after his kingdom himself, and aided by his intelligence he should
supervise all his spies and officers. The king should take wealth from
his subjects at the proper time. He should never proclaim what he does.
Like an intelligent man milking his cow every day, the king should milk
his kingdom every day. As the bee collects honey from flowers gradually,
the king should draw wealth gradually from his kingdom for storing it.
Having kept apart a sufficient portion, that which remains should be
spent upon acquisition of religious merit and the gratification of the
desire for pleasure. That king who is acquainted with duties and who is
possessed of intelligence would never waste what has been stored. The
king should never disregard any wealth for its littleness; he should
never disregard foes for their powerlessness; he should, by exercising
his own intelligence, examine his own self; he should never repose
confidence upon persons destitute of intelligence. Steadiness,
cleverness, self-restraint, intelligence, health, patience, bravery, and
attention to the requirements of time and place,—these eight qualities
lead to the increase of wealth, be it small or be it much. A little fire,
fed with clarified butter, may blaze forth into a conflagration. A single
seed may produce a thousand trees. A king, therefore, even when he hears
that his income and expenditure are great, should not disregard the
smaller items. A foe, whether he happens to be a child, a young man, or
an aged one, succeeds in staying a person who is heedless. An
insignificant foe, when he becomes powerful, may exterminate a king. A
king, therefore, who is conversant with the requirements of time is the
foremost of all rulers. A foe, strong or weak, guided by malice, may very
soon destroy the fame of a king, obstruct the acquisition of religious
merit by him; and deprive him of even his energy. Therefore, a king that
is of regulated mind should never be heedless when he has a foe. If a
king possessed of intelligence desire affluence and victory, he should,
after surveying his expenditure, income, savings, and administration,
make either peace or war. For this reason the king should seek the aid of
an intelligent minister. Blazing intelligence weakens even a mighty
person; by intelligence may power that is growing be protected; a growing
foe is weakened by the aid of intelligence; therefore, every act that is
undertaken conformably to the dictates of intelligence is deserving of
praise. A king possessed of patience and without any fault, may, if he
likes, obtain the fruition of all his wishes, with the aid of even a
small force. That king, however, who wishes to be surrounded by a train
of self-seeking flatterers,i.e., by tempering with the governors of the citadels and the garrisons of his foes, as the commentator explains. never succeeds in winning even the
smallest benefit. For these reasons.. the king should act with mildness
in taking wealth from his subjects. If a king continually oppresses his
people, he meets with extinction like a flash of lightening that blazes
forth only for a second. Learning, penances, vast wealth, indeed,
everything, can be earned by exertion. Exertion, as it occurs in embodied
creatures, is governed by intelligence. Exertion, therefore, should be
regarded as the foremost of all things. The human body is the residence
of many intelligent creatures of great energy, of Sakra, of Vishnu, of
Saraswati, and of other beings. A man of knowledge, therefore, should
never disregard the body.i.e., that king who is vain and covetous. A covetous man should be subjugated by
constant gifts. He that is covetous is never satiated with appropriating
other people's wealth. Every one, however, becomes covetous in the matter
of enjoying happiness. If a person, therefore, becomes destitute of
wealth, he becomes destitute of virtue and pleasure (which are objects
attainable by wealth). A covetous man seeks to appropriate the wealth,
the enjoyments, the sons and daughters, and the affluence of others. In
covetous men every kind of fault may be seen. The king, therefore, should
never take a covetous man for his minister or officer. A king (in the
absence of proper agents) should despatch even a low person for
ascertaining the disposition and acts of foes. A ruler possessed of
wisdom should frustrate all the endeavours and objects of his enemies.
That trustful and high-born king who seeks instruction from learned and
virtuous Brahmanas and who is protected by his ministers, succeeds in
keeping all his tributary chiefs under proper control. O prince of men, I
have briefly discoursed to thee of all the duties laid down in the
scriptures. Attend to them, aided by thy intelligence. That king who, in
obedience to his preceptor, attends to these, succeeds in ruling the
whole earth. That king who disregards the happiness that is derivable
from policy and seeks for that which chance may bring, never succeeds in
enjoying the happiness that attaches to sovereignty or in winning regions
of bliss hereafter.Whether it belongs to himself or to any other person. A king that is heedful, by properly attending to
the requirements of war and peace, succeeds in slaying even such foes as
are eminent for wealth, worshipped for intelligence and good conduct,
possessed of accomplishments, brave in battle, and ready for exertion.
The king should discover those means which are furnished by different
kinds of acts and measures. He should never depend upon destiny. One that
sees faults in faultless persons never succeeds in winning prosperity and
fame. When two friends engage in accomplishing one and the same act, a
wise man always applauds him among the two that takes upon himself the
heavier share of the work. Do thou practise these duties of kings that I
have told thee. Set thy heart upon the duty of protecting men. Thou mayst
then easily obtain the reward of virtue. All the regions of felicity
hereafter are dependent upon merit!'"The sense seems to be that a king should always be guided by the precepts of the science of king-craft without depending upon chance.