"Yudhishthira said, 'What should be the kind of city within which the
king should himself dwell? Should he select one already made or should he
cause one to be especially constructed? Tell me this O grandsire!'
"Bhishma said, 'It is proper, O Bharata, to enquire about the conduct
that should be followed and the defences that should be adopted with
respect to the city in which, O son of Kunti, a king should reside. I
shall, therefore, discourse to thee on the subject, referring especially
to the defences of citadels. Having listened to me, thou shouldst make
the arrangements required and conduct thyself attentively as directed.
Keeping his eye on the six different kinds of citadels, the king should
build his cities containing every kind of affluence and every other
article of use in abundance. Those six varieties are water-citadels,
earth-citadels, hill-citadels, human-citadels, mud-citadels, and
forest-citadels. The king, with his ministers and the army
thoroughly loyal to him, should reside in that city which is defended by
a citadel which contains an abundant stock of rice and weapons,—which is
protected with impenetrable walls and a trench, which teems with
elephants and steeds and cars, which is inhabited by men possessed of
learning and versed in the mechanical arts, where provisions of every
kind have been well stored, whose population is virtuous in conduct and
clever in business and consists of strong and energetic men and animals,
which is adorned with many open squares and rows of shops, where the
behaviour of all persons is righteous, where peace prevails, where no
danger exists, which blazes with beauty and resounds with music and
songs, where the houses are all spacious, were the residents number among
them many brave and wealthy individuals, which echoes with the chant of
Vedic hymns, where festivities and rejoicings frequently take place, and
where the deities are always worshipped. Residing there, the king
should be employed in filling his treasury, increasing his forces,
enhancing the number of his friends, and establishing courts of justice.
He should cheek all abuses and evils in both his cities and his
provinces. He should be employed in collecting provisions of every kind
and in filling his arsenals with care. He should also increase his stores
of rice and other grain, and strengthen his counsels (with wisdom). He
should further, enhance his stores of fuel, iron, chaff, charcoal,
timber, horns, bones, bamboos, marrow, oils and ghee, fat, honey,
medicines, flax, resinous exudations, rice, weapons, shafts, leather
catgut (for bow-strings), caries, and strings and cords made of munja
grass and other plants and creepers. He should also increase the number
of tanks and well, containing large quantities of water, and should
protect all juicy trees. He should entertain with honour and
attention preceptors (of different sciences), Ritwijas, and priests,
mighty bowmen, persons skilled in architecture, astronomers and
astrologers, and physicians, as also all men possessed of wisdom and
intelligence and self-restraint and cleverness and courage and learning
and high birth and energy of mind, and capable of close application to
all kinds of work. The king should honour the righteous and chastise the
unrighteous. He should, acting with resolution, set the several orders to
their respective duties. Ascertaining properly, by means of spies, the
outward behaviour and the state of mind of the inhabitants of his city
and provinces, he should adopt those measures that may be required. The
king should himself supervise his spies and counsels, his treasury, and
the agencies for inflicting chastisements. Upon these everything may be
said to depend. With spies constituting his sight, the king should
ascertain all the acts and intentions of his foes, friends, and neutrals.
He should then, with heedfulness, devise his own measures, honouring
those that are loyal to him and punishing those that are hostile. The
king should always adore the gods in sacrifices and make gifts without
giving pain to anybody. He should protect his subjects, never doing
anything that may obstruct or thwart righteousness. He should always
maintain and protect the helpless, the masterless, and the old, and women
that are widows. The king should always honour the ascetics and make unto
them gifts, at proper seasons of cloths and vessels and food. The king
should, with attentive care, inform the ascetics (within his dominions)
of the state of his own self, of all his measures, and of the kingdom,
and should always behave with humility in their presence. When he sees
ascetics of high birth and great learning that have abandoned all earthly
objects, he should honour them with gifts of beds and seats and food.
Whatever the nature of the distress into which he may fall, he should
confide in an ascetic. The very robbers repose confidence upon persons of
that character. The king should place his wealth in charge of an ascetic
and should take wisdom from him. He should not, however, always wait upon
them or worship them on all occasions. From among those residing in
his own kingdom, he should select one for friendship. Similarly, he
should select another from among those that reside in the kingdom of his
foe. He should select a third from among those residing in the forests,
and a fourth from among those dwelling in the kingdoms paying tribute to
him. He should show hospitality towards and bestow honours upon them and
assign them the means of sustenance. He should behave towards the
ascetics dwelling in the kingdoms of foes and in the forests in the same
way as towards those that reside in his own kingdom. Engaged in penances
and of rigid vows they would, if calamity overtakes the king and if he
solicits protection, grant him what he wants. I have now told thee in
brief the indications of the city in which the king should reside.'"
