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7. YASASTILAKA AS AN ANTHOLOGY OF SANSKRIT VERSE
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will cease to have joy of wealth, when kings will cease to have wicked ministers, and when honest persons will cease to be poor ( 3. 150).
Kavikusumāyudha is rather emphatic in what he says: यदि तव हृदयं सनयं विद्वन् स्वमेऽपि मा स सेविष्ठाः । सचिवजितं युवतिजितं खङ्गिजितं खलजितं च राजामम् ॥ ____ उपलः सलिलेषु तरेजलधिर्गाधेत मन्दरः प्रचरेत् । इति संभवति कदाचिनाखलभावः पुनः सचिवः ।। If thou hast any sense of right, o wise man, never, even in a dream, resort to a king dominated by a minister or a young woman or a swordsman or a villain. A stone may float on water, the ocean may turn shallow, and the Mandara mountain may move, all this may one day happen, but never will there be a minister who is not a villain (3. 152–3).
Sujanajsvita is hard both on kings and ministers: विश्वस्तं महिमास्तं सुजनं विजनं कुलीनममुहीनम् । गुणिनं च दुःखकणिनं कुर्वादिति सचिवसिद्धान्तः ।
कुमुदाकर इव दिनकृति विरमति नृपतिर्नरे सरागे हि । स लधु विरक्त रज्यति रजनिरसचूर्णरजसीव ॥ "The faithful should be degraded, good men isolated, the highborn killed, and the virtuous made miserable': such is the doctrine of ministers. A king ceases to love a loyal person, just as a night lotus-bed ceases to bloom at the sight of the sun. He suddenly becomes attached to one who is disloyal, just as fluid turmeric sticks to pulverised lime (3. 156-7).
Mugdhānganā-kelikutûhala describes how ministers dissuade the king from helping good and pious men:
ज्वरात इव खियेत मत्री सत्सु धनन्यये । कृतार्थ इव मोदेत विट-वागजीवनांदिषु ॥ भमनि हुतमिव महते यहत्तं देव तदफलं सकलम् । उपयोगिने त देयं नटाय विटपेटकायापि ॥
पिण्डीशूराः केवलममी हि सर्वस्वभक्षणे दक्षाः । न हि यामार्थ सन्तः स्वामिन् भटपेटिकार्य वा ॥ A minister would be pained, like a man suffering from fever, if money were spent for the benefit of honest people. But he would rejoice like a man who has achieved success, if it were spent on libertines, panegyrists and the like. (He says to the king) Sire, what is given to the pious is all useless, like an oblation offered on ashes. Money should be given to those who serve an useful purpose, even to dancers and pimps. Those pious fellows are merely gluttons, expert in consuming their substance. Sire, they do not keep watch at night nor do they contribute to the maintenance of the warriors.' (3. 158–60).
Vilāsinilocanakajjala refers to the misappropriation of pablic money by ministers:
यदल्पं दयतेऽमात्यैः फलमाकाशजं क्वचित् । तत्सर्वस्वापहाराय मुग्धेषु पुरधूर्तवत् ।।
संभाववत्यमात्योऽवं यत् स्वमेव महीभुजि । तदन्यसाद्विवेकोऽस्य मा भून्मयि धनाशिनि । If ministers sometimes show to ignorant kings a slight transitory profit from some investment, it is with a view to misappropriating the
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