EkaiSvaryam - Concluding yOga vRttam

Having completed the discussion on the soft skills needed for an adviser, the last (7th) chapter of yOga vRttam deals with two prakaraNas 94th called rAjya prati sandhAnam and 95th EkaiSvaryam.

These two topics deal with the philosophy behind continuing the sovereignty in the event of King's death and emphasis on having a unified leadership across the territory. In case of any disturbance observed anywhere in the territory and any of the powerful officers are defecting to form their own power, such attempts should be remedied suitably.

The policy and strategy of taking a territory forward should be consistent for fairly long period to give good results to all its residents.

Having established the prince as the King or a suitable representative as King, the prime minister / adviser should retire as the new King/Leader would need a new trusted adviser. In the event of new King requests the minister to continue wholeheartedly the minister can continue the service to the new king.

In the event the minister is not willing to continue, he should retire to the forest on the pretext of a long satra yAga i.e., religious ceremony that is going to take few years.

So, the handover plan of the power and exit plan for the advisor also been discussed!! 
Thus we reach the end of fifth book of artha SAstra.

Notes: This is the 60th post on the blog. With this post the first part dealing with the "Home Affairs" of governance of a territory comes to an end.

First is the training - vinayAdhikaraNam, second is about establishing a federated governance structure (adhyaksha pracAraH), third is about judiciary (dharmasthIyam), fourth is about removing thorns (kaNTaka SOdhanam) and fifth is secret conduct. These five books of artha SAstra gives a comprehensive insight into the state craft.

The second part is about "External Affairs or the Foreign Policy" - Hopefully I will make few posts on that subject to this blog as well in future.