vijigIshu swami sampat - Excellences of victorious king

Few months back, I have concluded the first part of arthaSAstra that deals with the internal administration of the kingdom. Then, made this post on my LinkedIn to reintroduce the leadership and the second part of dealing with external affairs based on rAja maNDala i.e., the circle of kings. 

Having bowed down to Lord Ganesha, ancient teachers of SAstra Sukra & bRhaspati again let me restart posts to this blog.

The sixth book of artha SAstra is called maNDala yOniH which explains the basis of political diplomacy around a victorious leader.

swami the lord, amAtya minister, janapada the country, durga the fortified capital city, kOSa the treasury, daNDa the armed forces, mitra the allies are the constituent elements of a state.

Of these prakRtis, most important is the king/leader. The excellences of the leader are now being discussed.

There are four sets of qualities or excellences enumerated by cANakya.

First set are abhigAmika guNAH i.e., the natural qualities of a king who everyone should approach: Born of a high family lineage, of great fortune, righteous, truthful in speech, acting as per his words.

Second set is prajnA guNAH i.e., qualities of intellect: Desire to learn, listening (to the knowledgeable persons), understanding, remembering, contemplating, building on the learning, rejecting false concepts or views and finally able to conclude on the subject

Third set is utsAha guNAH i.e, qualities of strength or energy: Valour, endurance, quickness and dextricity

The froth and most important set is Atma sampat i.e, excellences of self: Eloquence, boldness, endowed with memory, thought and power of execution, able to correct oneself, ability to control oneself in calamity and in normal conditions of success, one who depends on the effort based on the conditions of time and place as appropriate, dispassionate with respective to greed, anger, fickleness,  one who conducts himself based on the advice of elders - These are called excellences of self.

The qulities required for amAtyas is discussed earlier - http://sastra-artha.blogspot.in/2013/05/qualities-of-mantri-prime-minister.html 

The janapada which is naturally protected, rich in natural resources, independent, having hard working inhabitants who are honest and loyal to the king is excellent one!

The excellence of durga i.e, fort is described earlier. - http://sastra-artha.blogspot.in/2013/06/durga-vidhanam-establishment-of-forts.html

cANakya describes the sampada of kOSa, daNDa and mitras as well and concludes the first chapter of maNDala yOniH with few concluding verses that emphasise the importance of Atma sampat.

संपादयत्यसंपन्नाः प्रकृतीरात्मवान् नृपः ।
विवृद्धाश्चानुरक्ताश्च प्रकृतीर्ह्यन्त्यनात्मवान् ॥

sampAdayati asampannAH prakRtIH AtmavAn nRpaH 
vivRddhAH ca anraktAH ca prakRtIH hanti anAtmavAn 

A leader/king with the excellence of self, will acquire the other constituent elements and makes them excellent; one who is not endowed with excellence of self will destroy even the most excellent other prakRtis!

A king who has lordship over the whole world and wealth, who is not having the excellence of self will end up destroying everything including self. Where as

आत्मवान् स्वल्प देशोऽपि युक्तः प्रकृति संपदा ।
नयज्ञः पृधिवीं कृत्स्नां जयत्येव न हीयते ॥ 

AtmavAn svalpa dESaH api yuktaH prakRti sampadA 
naya-jnaH pRthivIm kRtsnAm jayati Eva na hIyatE 

One who has conquered the self, even he is having a small country and other constituent elements, who is well versed in nIti SAstra will conquer the whole world verily! He will never lose!!

That is the power of wealth of self i.e, Atma sampat of the vijigIshu.