Ministers

"One who wishes him to return should not follow him far" — thus the ministers spoke their word to the great king Daśaratha.

"This entire council of ministers, our father's perpetual [retinue], is honoured, O tiger among men;

"In a case of calamity affecting alike the wealthy and the destitute, O Rāghava, do your widely-learned ministers decide the matter without partiality?

If affairs become entangled for the king and the courses of action go blind to him, let his recourse in them be to the opinions of the learned who guide and the ministers who counsel sincerely, and to consultation with them, for through these the sound courses of affairs become plain as lamps become plain in the darkness of the pitch-black night.

The king, together with his ministers and family priest, should examine legal disputes according to the treatise on *dharma* for the protection of his subjects, being free from anger and greed, truthful and self-controlled.

The king who, accompanied by the *prāḍvivāka*, ministers, Brahmin priest, and assessors, acts as an observer according to *dharma*, abides in heaven.

A king should appoint as his minister a Brahmin who knows the meaning of all sacred treatises, is not greedy, speaks justly, is wise, and has come through hereditary succession.

He should appoint seven or eight ministers who are hereditary, learned in the sacred treatises, brave, skilled in arms, of noble birth, and well-tested.

He should also appoint other ministers who are pure, wise, and steadfast, who are excellent collectors of revenue, and who are well-tested.

how much more so a kingdom of great prosperity, especially without assistance.