Carl Clausewitz - The Strategy of Warfare – Boxed Set

Without dissension and without any concert among themselves, they shall carry on their work as ordered.

When in concert, they eat up (the revenue).

When in disunion, they mar the work.

Without bringing to the knowledge of their master (bhartri, the king), they shall undertake nothing except remedial measures against imminent dangers.

A fine of twice the amount of their daily pay and of the expenditure (incurred by them) shall be fixed for any inadvertence on their part.

Whoever of the superintendents makes as much as, or more than, the amount of fixed revenue shall be honoured with promotion and rewards.

(My) teacher holds that that officer who spends too much and brings in little revenue eats it up; while he who proves the revenue (i.e., brings in more than he spends) as well as the officer who brings inasmuch as he spends does not eat up the revenue.

But Kautilya holds that cases of embezzlement or no embezzlement can be ascertained through spies alone.

Whoever lessens the revenue eats the king's wealth. If owing to inadvertence he causes diminution in revenue, he shall be compelled to make good the loss.

Whoever doubles the revenue eats into the vitality of the country. If he brings in double the amount to the king, he shall, if the offence is small, be warned not to repeat the same; but if the offence be grave he should proportionally be punished.

Whoever spends the revenue (without bringing in any profit) eats up the labour of workmen. Such an officer shall be punished in proportion to the value of the work done, the number of days taken, the amount of capital spent, and the amount of daily wages paid.

Hence the chief officer of each department (adhikarana) shall thoroughly scrutinise the real amount of the work done, the receipts realised from, and the expenditure incurred in that departmental work both in detail and in the aggregate.

He shall also check (pratishedhayet) prodigal, spend-thrift and niggardly persons.

Whoever unjustly eats up the property left by his father and grandfather is a prodigal person (múlahara).

Whoever eats all that he earns is a spendthrift (tádátvika).

Whoever hordes money, entailing hardship both on himself and his servants is niggardly.

Whoever of these three kinds of persons has the support of a strong party shall not be disturbed; but he who has no such support shall be caught hold of (paryádátavyah).

Whoever is niggardly in spite of his immense property, hordes, deposits, or sends out—hordes in his own house, deposits with citizens or country people or sends out to foreign countries;—a spy shall find out the advisers, friends, servants, relations, partisans, as well as the income and expenditure of such a niggardly person. Whoever in a foreign country carries out the work of such a niggardly person shall be prevailed upon to give out the secret. When the secret is known, the niggardly person shall be murdered apparently under the orders of (his) avowed enemy.

Hence the superintendents of all the departments shall carry on their respective works in company with accountants, writers, coin-examiners, the treasurers, and military officers (uttarádhyaksha).

Those who attend upon military officers and are noted for their honesty and good conduct shall be spies to watch the conduct of accountants and other clerks.

Each department shall be officered by several temporary heads.

Just as it is impossible not to taste the honey or the poison that finds itself at the tip of the tongue, so it is impossible for a government servant not to eat up, at least, a bit of the king's revenue. Just as fish moving under water cannot possibly be found out either as drinking or not drinking water, so government servants employed in the government work cannot be found out (while) taking money (for themselves).

It is possible to mark the movements of birds flying high up in the sky; but not so is it possible to ascertain the movement of government servants of hidden purpose.

Government servants shall not only be confiscated of their ill-earned hordes, but also be transferred from one work to another, so that they cannot either misappropriate Government money or vomit what they have eaten up.

Those who increase the king's revenue instead of eating it up and are loyally devoted to him shall be made permanent in service.

[Thus ends Chapter IX, "Examination of the Conduct of Government Servants" in Book II, "The Duties of Government Superintendents" of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of thirtieth chapter from the beginning.]

Table of Contents

(TEACHERS) say that (the word) sásana, command, (is applicable only to) royal writs (sásana).

Writs are of great importance to kings inasmuch as treaties and ultimate leading to war depend upon writs.

Hence one who is possessed of ministerial qualifications, acquainted with all kinds of customs, smart in composition, good in legible writing, and sharp in reading shall be appointed as a writer (lékhaka).

Such a writer, having attentively listened to the king's order and having well thought out the matter under consideration, shall reduce the order to writing.

As to a writ addressed to a lord (ísvara), it shall contain a polite mention of his country, his possessions, his family and his name, and as to that addressed to a common man (anisvara), it shall make a polite mention of his country and name.

Having paid sufficient attention to the caste, family, social rank, age, learning (sruta), occupation, property, character (síla), blood-relationship (yaunánubandha) of the addressee, as well as to the place and time (of writing), the writer shall form a writ befitting the position of the person addressed.

Arrangement of subject-matter (arthakrama), relevancy (sambandha), completeness, sweetness, dignity, and lucidity are the necessary qualities of a writ.

The act of mentioning facts in the order of their importance is arrangement.

When subsequent facts are not contradictory to facts just or previously mentioned, and so on till the completion of the letter, it is termed relevancy.

Avoidance of redundancy or deficiency in words or letters; impressive description of subject matter by citing reasons, examples, and illustrations; and the use of appropriate and suitably strong words (asrántapada) is completeness.

The description in exquisite style of a good purport with a pleasing effect is sweetness.

The use of words other than colloquial (agrámya) is dignity.

The use of well-known words is lucidity.

The alphabetical letters beginning with Akára are sixty-three.

The combination of letters is a word (pada). The word is of four kinds—nouns, verbs, prefixes of verbs, and particles (nipáta).

A noun is that which signifies an essence (satva).

A verb is that which has no definite gender and signifies an action.

'Pra' and other words are the prefixes of verbs.

'Cha' and other indeclinable words are particles.

A group of words conveying a complete sense is a sentence (vákya).

Combination of words (varga) consisting of not more than three words and not less than one word shall be so formed as to harmonise with the meaning of immediately following words.

The word, ‘iti,’ is used to indicate the completion of a writ; and also to indicate an oral message as in the phrase ‘váchikamasyeti,’ an oral message along with this (writ).

Calumniation (nindá), commendation, inquiry, narration request, refusal, censure, prohibition, command, conciliation, promise of help, threat, and persuasion are the thirteen purposes for which writs are issued.

Calumniation (nindá) consists in speaking ill of one's family, body and acts.

Commendation (prasamsá) consists in praising one's family, person, and acts.