Jai Sriman Narayana !!
Rishi Vaishampayana narrates,
King Drutharashtra was extremely anxious after witnessing the valorous nature
of son’s of Pandu. Shortly King
Drutharashtra summoned to Kanika who is the senior personnel from the ministers
of assembly of Kingdom of Hasthinapur, expert advisor to the King and
proficient in Rajaneeti / internal as well as external affairs of the
Kingdom. King Drutharashtra spoke “Oh!
Greatest among the Brahmins, I am too resentful at the splendors of Pandvas,
they are revealing their supremacy on this land with their extreme
proficiency. Should I be in peace with
them? Or Should I fight against them? I need your expert advice on this topic
and will sincerely follow your opinion.”
Kanika listened to the harsh words of Drutharashtra and replied ‘ Oh!
Sinless King and prominent amongst Kurus listen to my words carefully, you may
get agitated at my opinion. The rulers
should have their mace ready on their raised broad shoulders at all times to
fight against their opponent at any time.
They should strive twofold to build their powers, so that the rulers of
neighboring countries will have an uneasiness to fight against, he should not
expose his anxieties in open, clever enough to keep an eye on the activities of
his opponent and find out their weaknesses.
A ruler should keep himself protected all his activities and its
results, anxieties etc… under the tight
shield like a tortoise, he should be successful in hiding all his fears, the
initiated task should be completed successfully; an evil grass should not spoil
the entire crop. Your enemies and evil
doers always deserve punishment. If the
opponent is too fearless, you should wait for his terrible times and destroy
him without any second thought or guilt.
Oh! King do not condemn your opponent publicly, a spark of fire is to
engulf the entire forest. A clever ruler
should act as blind and deaf at times.
If a ruler is not capable to punish his rival or find no mistakes in his
opponent that deserves punishment, he should act as a blind and remain ready to
act /cautious always, just like a deer in woodland. You can kill your opponent while he is in
your command or kill him publicly without any mercy. You can kill your opponent or the person who
hurt you by spending abundance of wealth, so that you can remain protected and
peaceful. You can defeat your opponent
with the inborn skills; prowess, knowledge in armaments, with the strength of
army etc…uproot your opponent and destroy his closest associations, faithful
servants and friends just like rip opened the root of a tree which cannot
survive with its stem or branches. Keep
all your activities and decisions under wrap; closely watch the anxieties and
failures of your opponent. Oh! King you should rule your Kingdom wisely keeping
an close eye on your opponent, engage yourself in performing Yagas/Yagnas/ fire
sacrifices and follow strict austerities and act like a true ascetic in that
way acquire the confidence of your opponent, once you attained the complete
trust of your opponent, attack him like a jackal. It’s fair to adopt the attire of an ascetic
for accumulating wealth as the same way used for plucking good fruits from the
trees. It’s advisable to carry your
opponent on your shoulder always until his worst time appears before you, so
that you can fling him on the ground at his worst time like tossing mud pot on
the ground. You should not leave your
opponent unscathed, you should kill him mercilessly. You should not spare your opponent at any
reason, he should be killed either by the force of your army or creating
mistrust in his associates or spending wealth.”
Drutharashtra enquired Kanika
“You have briefly explained how to vanquish my opponent with peace, strength of
men of army, wealth and creating mistrust amongst his associates, I would like
to listen more about the above tactics.”
Kanika narrates the story of cleverness
of a Jackal lived in the wild in the company of a tiger, mouse, wolf and a
mongoose. One day they witnessed a
young and healthy deer that was the leader of the herd, though the wicked
Jackal and his friends chased the deer, they could not get their hands on it
due to its swiftness. The clever Jackal
addressed his companions with an evil idea; mouse should injure the feet of the
deer while it’s fast asleep and tiger should chase it and seize it, ultimately
the feast will be shared amongst the friends according to their needs. As instructed the prey was killed and brought
before the Jackal, rests of the animals were gone for ablutions leaving the
feast before Jackal who was the intelligent one amongst crowd. It was tiger returned from ablutions and saw
the Jackal under deep meditation, tiger invited his friend to have pleasure on
their feast, but Jackal refused to touch it and lied it was mouse who hunted
the deer wanted to have initial share on the feast, Tiger was annoyed by the
inconsiderate words of Jackal and left the place with a promise that it will
hunt its prey by its might. The next
came mouse, Jackal told him that the Mongoose said the feast is venomous
because it was caught with the claws of tiger, also lied that Mongoose is ready
to make feast on mouse, abruptly mouse disappeared into a furrow. Then came the wolf after ablutions, Jackal
lied that the King of beasts Tiger left the place very angrily and will be back
with its female companion at any time by now, though the wolf has love for
flesh, it left the place abruptly. Finally,
Mongoose approached the greedy Jackal with a desire to have a share on the
flesh, but Jackal lied to Mangoose that he was defeated his companions with the
might of his arms and challenged for a fight to have a share on meat. Mangoose believed it was for real and escaped
from the scene. Finally, the clever Jackal
ate the whole fresh flesh at its heart content.
Kanika advised King Dhrutharashtra “ A
King should act intelligently at all circumstances like a Jackal, so that he
can live a happy life by intimidating the powerless opponent and infuse fear in
them, keeping peace with the fearless
opponent, provide abundance of wealth to
a greedy opponent, utilize power &
valor on the inferior opponent, so that you can have complete control over your
opponent. Oh! Sinless King! Carefully listen to what I have to comment.”
Jai Sriman Narayana !!
