ress.
The king even at the extremity of distress, should never give up[396] his
treasury, his machinery for chastising the wicked, his army, his friends
and allies and other necessary institutions and the chiefs existing in
his kingdom. Men conversant with duty say that one must keep one's seeds,
deducting them from one's very food. This is a truth cited from the
treatise of Samvara well-known for his great powers of illusion. Fie on
the life of that king whose kingdom languishes. Fie on the life of that
man who from want of means goes to a foreign country for a living. The
king's roots are his treasury and army. His army, again, has its roots in
his treasury. His army is the root of all his religious merits. His
religious merits, again are the root of his subjects. The treasury can
never be filled without oppressing others. How then can the army be kept
without oppression? The king, therefore, in seasons of distress, incurs
no fault by oppressing his subjects for filling the treasury. For
performing sacrifices many improper acts are done. For this reason a king
incurs no fault by doing improper acts (when the object is to fill his
treasury in a season of distress). For the sake of wealth practices other
than those which are proper are followed (in seasons of distress). If (at
such times) such improper practices be not adopted, evil is certain to
result. All those institutions that are kept up for working destruction
and misery exist for the sake of collecting wealth.[397] Guided by such
considerations, an intelligent king should settle his course (at such
times). As animals and other things are necessary for sacrifices, as
sacrifices are for purifying the heart, and as animals, sacrifices, and
purity of the heart are all for final emancipation, even so policy and
chastisement exist for the treasury, the treasury exists for the army,
and policy and treasury and army all the three exist for vanquishing foes
and protecting or enlarging the kingdom. I shall here cite an example
illustrating the true ways of morality. A large tree is cut down for
making of it a sacrificial stake. In cutting it, other trees that stand
in its way have also to be cut down. These also, in falling down, kill
others standing on the spot. Even so they that stand in the way of making
a well-filled treasury must have to be slain. I do not see how else
success can be had. By wealth, both the worlds, viz., this and the other,
can be had, as also Truth a