Shloka 5
राष्ट्रगुप्ति-संग्रहः
Protection of the Realm and Principles of Revenue & Local Administration
सो<पि विंशत्यधिपतिर्वत्तं जानपदे जने । ग्रामाणां शतपालाय सर्वमेव निवेदयेत्
so 'pi viṁśaty-adhipatir vṛttaṁ jānapade jane | grāmāṇāṁ śata-pālāya sarvam eva nivedayet ||
Bhīṣma said: “Likewise, the officer in charge of twenty villages should ascertain the full state of affairs among the people of his district and report everything to the superintendent responsible for a hundred villages.” The verse presents a graded chain of administrative accountability, meant to ensure that local conditions and offences are known, recorded, and conveyed upward without concealment—so that governance serves order and justice rather than arbitrariness.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s administration should be structured with clear tiers of responsibility: each local officer must investigate conditions and wrongdoing in his jurisdiction and report fully to the higher authority, ensuring transparency and effective justice.
Bhishma is instructing on statecraft in the Shanti Parva, describing how reports should move upward from smaller to larger administrative units—here, from the officer of twenty villages to the officer of a hundred—so the kingdom remains informed and well-governed.