Sutra 19

Devanagari script

अर्धगुणहीनः शासनहरः ॥ कZ_०१.१६.०४ ॥

Transliteration

ardhaguṇahīnaḥ śāsanaharaḥ

Translation

Un envoyé qui porte l’instruction du roi peut être déficient jusqu’à la moitié des qualités idéales (tout en pouvant être employé pour porter le message).

Word by Word

• अर्धगुणहीनः: deficient by half the required qualities (i.e., possessing only half the qualities)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: ही (हायने)
• Form: प्रथमा-एकवचन, पुंलिङ्ग; विशेषणम् (शासनहरः इति विशेष्यस्य)

• शासनहरः: one who undermines/negates the authority of punishment/discipline (a ‘destroyer of governance’)
• Type: Noun (agent noun)
• Root: हृ (हरणे)
• Form: प्रथमा-एकवचन, पुंलिङ्ग; हर-प्रत्ययान्त कर्तृवाचकः (शासनं हरति/अपहरति इति)

Entities Mentioned

• dūta (envoy)
• rājan (king)

More Details

FAQs

What administrative principle is implied by allowing a partially qualified envoy?

Task-fit staffing: for low-discretion duties (message delivery), the state can use a less-than-ideal agent, conserving higher talent for higher-discretion missions.

What is the risk-control logic here?

Limit discretion: a mere message-bearer executes a bounded function, so competence requirements can be lower than for negotiating envoys.