Shloka 13
Kośa, Bala, and Maryādā: Treasury, Capacity, and Enforceable Limits (कोश-बल-मर्यादा)
कोशं च जनयेद् राजा निर्जलेभ्यो यथा जलम् | काल प्राप्यानुगृह्लीयादेष धर्म: सनातन: । उपायधर्म प्राप्येमं पूर्वराचरितं जनै:
bhīṣma uvāca |
kośaṃ ca janayed rājā nirjalebhyo yathā jalam |
kālaṃ prāpya anugṛhṇīyād eṣa dharmaḥ sanātanaḥ |
upāyadharmaṃ prāpya imaṃ pūrvar ācāritaṃ janaiḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Qu’un roi fasse croître son trésor, comme on tire de l’eau même des lieux qui paraissent sans eau. Quand revient le moment favorable, qu’il use de cette richesse pour accorder sa grâce au peuple : tel est le dharma éternel, honoré par le temps. Les souverains d’autrefois aussi, lorsqu’ils furent frappés par le malheur, adoptèrent ce “dharma des moyens” (upāya-dharma) et agirent ainsi.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
In times of crisis a king may, within limits, raise resources even from strained sources to protect the realm; when stability returns, he must use that accumulated wealth to relieve and benefit the people. Pragmatic measures are justified only when paired with later restitution and welfare.
Bhishma, instructing on rajadharma in the Shanti Parva, explains an emergency principle of governance: build the treasury during distress (even by extracting from the poor as feasible), and later, in good times, repay that burden through generosity and public benefit—citing it as an old, established practice of earlier rulers.