Shloka 50
Treasury Security, Protection of Informants, and the Kalakavṛkṣīya Exemplum (Śānti Parva 83)
तेनैवोग्रेन्धनेनैनं दावो दहति दारुण: । तथोपमा ह्ामात्यास्ते राज॑ंस्तान्ू परिशोधय
tenaivogrendhanenainaṁ dāvo dahati dāruṇaḥ | tathopamā hy amātyās te rājan tān pariśodhaya ||
Bhishma dit : «C’est par ce même combustible âpre qu’un incendie terrible de forêt brûle jusqu’à ce grand arbre. De même, ô roi, tes ministres sont devenus semblables à ces lianes desséchées : nourris par ton soutien, ils ont grandi au point de te submerger, puis de devenir le combustible de ta ruine. C’est pourquoi purifie ton administration : examine, redresse et écarte ces officiers corrompus avant qu’ils ne consument le royaume de l’intérieur.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler must actively scrutinize and cleanse the administration. Officials who rise under royal patronage can become instruments of the king’s own destruction if left unchecked; therefore, corruption must be investigated and removed early.
Bhīṣma is instructing a king in righteous governance. Using the image of a great tree burned by a forest-fire fed by dried creepers that once grew upon it, he warns that the king’s own ministers—grown powerful under his shelter—may now endanger him and the realm, so they must be ‘purified’ through corrective action.