Shloka 18
Adhyaya 27 — Madālasa’s Instruction to King Alarka: Royal Ethics, Self-Conquest, and Statecraft
कीटकस्य क्रियां कुर्यात् विपक्षे मनुजेश्वरः ।
चेष्टां पिपीलिकानाञ्च काले भूपः प्रदर्शयेत् ॥
kīṭakasya kriyāṃ kuryāt vipakṣe manujeśvaraḥ | ceṣṭāṃ pipīlikānāñ ca kāle bhūpaḥ pradarśayet ||
敵に対しては、人の主たる者は小さな虫の手立てさえ用いるべきであり、しかるべき時には王は蟻のような目的ある勤勉を示すべきである。
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FAQs
No tactic is ‘too small’ for statecraft: minute, persistent, well-timed actions can overcome stronger opponents. The stress on kāla highlights that virtue and strategy must be applied with discernment, not impulsively.
Normative instruction (dharma/nīti), ancillary to the Purāṇic fivefold.
The ‘insect’ and ‘ant’ symbolize subtlety and collective persistence—an inner teaching that small, repeated disciplines (saṃskāras) reshape destiny when applied at the right psychological moment (kāla).