Agni Purana — Raja-dharma, Shloka 18
Chapter 238 — राजधर्माः (Rājadharmāḥ) | Duties of Kings
चक्षुष्मत्तां च शिल्पञ्च परीक्षेत गुणद्वयं स्वजनेभ्यो विजानीयात् कुलं स्थानमवग्रहं
cakṣuṣmattāṃ ca śilpañca parīkṣeta guṇadvayaṃ svajanebhyo vijānīyāt kulaṃ sthānamavagrahaṃ
အရည်အချင်းနှစ်ရပ်—မြင်ကွင်းရှင်းလင်းသော ခွဲခြားသိမြင်မှုနှင့် လက်တွေ့ကျသော လက်ရာကျွမ်းကျင်မှု—ကို စိစစ်ရမည်။ ထို့ပြင် မိမိအမျိုးအနွယ်မှတစ်ဆင့် ထိုသူ၏ မျိုးရိုးကူလ၊ လူမှုအဆင့်အတန်းနှင့် ယုံကြည်ရနိုင်မှု (အတိတ်မှတ်တမ်း) ကို သိရှိရမည်။
Lord Agni (in dialogue tradition of Agni Purana, instructing the sage Vashistha)
Vidya Category: {"primary_vidya":"Arthashastra","secondary_vidya":"Dharmashastra","practical_application":"Screening and due diligence for appointments: test discernment and skill; verify lineage, status, and reliability through community/kin references.","sutra_style":true}
Encyclopedic Reference: {"reference_type":"Procedure","entry_title":"Amātya/Sevaka Parīkṣā: Discernment, Skill, Lineage, Standing, Reliability","lookup_keywords":["parīkṣā","cakṣuṣmatā","śilpa","kula","avagraha"],"quick_summary":"Evaluate candidates for clear judgment and practical competence, and corroborate their background—family, social position, and trustworthiness—via their own circle."}
Concept: Pramāṇa in governance: direct assessment (qualities) plus social corroboration (background) to reduce risk and ensure dhārmic administration.
Application: Use structured interviews/tests for judgment and skills; conduct reference checks within the candidate’s community; document prior reliability before entrusting office.
Khanda Section: Rajadharma / Niti-shastra (Governance, social ethics, examination of persons)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: vira
Visual Art Cues: {"scene_description":"A royal examiner questions a candidate; scribes record; elders/kinsmen provide testimony about lineage and reliability; tools of craft indicate practical skill.","kerala_mural_prompt":"Kerala mural style court-verification scene; king’s officer assessing a candidate, elders of the clan gesturing in testimony, palm-leaf records, calm evaluative mood","tanjore_prompt":"Tanjore style with gold accents on throne and ornaments; candidate presenting skills (tools/scrolls), elders behind, scribe with palm-leaf; emphasis on dignity and order","mysore_prompt":"Mysore painting, clear didactic layout: panel showing two tests—discernment (questions/scroll) and skill (tools); side vignette of kinsmen attesting kula and standing","mughal_miniature_prompt":"Mughal miniature administrative audition; detailed faces, patterned textiles; candidate before officials, witnesses from his community, meticulous record-keeping"}
Audio Atmosphere: {"recitation_mood":"instructional","suggested_raga":"Kalyani","pace":"medium","voice_tone":"instructional"}
Sandhi Resolution Notes: शिल्पञ्च = शिल्पम् + च; स्थानमवग्रहम् = स्थानम् + अवग्रहम्
Related Themes: Agni Purana: Rajadharma passages on selecting ministers and servants; Agni Purana: Vyavahāra sections on testimony/character assessment (where present)
FAQs
It teaches a practical Niti method of evaluation: test a person’s discernment and skill, and verify their background (lineage, standing, reliability) through those who know them.
Alongside ritual and theology, the Agni Purana preserves applied governance and social-ethical procedures—here, a due-diligence framework for appointments, alliances, or trust-based dealings.
Discernment and careful verification reduce unjust harm and wrongful association; acting with prudent judgment supports dharma and helps avoid karmic consequences arising from negligence or misplaced trust.