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 ||
毗湿摩说道：“国王当积聚国库（kośa），如同人能在看似无水之地掘井取水。待时机转佳，当以此财施恩于民——此乃亘古相传之常法（dharma）。往昔诸王遭逢灾厄时，也依此‘权宜之法’（upāya-dharma）而行。”
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.