Narada Arrives and Questions Yudhishthira on Kingship

The great rishi Narada, whose radiance was infinite and who traveled the worlds at will, arrived at the Pandavas' sabha (assembly hall). He was accompanied by other sages — Parijata, Parvata, Sumukha, Soumya. He had come to see the hall and to meet the king. Yudhishthira, who knew everything about dharma (righteousness), saw Narada and instantly rose, followed by his younger brothers. With humility, he worshipped the sage, offered him a seat according to prescribed rites, and gave him jewels and whatever else he desired. Only after this homage did Narada speak. He did not comment on the sabha's beauty or the Pandavas' fortunes. He asked questions. They were questions mixed with dharma, artha (statecraft, prosperity), and kama (pleasure, desire). They covered everything. "Is your wealth spent properly? Does your mind find pleasure in dharma? Do you find happiness without making your mind suffer?" Narada began with the king's inner state, then moved outward. "Do you follow the undecaying actions of your ancestors? Do you hurt dharma for artha, or artha for dharma, or both for the sake of kama? Do you divide your time equally among the three?" The questions became more technical, probing the machinery of rule. "Do you use the six royal qualities to judge the seven means? Do you test your strengths and weaknesses in the fourteen ways?" He asked about alliances, about ministers. "Are your six chief officers devoted to you and not corrupted by the riches they have earned? Are your deliberations based on reason, and are they not divulged by you or your advisers?" He moved to strategy. "Do you pursue peace and war at the appropriate times? Do you follow the right course for those who are neutral? Are your ministers wise, pure, of good lineage, and loyal to you?" He emphasized secrecy: "The root of royal victories is in counsel, kept secret by advisers skilled in advice and learned in the sacred texts." He questioned Yudhishthira's personal habits. "You have surely not become a slave to sleep. You are awake at the appropriate time. In the dead of night, do you think about what should be done and what should not?" He warned against flawed counsel: "Surely you do not seek advice from only one, or from too many. Surely the counsel obtained does not spread throughout the kingdom." The examination turned to implementation. "When you have decided on action that has great utility but is easily accomplished, do you implement it quickly? Do you examine the outcome of your action, known and unknown? Once begun, does it have to be restarted, or is it confused at the start?" He asked about public perception: "Do people know of action accomplished, but not those intended and not accomplished?" Narada asked about education and infrastructure. "Have you appointed wise teachers to instruct all the princes and chief warriors? Do you purchase a single learned man for one thousand foolish ones? In times of distress, it is the learned one who brings the greatest good. Are all your forts stocked with riches, food, weapons, water, instruments, artisans, and archers?" He drilled into espionage. "Do you use groups of three spies, who do not know one another, to find out about the eighteen ministers on the other side and the fifteen on your own territory? Unknown to them, do you always keep watch over your adversaries?" The sage questioned the king's appointments. "Is your priest humble, born of a good lineage, famous, untouched by jealousy? Is he in charge of the sacrificial fires and knowledgeable in the rituals? Does he always know the time when sacrifices must be rendered? Is the appointed astrologer skilled? Have you appointed superior servants in superior positions, medium ones in medium positions, inferior ones in inferior positions? For the best tasks, have you appointed the best advisers, those without deceit, pure up to their fathers and grandfathers?" He turned to justice and the army. "Surely your subjects are not oppressed by harsh punishments. Do they slight you the way sacrificial priests slight those who have fallen, or wives slight oppressive husbands? Is your general bold, brave, intelligent, persevering, pure, well born, loyal, and skilled? Are the chief warriors of your army skilled in every kind of warfare? Do you treat them respectfully? Are your soldiers given their rations and wages on time? Do you know that non-payment makes servants angry? The learned have described this as a great calamity." He asked about loyalty and reward. "Are the sons of good families chiefly loyal to you? In battle, are they ready to give up their lives for you? If a man performs an extraordinary act beyond what he is required to do, does he obtain greater honour, rations, and wages? Do you reward men who are learned, humble, and skilled in accordance with their qualities? Do you support the wives of men who have given up their lives for you?" Narada's questions encompassed mercy and impartiality. "Do you offer protection, like to a son, to an enemy who has been defeated or surrenders in fear? Are you impartial towards everyone on earth? Can they fearlessly come to you, like to a father or a mother?" Finally, he returned to war and self-mastery. "When you know an enemy is in distress, do you inspect the three parts of your force and swiftly advance? Do you pay wages to your soldiers in advance? Do you distribute riches from the enemy kingdom among your chiefs according to what they deserve? After having first controlled your own self and senses, do you seek to defeat enemies who are enslaved by their own passions? Before marching, do you first employ the four techniques of sama (conciliation), dana (gifts), danda (force), and bheda (division)? Do you first strengthen your base before marching out? Does your army have four types of forces, divided into eight wings, well trained and capable? When attacking, surely you do not kill during seasons of sowing and harvesting." The interrogation did not let up. It moved to the king's personal security, his treasury, his granary, his stables — every pillar of the state examined, every potential weakness named. Yudhishthira listened to it all.