Rājanīti

rājanīti. (“ethics for kings”) a type of nīti treatises (nītiśāstra) which deals with governance and statecraft: how kings should lead their lives to be effective and just rulers.

The rājanīti genre is one of two genres nīti treatises, the other being subhāṣita (“well-spoken”).

José Ignacio Cabezón states:

Sometimes, these polity-oriented nīti works were called rājanīti, or “ethics for kings.” However, some of the nīti texts on statecraft are simply called nīti, and contrariwise some of the texts bearing the title rājanīti are often as much aphoristic collections of folk wisdom as they are treatises on kingship and polity. For example, the Essence of Ethics (Nītisāra) by the scholar Kāmandaki, is mostly about polity and governance despite lacking any reference to kings (rāja) in its title, whereas Cāṇakya’s Treatise on Ethics for Kings (Cāṇakya Rājanītiśāstra) is, despite its title, as much a compendium of worldly wisdom as it is a treatise on statecraft. [...]

Some of the oldest Indian literature contains speculation about the origins of kings. Ancient texts also suggest that kings often turned to sages or wise men for advice on affairs of state. Even the Buddha is described in the scriptures as occasionally giving advice to the rulers of his day.4 But all of these early accounts, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist, are relatively brief and nontechnical. This all changes in the fourth century BCE with the composition of the first major work of political theory, Cāṇakya’s Arthaśāstra, ostensibly a treatise (śāstra) on wealth (artha), but actually an encyclopedic text that covers all aspects of statecraft: economics, law, bureaucratic administration, foreign relations, military strategy, the management of spies, the design of the palace, and so forth. The Arthaśāsatra, which is mostly written in prose with some interspersed verses, is one of the great classics of Indian literature. It is the most important source for all subsequent Indian writings on statecraft and governance,6 including the nīti literature. Nīti texts are almost always verse works.

Treatises on kingship written in verse do not begin to appear until the turn of the common era. For example, the great Indian epic Mahābhārata contains embedded within its “Peace Chapter” (Śāntiparva)—probably compiled in the first centuries CE—a long section on the duties of kings (rājadharma). Dating to around this time, the Hundred Verses on Ethics (Nītiśataka) is attributed to the great grammarian and poet Bhartṛhari. Classical Indian scholars continued to write nītiśāstras throughout the medieval period and into modern times. For example, Somadeva Sūri’s Nectar of Ethical Discourse (Nītivākyāmṛta) dates to the tenth century, and the Ethics of Śukra (Śukranīti), whose eponymous title suggests its author to be the ancient, pre-Cāṇakyan sage Śukrācārya, was actually written, it seems, in the nineteenth century.

All of these works were written in Sanskrit, and none of them were translated into Tibetan. However, several other Indian nītiśastras did make it into the Tengyur, the section of the Tibetan Buddhist canon that contains the translations of Indian treatises. One of these texts we have already mentioned, Cāṇakya’s Treatise on Ethics for Kings. Another is the Treatise on Ethics of Masūrākṣa (ninth century). Mipham explicitly tells us that he relied on both of these works as sources. The Indian nīti literature—like the Arthaśāstra, on which the genre is based—is diverse, containing general advice, specific rules, and different strategies for success in everything from health to conquest.

Sources

• Jamgon Mipham (2017), The Just King: The Tibetan Buddhist Classic on Leading an Ethical Life, translated by José Ignacio Cabezón, Snow Lion