386. The Prince's Tour

"Your Majesty! As instructed by you, I had sent our emissaries to six of our neighbouring countries and made arrangements for the Prince to visit those countries. The rulers of these countries are excited about our Prince's visit to their kingdoms!" said the Minister.

"Well done, Minister! My son Maravarman can leave for a tour of these countries tomorrow. Let him tour each country for about a week" said King Rajavarman.

"Your Majesty! May I know the purpose of this tour?"

"It is to educate the Prince!" replied Rajavarman, with a cryptic smile.

The Minister looked at the King, unable to gauge what was in the King's mind.

After Maravarman returned from the tour of the six countries, he met his father to appraise him of his experience and impressions from the tour. The Minister was also present.

"How was the trip?" asked the king. 

"It was very good, Your Majesty. Since the six countries I visited are much smaller than ours in size and stature, they considered my visit an honour."

"Did you do what I had asked you to?" queried the King.

"Yes, Your Majesty! As instructed by you, I stayed in the palace of each country for a day and observed the happenings. Then I expressed a desire to tour some parts of the country. I was taken on a tour to various regions of each country for four or five days. I met the people there and conversed with them."

"In all the countries, did people find it easy to meet their king?"

"Only in two countries, the King was easily accessible to the citizens. In the other four countries, even people holding high positions found it difficult to meet the King. The average citizen couldn't even dream of meeting the king!"

"Were the kings cordial while talking to the officials and others?"

"No. Only one king had the quality of congeniality while interacting with his officials and others. The other five kings were short-tempered and often used harsh words, even when speaking to their ministers and other high level officials."

"Now, tell me, based on these two attributes of the kings and the interactions you had with different sections of people, what did you understand?"

The Prince reflected for a moment and said, "Now that you asked me this question, certain things I observed are becoming clear to me. Only in Gowthama country, people were very happy. They spoke in praise of the King, the Minister and other officials. The King of Gowthama is easily accessible to his citizens. He is also a person who is kind and cordial while interacting with his officials and others. In the other countries, there was a visible sense of frustration and disappointment among the people. However, in Kuchala country, the level of dissatisfaction was lower. The King of Kuchala can be easily accessed by the people. But since he is prone to get irritated for no reason and has the habit of showing his anger at his officials, his Minister and other officials lack the courage to appraise him of people's problems and offer their counsel. Since the kings of the other four countries have both these flaws, the problems of the people might have remained unsolved. That may be the reason why the level of dissatisfaction is much high in those four countries!"

"Do you now understand how a king should be?"

"Yes, dad" said the Prince, addressing the King as 'dad' for the first time during the conversation!

Rajavarman then turned to his Minister and asked him, "Do you now understand why I sent the Prince on a tour of different countries?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Since the Prince is being crowned next month, you wanted him to have a hand on experience on how the attributes of a king impact the lives of the citizens. I now understand the deeper meaning of your telling me that the purpose of your sending the Prince to different countries was to educate him, before he is crowned and begins to take up the reins. But couldn't the Prince have learnt things by observing how Your Majesty functions?" asked the Minister.

"When he observes varied attributes of different kings and their consequences, won't his understanding become deeper?" asked the King, smiling at the Minister.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 39
The Might of a Ruler

Verse 386 (in Tamil):
kAtchikku eLiyan kadun chollan allanEl
mIkkURum mannan nilam.

Meaning:
A king who is easily accessible and who doesn't use harsh words will be hailed by the whole world.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'veLi nAttup payaNam' by the same author.)

Verse 387

Verse 385