Rajadharma: Duties of the King, Governance, and Justice
This domain tests the king's duties, the theory of danda, taxation, the seven limbs of the state, and the relation between royal power and dharma.
Duties and governance
Manu's raja-dharma requires the king to protect subjects, punish wrongdoers, maintain justice, appoint competent ministers, and promote welfare. The state is analysed through saptanga: king, ministers, territory, fort, treasury, army, and allies. Taxation should be moderate and predictable, like a bee taking nectar without destroying the flower; excessive exaction undermines the king's own support.
Justice and war
The king is the final judge and must decide according to shastra, custom, and evidence, not personal favour. Danda is punitive and corrective power, not mere violence. In war, dharmic limits include not attacking the fleeing, the surrendered, or the non-combatant; treachery and massacre violate rajadharma.
Worked example. A province suffers famine while the treasury is full. The king's first duty is protection of life, so he remits or suspends revenue and opens relief from the treasury. He does not raise taxes to preserve luxury, because taxation is justified by protection. The reasoning applies the hierarchy of royal duties, not merely fiscal prudence.
Traps. Do not describe the king as above dharma; do not reduce danda to violence; do not confuse Arthashastra with a Dharmashastra; do not ignore the saptanga; do not treat all warfare as dharmic.