Chapter 8

Vaisampayana said, “Like a person unwilling to forgive an insult, Arjunaof keen speech and prowess, and possessed of energy, betraying greatfierceness and licking the Corners of his mouth, said these words ofgrave import, smiling the while: ‘Oh, how painful, how distressing! Igrieve to see this great agitation of thy heart, since having achievedsuch a superhuman feat, thou art bent upon forsaking this greatprosperity. Having slain thy foes, and having acquired the sovereignty ofthe earth which has been won through observance of the duties of thy ownorder, why shouldst thou abandon everything through fickleness of heart?Where on earth hath a eunuch or a person of procrastination ever acquiredsovereignty? Why then didst thou, insensate with rage, slay all the kingsof the earth? He that would live by mendicancy, cannot, by any act ofhis, enjoy the good things of the earth. Divested of prosperity andwithout resources, he can never win fame on earth or acquire sons andanimals. If, O king, abandoning this swelling kingdom, thou livest in theobservance of the wretched mode of life led by a mendicant, what will theworld say of thee? Why dost thou say that abandoning all the good thingsof the earth, divested of prosperity, and reft of resources, thou wiltlead a life of mendicancy like a vulgar person? Thou art born in thisrace of kings. Having won by conquest the whole earth, wishest thou fromfolly to live in the woods after abandoning everything of virtue andprofit? If thou retirest into the woods, in thy absence, dishonest menwill destroy sacrifices. That sin will certainly pollute thee. KingNahusha, having done many wicked acts in a state of poverty, cried fie onthat state and said that poverty is for recluses. Making no provision forthe morrow is a practice that suits Rishis. Thou knowest this well. That,however, which has been called the religion of royalty depends entirelyon wealth. One who robs another of wealth, robs him of his religion aswell.[9] Who amongst us, therefore, O king, would forgive an act ofspoliation that is practised on us? It is seen that a poor man, even whenhe stands near, is accused falsely. Poverty is a state of sinfulness. Itbehoveth thee not to applaud poverty, therefore. The man that is fallen,O king, grieveth, as also he that is poor. I do not see the differencebetween a fallen man and a poor man. All kinds of meritorious acts flowfrom the possession of great wealth like a mountain. From wealth springall religious acts, all pleasures, and heaven itself, O king! Withoutwealth, a man cannot find the very means of sustaining his life. The actsof a person who, possessed of little intelligence, suffers himself to bedivested of wealth, are all dried up like shallow streams in the summerseason. He that has wealth has friends. He that has wealth has kinsmen.He that has wealth is regarded as a true man in the world. He that haswealth is regarded as a learned man. If a person who hath no wealthdesires to achieve a particular purpose, he meets with failure. Wealthbrings about accessions of wealth, like elephants capturing (wild)elephants. Religious acts, pleasures, joy, courage, wrath, learning, andsense of dignity, all these proceed from wealth, O king! From wealth oneacquires family honour. From wealth, one’s religious merit increases. Hethat is without wealth hath neither this world, nor the next, O best ofmen! The man that hath no wealth succeeds not in performing religiousacts, for these latter spring from wealth, like rivers from a mountain.He that is lean in respect of (his possession of) steeds and kine andservants and guests, is truly lean and not he whose limbs alone are so.Judge truly, O king, and look at the conduct of the gods and the Danavas.O king, do the gods ever wish for anything else than the slaughter oftheir kinsmen (the Asuras)? If the appropriation of wealth belonging toothers be not regarded as righteous, how, O monarch, will kings practisevirtue on this earth? Learned men have, in the Vedas, laid down thisconclusion. The learned have laid it down that kings should live,reciting every day the three Vedas, seeking to acquire wealth, andcarefully performing sacrifices with the wealth thus acquired. The gods,through internecine quarrels, have obtained footing in heaven. When, thevery gods have won their prosperity through internecine quarrels, whatfault can there be in such quarrels? The gods, thou seest, act in thisway. The eternal precepts of the Vedas also sanction it. To learn, teach,sacrifice, and assist at other’s sacrifices,–these are our principalduties. The wealth that kings take from others becomes the means of theirprosperity. We never see wealth that has been earned without doing someinjury to others. It is even thus that kings conquer this world. Havingconquered, they call that wealth theirs, just as sons speak of the wealthof their sires as their own. The royal sages that have gone to heavenhave declared this to be the duty of kings. Like water flowing on everydirection from a swollen ocean, that wealth runs on every direction fromthe treasuries of kings. This earth formerly belonged to king Dilipa,Nahusha, Amvarisha, and Mandhatri. She now belongs to thee! A greatsacrifice, therefore, with profuse presents of every kind and requiring avast heap of the earth’s produce, awaits thee. If thou dost not performthat sacrifice, O king, then the sins of this kingdom shall all be thine.Those subjects whose king performs a horse-sacrifice with profusepresents, become all cleansed and sanctified by beholding the ablutionsat the end of the sacrifice. Mahadeva himself, of universal form, in agreat sacrifice requiring libations of all kinds of flesh, poured allcreatures as sacrificial libations and then his own self. Eternal is thisauspicious path. Its fruits are never destroyed. This is the great pathcalled Dasaratha. Abandoning it, O king, to what other path wouldst thoubetake thyself?’