The Srutis declare that Unrighteousness
begat a son named Pride upon the goddess of prosperity. This Pride, O
king, led many among the gods and the Asuras to ruin. Many royal sages
also have suffered destruction on his account. Do thou, therefore,
awaken, O king! He who succeeds in conquering him becomes a king. He, on
the other hand, who suffers himself to be conquered by him, becomes a
slave. If, O Mandhatri, thou wishest for an eternal life (of felicity),
live as a king should that does not indulge in these two, viz., Pride and
Unrighteousness! Abstain from companionship with him that is intoxicated
(with pride), him that is heedless (of the dictates of honesty), him that
is scoffer of religion, him that is insensate, and forbear to pay court
to all of them when united. Keep thy self aloof from the company of
ministers whom thou hast once punished and especially of women, as also
from mountains and uneven lands and inaccessible fastnesses and elephants
and horses and (noxious) reptiles. Thou shouldst also give up wandering
in the night, and avoid the faults of stinginess and vanity and
boastfulness and wrath. Thou shouldst never have intercourse with unknown
women, or those of equivocal sex, or those that are lewd, or those that
are the wives of other men, or those that are virgins. When the king does
not restrain vice, a confusion of castes follows, and sinful Rakshasas,
and persons of neutral sex, and children destitute of limbs or possessed
of thick tongues, and idiots, begin to take birth in even respectable
families.
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