Menial service attaches to the Sudra;
agriculture to the Vaisya; the science of chastisement to the Kshatriya,
and Brahmacharya, penances, mantras, and truth, attach, to the Brahmana.
That Kshatriya who knows how to correct the faults of behaviour of the
other orders and to wash them clean like a washerman is really their
father and deserve to be their king. The respective ages called Krita,
Treta, Dwapara and Kali, O bull of Bharata's race, are all dependent on
the conduct of the king. It is the king who constitutes the age.[269]
The four orders, the Vedas and the duties in respect of the four modes of
life, all become confused and weakened when the king becomes heedless.
The three kinds of Fire, the three Vedas, and sacrifices with Dakshina,
all become lost when the king becomes heedless. The king is the creator
of all creatures, and the king is their destroyer. That king who is of
righteous soul is regarded as the creator, while he that is sinful is
regarded as the destroyer. The king's wives, sons, kinsmen, and friends,
all become unhappy and grieve when the king becomes heedless. Elephants
and steeds and kine and camels and mules and asses and other animals all
lose their vigour when the king becomes unrighteous. It is said, O
Mandhatri, that the Creator created Power (represented by the king) for
the object of protecting Weakness. Weakness is, indeed, a great being,
for everything depends upon it.[270] All creatures worship the king. All
creatures are the children of the king.
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