would be swept away, and everybody, inspired with fear, would seek safety in flight.  In the absence of royal protection, all kinds of injustice would set in; an intermixture of castes would take place; and famine would ravage the kingdom.  In consequence again of royal protection, men can everywhere sleep fearlessly and at their case without shutting their houses and doors with bolts and bars.  Nobody would hear the evil speeches of others, far less actual assaults, if the king did not righteously protect the earth.[213] If the king exercises the duty of protection, women decked with ornament may fearlessly wander everywhere without male relatives to attend upon them.  Men become righteous and without injuring serve one another because the king exercises the duty of protection.  In consequence of royal protection the members of the three orders are enabled to perform high sacrifices and devote themselves to the acquisition of learning with attention, The world depends upon agriculture and trade and is protected by the Vedas.  All these again are duly protected by the king exercising his principal duty.  Since the king, taking a heavy load upon himself, protects his subjects with the aid of a mighty force, it is for this that the people are able to live in happiness.  Who is there that will not worship him in whose existence the people exist and in whose destruction the people are destroyed?  That person who does what is agreeable and beneficial to the king and who bears (a share of) the burden of kingly duties that strike every caste with fear, conquers both this and the other world.[214] That man who even thinks of doing an injury to the king, without doubt meets with grief here and goes to hell hereafter.  No one should disregard the king by taking him for a man, for he is really a high divinity in human form.  The king assumes five different forms according to five different occasions.  He becomes Agni, Aditya, Mrityu, Vaisravana, and Yama.  When the king, deceived by falsehood, burns with his fierce energy the sinful offenders before him, he is then said to assume the form of Agni.  When he observes through his spies the acts of all persons and does what is for the general good, he is then said to assume the form of Aditya.  When he destroys in wrath hundreds of wicked men with their sons, grandsons, and relatives, he is then said to assume the form of the Destroyer.  When he restrains the wicked by inflicting upon them severe punishments and favours the righteous by bestowing rewards upon them, he is then said to assume the form of Yama.  When he gratifies with profuse gifts of wealth those that have rendered him valuable services, and snatches away the wealth and precious stones of those that have offended him, indeed, when he bestows prosperity upon some and takes it away from others, he is then, O king, said to assume the form of Kuvera on earth.  No person who is possessed of cleverness, who is capable of work, who desires the acquisition of virtue, and