“Kasyapa said, ’Such, indeed, is the course of this world, O prince!  It is not so, however, hereafter.  In the other world, there is great difference of condition between the person that acts righteously and him that acts sinfully.  The regions that meritorious men acquire are full of honey and possessed of the splendour of gold or of a fire upon which clarified butter has been poured.  Those regions also are likened to the navel of ambrosia.  The meritorious person enjoys great felicity there.  Death, decrepitude, and sorrow, are not there.  The region for the sinful is hell.  Darkness and ceaseless pain are there, and it is full of sorrow.  Sinking in infamy, the man of sinful deeds wrung with remorse there for many years.  In consequence of a disunion between Brahmanas and Kshatriyas, unbearable griefs afflict the people.  Knowing this, a king should appoint a (Brahmana) priest possessed of experience and wide knowledge.  A king should first install the priest in his office, and then cause his own coronation.  This has been laid down in the ordinance.  The ordinances declare that the Brahmana is the foremost of all creatures.  Men acquainted with the Vedas say that the Brahmana was created first.  In consequence of the precedence of his birth, all things that are good in this world are vested in him.  The rightful owner of all the best things that have flowed from the Creator, the Brahmana is also, for such precedence, worthy of the respect and the worship of all creatures.  A king, however powerful, should, according to the dictates of the scriptures, bestow upon the Brahmana whatever is best and distinguished above others.  The Brahmana contributes to the aggrandisement of the Kshatriya, and the Kshatriya to the aggrandisement of the Brahmana.  Brahmanas should, therefore, be especially and always worshipped by kings.’”

SECTION LXXIV

“Bhishma said, ’It is said that the preservation and growth of the kingdom rest upon the king.  The preservation and growth of the king rest upon the king’s priest.  That kingdom enjoys true felicity where the invisible fears of the subjects are dispelled by the Brahmana and all visible fears are dispelled by the king with the might of his arms.  In this connection is cited the old narrative of the discourse between king Muchukunda and Vaisravana.  King Muchukunda, having subjugated the whole earth, repaired to the lord of Alaka for testing his strength.  King Vaisravana created (by ascetic power) a large force of Rakshasas.  These ground the forces led by Muchukunda.  Beholding the slaughter of his army, king Muchukunda, O chastiser of foes, began to rebuke his own learned priest (Vasishtha).  Thereupon that foremost of righteous persons viz., Vasishtha, underwent very severe penances and, causing those Rakshasas to be slain, ascertained the true course upon which Muchukunda was bent.  When king Vaisravana’s troops were being slaughtered, he showed himself unto Muchukunda and said these words.’