SECTION CXXI

“Yudhishthira said, ’O grandsire, thou hast now finished thy discourse upon the duties of kings.  From what thou hast said it seems that Chastisement occupies a high position and is the lord of everything for everything depends upon Chastisement.  It seems, O puissant one, that Chastisement, which is possessed of great energy and which is present everywhere, is the foremost of all beings among either gods and Rishis and high-souled Pitris and Yakshas and Rakshasas and Pisachas and Sadhyas, or living beings in this world including beasts and birds.  Thou hast said that the entire universe, mobile and immobile, including gods, Asuras, and men, may be seen to depend upon Chastisement.  I now desire, O bull of Bharata’s race, to know truly who Chastisement is.  Of what kind is he?  What is his form?  What is his disposition?  Of what is he made?  Whence is his origin?  What are his features?  What is his splendour?  How does he remain wakeful among living creatures so heedfully?  Who is he that remains eternally wakeful, protecting this universe?  Who is he that is known to be the foremost of all things?  Who, indeed, is that high personage called Chastisement?  What is that upon which Chastisement depends?  And what is his course?’

“Bhishma said, ’Listen, O descendent of Kuru, who Chastisement is and why he is called also Vyavahara!  That upon whom all things depend is called Chastisement.  Chastisement is that by which righteousness is kept up.  He is sometimes called Vyavahara.  In order that the righteousness of a king that is heedfully awake may not suffer extinction (Chastisement has come to be called by that name).  It is for this reason that the name Vyavahara becomes applicable to it.[362] In olden days Manu, O king, declared first of all this truth, viz.,—­’He who protects all creatures, the loved and the odious equally, by impartially wielding the lord of Chastisement, is said to be the embodiment of righteousness.’—­These words that I have said were, O king first, uttered in days of old by Manu.  They represent the high words of Brahman.  And because these words were spoken first, therefore, they are known as the first words.  And since it is by Chastisement that the misappropriation of other people’s possessions is stopped, therefore Chastisement has come to be called by the name of Vyavahara.  The aggregate of three always rests on well applied Chastisement.  Chastisement is a great god.  In form he looks like a blazing fire.  His complexion is dark like that of the petals of the blue lotus.  He is equipt with four teeth, has four arms and eight legs and many eyes.  His cars are pointed like shafts and his hair stands upright.  He has matted locks and two tongues.  His face has the hue of copper, and he is clad in a lion’s skin.[363] That irresistible deity assumes such a fierce shape.  Assuming again the form of the sword, the bow, the mace, the dart,