“Bhishma continued, “Even this is what I say unto thee on the subject of the glory and superiority of kine, O chief of Bharata’s race.  I am competent to proclaim a part only of the merits that attach to kine.  I have not the ability to exhaust the subject!’

“Then Nishadas said, ’O ascetic, thou hast seen us and hast also spoken with us.  It has been said that friendship with those that are good, depends upon only seven words[306].  Do thou then, O lord, show us thy grace.  The blazing sacrificial fire eats all the oblations of clarified butter poured upon it.  Of righteous soul, and possessed of great energy thou art among men, a blazing fire in energy.  We propitiate thee, O thou of great learning!  We surrender ourselves to thee.  Do thou, for showing us favour, take back from us this cow.’

“Chyavana said, ’The eye of a person that is poor or that has fallen into distress, the eye of an ascetic, or the eye of a snake of virulent poison, consumes a man with his very roots, even as a fire that, blazing up with the assistance of the wind, consumes a stack of dry grass or straw.  I shall accent the cow that ye desire to present me.  Ye fishermen, freed from every sin, go ye to heaven without any delay, with these fishes also that ye have caught with your nets.’

“Bhishma continued, ’After this, in consequence of the energy of the great Rishi of cleansed soul, those fishermen along with all those fish through virtue of those words that he had uttered, proceeded to heaven.  King Nahusha, beholding the fishermen ascending to heaven with those fishes in their company, became filled with wonder, O chief of Bharata’s race.  After this, the two Rishis, viz., the one born of a cow and the other who was Chyavana of Bhrigu’s race, gladdened king Nahusha by granting him many boons.  Then king Nahusha of great energy, that lord of all the earth, filled with joy, O best of the Bharatas, said, ‘Sufficient!’ Like unto a second Indra, the chief of the celestials, he accepted the boon about his own steadiness in virtue.  The Rishis having granted him the boon, the delighted king worshipped them both with great reverence.  As regards Chyavana, his vow having been completed, he returned to his own asylum.  The Rishi that had taken his birth from the cow, and who was endued with great energy, also proceeded to his own retreat.  The Nishadas all ascended to heaven as also the fishes they had caught, O monarch.  King Nahusha, too, having obtained those valuable boons, entered his own city.  I have thus, O son, told thee everything respecting what thou hadst asked me.  The affection that is generated by the sight alone of others as also by the fact of living with them, O Yudhishthira, and the high-blessedness of kine too, and the ascertainment of true righteousness, are the topics upon which I have discoursed.  Tell me, O hero what else is in thy breast.’”

SECTION LII