“Yudhishthira said, ’Tell me, O chief of Bharata’s race, how the eldest brother should behave towards his younger brothers and how the younger brothers should behave towards their eldest brother.’

“Bhishma said, ’Do thou, O son, always behave towards thy younger brothers as their eldest brother should.  Thou art always the eldest of all these thy brothers.  That high conduct which the preceptor should always adopt towards his disciples should be adopted by thee towards thy younger brothers.  If the preceptor happens to be unendued with wisdom, the disciple cannot possibly behave towards him in a respectful or proper way.  If the preceptor happens to be possessed of purity and highness of conduct, the disciple also succeeds in attaining to conduct of the same kind, O Bharata.  The eldest brother should at times be blind to the acts of his younger brothers, and though possessed of wisdom should at times act as if he does not understand their acts.  If the younger brothers be guilty of any transgression, the eldest brother should correct them by indirect ways and means.  If there be good understanding among brothers and if the eldest brother seek to correct his younger brothers by direct or ostensible means, persons that are enemies, O son of Kunti, that are afflicted with sorrow at the sight of such good understanding and who, therefore, always seek to bring about a disunion, set themselves to disunite the brothers and cause dissension among them.  It is the eldest brother that enhances the prosperity of the family or destroys it entirely.  If the eldest brother happens to be unendued with sense and wicked in behaviour, he brings about the destruction of the whole family.  The eldest brother who injures his younger brothers ceases to be regarded as the eldest and forfeits his share in the family property and deserves to be checked by the king.  That man who acts deceitfully, has, without doubt, to go to regions of grief and every kind of evil.  The birth of such a person serves no useful purpose even as the flowers of the cane.[486] That family in which a sinful person takes birth becomes subject to every evil.  Such a person brings about infamy, and all the good acts of the family disappear.  Such among the brothers as are wedded to evil acts forfeit their shares of the family property.  In such a case; the eldest brother may appropriate the whole Yautuka property without giving any portion thereof to his younger brothers.  If the eldest brother makes any acquisition, without using the paternal property and by going to a distant place he may appropriate for his own use, such acquisitions, without giving any share thereof to his younger brothers.  If unseparated brothers desire (during the lifetime of their father) to portion the family property, the father should give equal shares unto all his sons.  If the eldest brother happens to be of sinful acts and undistinguished by accomplishments of any kind he may be disregarded by his younger brothers.