is enjoined by the Veda to be a cause of abundant rain, explained to him that he must perform such a sacrifice of a frightful character, inasmuch as it requires the massacre of many hundreds of living beings. But after being informed of everything concerning such a slaughter as is prescribed for the sacrifice, his innate compassionateness forbade him to approve of their advice in his heart; yet out of civility, unwilling to offend them by harsh words of refusal, he slipped over this point, turning the conversation upon other topics. They, on the other hand, no sooner caught the opportunity of conversing with the king on matters of religion, than they once more admonished him to accomplish the sacrifice, for they did not understand his deeply hidden mind.
4. 'You constantly take care not to neglect the proper time of performing your different royal duties, established for the sake of obtaining the possession of land and ruling it. The due order of these actions of yours is in agreement with the precepts of Righteousness (dharma).
5. 'How then is this that you who (in all other respects) are so clever in the observance of the triad (of dharma, artha, and kâma), bearing your bow to defend the good of your people, are so careless and almost sluggish as to that bridge to the world of the Devas, the name of which is 'sacrifice'?
6. 'Like servants, the kings (your vassals) revere your commands, thinking them to be the surest gage of success. Now the time is come, O destroyer of your foes, to gather by means of sacrifice superior blessings, which are to procure for you a shining glory.
7, 8. 'Certainly, that holiness which is the requisite for a dîkshita[1] is already yours, by reason of your
- ↑ Before undertaking the performance of a great sacrifice, its performer has to be purified by the initiatory ceremony of dîkshâ. From that time till the final bath or avabhritha at the close of the sacrifice he is called a dîkshita, and bound to the observance of many detailed prescriptions about his food, dress, residence, and his whole mode of living.
