REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 191
and in approval of their words he spoke to them in this manner; ‘Verily, well protected am I, well gratified, having such counsellors as Your Lordships are, thus bent on securing my happiness ! Therefore I will have a human sacrifice (purushamedha) of a thousand victims performed. Let my officials, each in his sphere of business, be ordered to bring together the requisites necessary for that purpose. Let also an inquiry be made of the most fitting ground whereon to raise the tents and other buildings for the sattra. Further, the proper time for the sacrifice must be fixed (by the astrologers) examining the auspicious lunar days, karanas, muhurtas, and constellations.’ The purohtta answered; ‘In order to succeed in your enterprise, Your Majesty ought to take the Avabhritha (final bath) at the end of one sacrifice; after which you may successively undertake the others. For if the thousand human victims were to be seized at once, your subjects, to be sure, would blame you and be stirred up to great agitation on their account.’ These words of the purohita having been approved by the (other) Brahmans, the king replied: ‘Do not apprehend the wrath of the people, Reverands. I shall take such measures as to prevent any agitation among my subjects.’
After this the king convoked an assembly of the townsmen and the landsmen, and said: “I intend to perform a human sacrifice of a thousand victims. But nobody behaving honestly is fit to be designated for immolation on my part. With this in mind, 1 give you this advice: Whomsoever of you I shall henceforword perceive transgreassing the boundaries of moral conduct, despising my royal will, him I order to be caught to be a victim at my sacrifice, thinking such a one the stain of his family and a danger to my country. With the object of carrying this resolution into effect, I shall cause you to be observed by faultless and sharp-sighted emissaries, who have shaken off sleepy carelessness and will report to me concerning your conduct.’
Then the foremost of the assembly, folding their hands and bringing them to their foreheads, spoke:
15, 16. ‘Your Majesty, all your actions tend to the happiness of your subjects, what reason can there be to despise you on that account? Even (God) Brahma cannot but sanction your behaviour. Your Majesty, who is the authority of the virtuous, be our highest authority. For this reason anything which pleases Your Majesty must please us too. Indeed, you are pleased with nothing else but our enjoyment and our good.’
After then, noteables both of the town and the country had accepted his command in this manner; the king dispersed about his towns and all over his country, officers notified as such by their outward