198 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
- ‘King Wide-realm was gifted in the following eight ways:
‘He was well born on both sides, on the mother’s side and on the father’s, of pure descent back through seven generations, and no slur was cast upon him, and no reproach, in respect of birth.’
‘He was handsome, pleasant in appearance, inspiring trust, gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in presence, stately to behold.’
‘He was mighty, with great wealth, and large property, with stores of silver and gold, of aids to enjoyment, of goods and corn, with his treasurehouses and his garners full’
‘He was powerful, in command of an army, loyal and disciplined in four divisions (of elephants, cavalry, chariots, and bowmen), burning up, methinks, his enemies by his very glory.’
‘He was a believer, and generous, a noble giver, keeping open house, a well in spring whence Samanas and Brahmans, the poor and the wayfarers, beggars, and petitioners might draw, a doer of good deeds.’
‘He was learned in all kinds of knowledge.’
‘He knew the meaning of what had been said, and could explain, “This saying has such and such a meaning, and that such and such “.
‘He was intelligent, expert and wise and able to think out things present or past or future.
‘And these eight gifts of his, too, became where withal to furnish forth that sacrifice.’
- ‘The Brahman, his chaplain was gifted in the following four ways:
‘He was well born on both sides, on the mother’s and on the father’s, of pure descent back through seven generations, with no slur cast upon him, and no reproach in respect of birth.
‘He was a student repeater who knew the mystic verses by heart, master of the three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth), and the legends as a fifth, learned in the idioms and the grammar, versed in Lokayata (Mature-lore) and in the thirty marks on the body of a great man.
‘He was virtuous, established in virtue, gifted with virtue that had grown great.
‘He was intelligent, expert, and wise; foremost, or at most the second, among those who hold out the ladle.
‘Thus these four gifts of his, too became wherewithal to furnish forth that sacrifice.’
- ‘And further, O Brahman, the chaplain, before the sacrifice had begun, explained to King Wide-realm the three modes: