SHUDRAS AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 427
‘Hear, O King, what we have to say:
We shall worship Hari, the monarch of the Gods, and the lord of all sacrifices with a Dirghasattra (prolonged sacrifice), from which the highest benefits will accrue to your kingdom, your person and your subjects. May blessing rest upon you? You shall have a share in the ceremony.
Vishnu the Lord of sacrifices Male, being propitiated by us with this rite, will grant all the objects of your desire. Hari, the Lord of Sacrifices, bestows on those kings in whose country he is honoured with oblation everything that they wish.” Vena replied: “What other being is superior to me? Who else but I should be adored ? Who is this person called Hari, whom you regard as the Lord of sacrifice? Brahma Janardana, Rudra, Indra, Vayu, Yama, Ravi (the Sun) Agni, Varuna, Dhatri, Pushan, Earth, the Moon,— these and the other gods who curse and bless are all present in king’s person: for he is composed of all the gods. Knowing this, ye must act in conformity with my commands. Brahmans, ye must neither give gifts, nor present oblations nor sacrifices.
As obedience to their husbands is esteemed the highest duty of women, so is the observance of my orders incumbent upon you.” The Rishis answered. ‘Give permission great kings: let not religion perish: this whole world is but a modified form of oblations.
When religion perishes the whole world is destroyed with it, When Vena although thus admonished and repeatedly addressed by the eminent rishis, did not give his permission, then all the munis, filled with wrath and indignation, cried out to one another, “Slay, slay the sinner.”
This man of degraded life, who blasphemes the sacrified Male, the god, the Lord without beginning or end, is not fit to be lord of the earth.’ So saying the munis smote with blades of kusa grass consecrated by texts this king who had been already smitten by his blasphemy of the divine being and his other offences. The munis afterwards beheld dust all round, and asked the people who were standing near what that was.
They were informed: “In this country which has no king, the people being distressed, have become robbers, and have begun to seize the property of others.
It is from these robbers rushing impetuously, and plundering other men’s goods, that this great dust is seen ?” Then all the munis, consulting together, rubbed with force the thigh of the king, who was childless, in order to produce a son. From his thigh when