means, overtake us all, it was then, O
child, that we regarded this as the best means (of compassing our
desire). They who commit suicide never attain to regions that are
blessed. Reflecting upon this, we abstained from self-destruction. That
which, therefore thou desirest to do is not agreeable to us. Restrain thy
mind, therefore, from the sinful act of destroying the whole world. O
child, destroy not the Kshatriyas nor the seven worlds. O, kill this
wrath of thine that staineth thy ascetic energy.'"

SECTION CLXXXII

(Chaitraratha Parva continued)

"The Gandharva said, 'Vasishtha after this, continued the narration
saying, 'Hearing these words of the Pitris, Aurva, O child, replied unto
them to this effect:

'Ye Pitris, the vow I have made from anger for the destruction of all the
worlds, must not go in vain. I cannot consent to be one whose anger and
vows are futile. Like fire consuming dry woods, this rage of mine will
certainly consume me if I do not accomplish my vow. The man that
represseth his wrath that hath been excited by (adequate) cause, becometh
incapable of duly compassing the three ends of life (viz., religion,
profit and pleasure). The wrath that kings desirous of subjugating the
whole earth exhibit, is not without its uses. It serveth to restrain the
wicked and to protect the honest. While lying unborn within my mother's
thigh, I heard the doleful cries of my mother and other women of the
Bhrigu race who were then being exterminated by the Kshatriyas. Ye
Pitris, when those wretches of Kshatriyas began to exterminate the
Bhrigus together with unborn children of their race, it was then that
wrath filled my soul. My mother and the other women of our race, each in
an advanced state of pregnancy, and my father, while terribly alarmed,
found not in all the worlds a single protector. Then when the Bhrigu
women found not a single protector, my mother held me in one of her
thighs. If there be a punisher of crimes in the worlds no one in all the
worlds would dare commit a crime; if he findeth not a punisher, the
number of sinners becometh large. The man who having the power to prevent
or punish sin doth not do so knowing that a sin hath been committed, is
himself defiled by that sin. When kings and others, capable of protecting
my fathers, protect them not, postponing that duty preferring the
pleasures of life, I have just cause to be enraged with them. I am the
lord of the creation, capable of punishing