r Brahma, do so in vain. The Sudras address
Brahmanas, saying, Bho, while the Brahmanas address Sudras, saying
Respected Sir. And, O tiger among men, at the end of the Yuga, animals
increase enormously. And, O king, odours and perfumes do not then become
so agreeable to our sense of scent, and, O tiger among men, the very
tastes of things do not then so well accord with our organs of taste as
at other periods! And, O king, women then become mothers of numerous
progeny, endued with low statures, and destitute of good behaviour and
good manners. And they also make their very mouths serve the purposes of
the organ of procreation. And famine ravages the habitations of men, and
the highways are infested by women of ill fame, while females in general,
O king, become at such periods hostile to their lords and destitute of
modesty! And, O king, the very kine at such periods yield little milk,
while the trees, sat over with swarms of crows, do not produce many
flowers and fruits. And, O lord of the earth, regenerate classes, tainted
with the sin of slaying Brahmanas, accept gifts from monarchs that are
addicted to falsehood in speech. And filled with covetousness and
ignorance, and bearing on their persons the outward symbols of religion,
they set out on eleemosynary rounds, afflicting the people of the Earth.
And people leading domestic lives, afraid of the burden of taxes, become
deceivers, while Brahmanas, falsely assuming the garb of ascetics, earn
wealth by trade, with nails and hair unpared and uncut. And, O tiger
among men, many of the twice-born classes become, from avarice of wealth,
religious mendicants of the Brahmacharin order. And, O monarch, men at
such periods behave contrary to the modes of life to which they betake
themselves, and addicted to intoxicating drinks and capable of violating
the beds of their preceptors, their desires are all of this world,
pursuing matters ministering to the flesh and the blood. And O tiger
among men, at such period the asylums of ascetics become full of sinful
and audacious wretches ever applauding lives of dependence. And the
illustrious chastiser of Paka never showers rain according to the seasons
and the seeds also that are scattered on earth, do not, O Bharata, all
sprout forth. And men, unholy in deed and thought, take pleasure in envy
and malice. And, O sinless one, the earth then becometh full of sin and
immorality. And, O lord of the earth, he that becometh virtuous at such
p