sgressing
the scriptures (one incurs sin), while by obeying them one may live
fearlessly. That king who, guided by an understanding based upon the
scriptures and disregarding lust and wrath, behaves impartially, like a
father, towards all his subjects, never incurs sin. O thou of great
splendour, if a king, afflicted by destiny, fails to accomplish an act
which he should, such failure would not be called a trespass. By force
and policy should the king put down his foes. He must not suffer sin to
be perpetrated in his kingdom but should cause virtue to be practised.
Brave men, those that are respectable in their practices, they that are
virtuous in their acts, they that are possessed of learning, O
Yudhishthira, Brahmanas conversant with Vedic texts and rites, and men of
wealth, should especially be protected. In determining suits and
accomplishing religious acts, they that are possessed of great learning
should alone be employed. A prudent king will never repose his confidence
upon one individual, however accomplished. That king who does not protect
his subjects, whose passions are ungovernable, who is full of vanity, who
is stained with haughtiness and malice, incurs sin and earns the reproach
of tyranny. If the subjects of a king, O monarch, waste away from want of
protection and are afflicted by the gods and ground down by robbers, the
sin of all this stains the king himself. There is no sin, O Yudhishthira,
in doing an act with heartiness, after full deliberation, and
consultation with men capable of offering good advice. Our tasks fail or
succeed through destiny. If exertion, however, be applied, sin would not
touch the king. I shall recite to thee, O tiger among kings, the story of
what happened to an ancient king of the name of Hayagriva, O son of
Pandu,--the story, viz., of the heroic Hayagriva of unstained deeds, who
after having slain a large number of his foes in battle, was himself
defeated and slain while without a follower by his side. Having achieved
all that should be done for keeping foes under check and adopted all
those foremost of means by which men may be protected, Hayagriva acquired
great fame from the battles he fought and is now enjoying great bliss in
heaven. Mangled by robbers with weapons, boldly fighting with them, and
casting off his life in battle, the high-souled Hayagriva, ever attentive
to his (kingly) duties, achieved the object of his life and is now
enjoying great bliss in heaven. The