ection given by kingly duties, become liable to attack and
destruction, and men, full of anxiety, disregard the practices laid down
for them."'"

SECTION LXIV

"'Bhishma said, "The duties in respect of all the four modes of life,
those of yatis, O son of Pandu, and the customs relating to the conduct
of men in general, are all included in kingly duties. All these acts, O
chief of the Bharatas, occur in Kshatriya duties. If the functions of
royalty are disturbed, all creatures are overtaken by evil. The duties of
men are not obvious. They have, again, many outlets.[200] Led by many
(false) systems, their eternal nature is sometimes offended against.
Others who pin their faith to the conclusions arrived at by men, without
really knowing anything about the truths of duties (as declared in the
scriptures), find themselves at last landed and confounded on faiths
whose ultimate ends are unknown. The duties imposed upon Kshatriyas are
plain, productive of great happiness, evident in respect of their
results, free from deceit, and beneficial to the whole world. As the
duties of the three orders, as also of Brahmanas and of those that have
retired from the world, O Yudhishthira, have before this been said to be
all included within those of that sacred mode of life (called
Garhasthya), even so, the whole world, with all good actions, are subject
to kingly duties. I have told thee, O monarch, how many brave kings had,
in days of old, repaired to that lord of all creatures, viz., the divine
and puissant Vishnu of great prowess, for resolving their doubts about
the science of chastisement. Those kings, mindful of the declarations of
the scriptures enforced by examples, waited in days of old upon Narayana,
after having weighed each of their acts against the duties of each of the
modes of life.[201] Those deities, viz., the Sadhyas, the Vasus, the
Aswins, the Rudras, the Viswas, the Maruts, and the Siddhas, created in
days of old by the first of gods, are all observant of Kshatriya duties.
I shall now recite to thee a history fraught with the conclusions of both
morality and profit. In days of old when the Danavas had multiplied and
swept away all barriers and distinctions[202] the powerful Mandhatri, O
monarch, became king. That ruler of the earth, viz., king Mandhatri,
performed a great sacrifice from desire of beholding the puissant
Narayana, that god of gods, without beginning, middle, and end. In that
sacrifice he worshipped