nts according to the ordinances would occur if the king did not
exercise the duty of protection. In the absence of royal protection
Brahmanas would never study the four Vedas or undergo austerities or be
cleansed by knowledge and rigid vows. In the absence of royal protection,
the slayer of a person guilty of the slaughter of a Brahmana would not
obtain any reward; on the other hand the person guilty of Brahmanicide
would enjoy perfect immunity. In the absence of royal protection, men
would snatch other people's wealth from their very hands, and all
wholesome barriers would be swept away, and everybody, inspired with
fear, would seek safety in flight. In the absence of royal protection,
all kinds of injustice would set in; an intermixture of castes would take
place; and famine would ravage the kingdom. In consequence again of royal
protection, men can everywhere sleep fearlessly and at their ease without
shutting their houses and doors with bolts and bars. Nobody would hear
the evil speeches of others, far less actual assaults, if the king did
not righteously protect the earth.[213] If the king exercises the duty of
protection, women decked with ornament may fearlessly wander everywhere
without male relatives to attend upon them. Men become righteous and
without injuring serve one another because the king exercises the duty of
protection. In consequence of royal protection the members of the three
orders are enabled to perform high sacrifices and devote themselves to
the acquisition of learning with attention. The world depends upon
agriculture and trade and is protected by the Vedas. All these again are
duly protected by the king exercising his principal duty. Since the king,
taking a heavy load upon himself, protects his subjects with the aid of a
mighty force, it is for this that the people are able to live in
happiness. Who is there that will not worship him in whose existence the
people exist and in whose destruction the people are destroyed? That
person who does what is agreeable and beneficial to the king and who
bears (a share of) the burden of kingly duties that strike every caste
with fear, conquers both this and the other world.[214] That man who even
thinks of doing an injury to the king, without doubt meets with grief
here and goes to hell hereafter. No one should disregard the king by
taking him for a man, for he is really a high divinity in human form. The
king assumes five different forms according to five