ness. It can never be possible that the
killing of individuals can ever be a righteous act.'

"'"Dyumatsena said, 'If the sparing of those that deserve to be slain be
righteousness, if robbers be spared, O Satyavat, then all distinctions
(between virtue and vice) would disappear. "This is mine",--"This (other)
is not his"--ideas like these (with respect to property) will not (if the
wicked be not punished) prevail in the Kali age. (If the wicked be not
punished) the affairs of the world will come to a deadlock. If thou
knowest how the world may go on (without punishing the wicked), then
discourse to me upon it.'

"'"Satyavat said, 'The three other orders (viz., the Kshatriyas, Vaisyas,
and Sudras) should be placed under the control of the Brahmanas. If those
three orders be kept within the bonds of righteousness, then the
subsidiary classes (that have sprung from intermixture) will imitate them
in their practices. Those amongst them that will transgress (the commands
of the Brahmanas) shall be reported to the king.--"This one heeds not my
commands,"--upon such a complaint being preferred by a Brahmana, the king
shall inflict punishment upon the offender. Without destroying the body
of the offender the king should do that unto him which is directed by the
scriptures. The king should not act otherwise, neglecting to reflect
properly upon the character of the offence and upon the science of
morality. By slaying the wicked, the king (practically) slays a large
number of individuals that are innocent. Behold, by slaying a single
robber, his wife, mother, father and children are all slain (because they
become deprived of the means of life). When injured by a wicked person,
the king should, therefore, reflect deeply on the question of
chastisement.[1213] Sometimes a wicked man is seen to imbibe good
behaviour from a righteous person. Then again from persons that are
wicked, good children may be seen to spring. The wicked, therefore,
should not be torn up by the roots. The extermination of the wicked is
not consistent with eternal practice. By smiting them gently they may be
made to expiate their offences. By depriving them of all their wealth, by
chains and immurement in dungeons, by disfiguring them (they may be made
to expiate their guilt). Their relatives should not be persecuted by the
infliction of capital sentences on them. If in the presence of the
Purohita and others,[1214] they give themselves up to him from desire of