AT length the weary night in Ayodhya. rendered cheerless by
lamentations, and populous with men with voice choked with tears, was
spent. And when the night departed and the sun had arisen, those
officers of the royal house-hold belonging to the twice-born order,
Markandeya, Maudgalya, Vamadeva, Kacyapa, Katyayana, Gautama, and the
highly famous Javali, assembled together along with the the counsellors,
spoke each on different topics. Then facing the royal priest, the
eminent Vasistha, they said, "That night that had appeared like unto an
hundred years has at last been painfully passed. The king racked by
sorrow for his son has breathed his last, the mighty monarch has
ascended heaven, Rama has taken refuge in the woods, the energetic
Lakshmana has gone with Rama, and both Bharata and Satrugna-- repressors
of foes--are staying in Kekaya in pleasant _Rajagriha_, the abode of
their maternal grandfather. Do you select some one this very day from
the descendants of Ikshwaku, be king here. Verily doth a kingdom go to
ruin, when without a king. He that goes garlanded with lightning, and
has a mighty voice, even the cloud--doth not with skyey shower drench
the Earth in a kingdom without a king. In a kingless kingdom no one sows
corn. In a kingless kingdom the son does not obey his sire, or the wife
her husband. A kingless kingdom possesses no wealth, and wives are hard
to keep in such a place. This great fear attends a kingless country. And
where is other morality (besides that detailed above) to be found at
such a place? In a kingless country men do not form themselves into
associations, nor do they, inspired with cheerfulness, make elegant
gardens or sacred edifices. In a kingless country, the twice-born ones
do not celebrate sacrifices. In a kingless country, in mighty sacrifices
wealthy Brahmanas do not confer (on the officiating priests) the
_dakshinas_ (which they receive according to the ordinance), In a
kingless country, neither social gatherings, nor festivities
characterised by the presence of merry theatrical managers and
performers, increase. In a kingless country disputants cannot decide
their point; nor are persons given to hearing Puranic recitations
pleased by those delighting in the practice. In a kingless country,
bevies of virgins decked in gold do not repair to gardens for purposes
of sport. In a kingless country, the wealthy are not well protected; nor
do shepherds and cultivators sleep with their doors open. In a kingless
country pleasure-seeking people do not in company with females go to the
woods by means of swift vehicles, In a kingless country long-tusked
elephants sixty years old, bearing bells on their necks, do not walk the
highway. In a kingless country one hears not the clappings of persons
engaged in shooting arrows constantly. In a kingless country traders
coming from distant lands, loaded with various kinds of merchandise, do
not with safety go along the roads. In a kingless country the ascetic
with his subdued senses, himself his sole protector, who makes his
quarters wherever evening overtakes him, cannot walk contemplating the
Deity. In a kingless country, one cannot protect what one has, or
procure what one has not. In a kingless country, the forces cannot bear
the onslaught of the foe. In a kingless country men cannot at will go on
excellent and high-mettled horses and ornamented cars. In a kingless
country persons well versed in learning can not engage in controversy,
repairing to woods and groves. In a kingless country, persons with
intent hearts do not offer garlands, sweets, and _dakshinas_, for
worshipping the gods. In a kingless country, princes smeared with sandal
and _aguru_, do not look graceful like trees in spring. Even as a river
without water, a wood without grass, a herd of kine without a keeper, is
a kingdom without a king. The sign of a car is its pennon, of fire is
smoke, and our banner the king, has gone to heaven. In a kingless
country a person hardly preserves his life; and like fishes people eat
up one another. Even those heretics who having disregarded the dignity
of social morality had met with chastisement at the hands of the king,
their fear removed--give themselves airs. As the sight is engaged in the
welfare of the body, the king--that fountain of truth and religion--is
engaged in compassing the good of the kingdom. The king is truth, the
king is morality, the king is the racial dignity of those possessed of
the same, the king is the father, the king is the mother--the king
compasseth the welfare of men. By virtue of magnanimity of character, a
king surpasses Yama and Vaicravana and Sakra and Varuna endowed with
mighty strength. If there were not a king in this world to adjudge fair
and foul, darkness would overspread (the face of the earth) and people
could not distinguish anything whatever. As the ocean keepeth within its
continent, we even while the monarch lived, did not disregard your
words. Do you, O best of Brahmanas, beholding our acts rendered
nugatory, and this empire become a wilderness for want of a king,
install that descendant of Ikshwaku or any other as king of this realm."