"'Yudhishthira said, "I wish to know in detail, O Bharata, where one meets
with the high rewards of gifts and sacrifices. Are those rewards earned
here or are they to come hereafter? Which amongst these two (viz., Gift
and Sacrifice) is said to be productive of superior merit? Unto whom
should gifts be made? In what manner are gifts and sacrifices to be made?
When also are they to be made? I ask thee all these, O learned sire! Do
thou discourse to me on the duty of gifts! Do tell me, O grandsire, what
leads to the highest reward, viz., gifts made from the sacrificial
platform or those made out of that place?"[324]
"'Bhishma said, "O son, a Kshatriya is generally employed in deeds of
fierceness. In his case, sacrifices and gifts are regarded as cleansing
or sanctifying him. They, that are good and righteous, do not accept the
gifts of persons of the royal order, who are given to sinful acts. For
this reason, the king should perform sacrifices with abundant gifts in
the form of Dakshina.[325] If the good and righteous would accept the
gifts made unto them, the Kshatriya, O monarch, should incessantly make
gifts with devotion and faith unto them. Gifts are productive of great
merit, and are highly cleansing. Observant of vows, one should perform
sacrifices and gratify with wealth such Brahmanas as are friends of all
creatures, possessed of righteousness, conversant with the Vedas, and
preeminent for acts, conduct, and penances. If such Brahmanas do not
accept thy gifts, no merit becomes thine. Do thou perform sacrifices with
copious Dakshina, and make gifts of good and agreeable food unto those
that are righteous. By making an act of gift thou shouldst regard thyself
as performing a sacrifice. Thou shouldst with gifts adore those Brahmanas
who perform sacrifices. By doing this thou will acquire a share in the
merits of those sacrifices of theirs. Thou shouldst support such
Brahmanas as are possessed of children and as are capable of sending
people to Heaven. By conducting thyself in this way thou art sure to get
a large progeny--in fact as large a progeny as the Prajapati himself.
They that are righteous support and advance the cause of all righteous
acts. One should, by giving up one's all, support such men, as also those
that do good unto all creatures. Thyself being in the enjoyment of
affluence, do thou, O Yudhishthira, make unto Brahmanas gifts of kine and
bullocks and food and umbrellas, and robes and sandals or shoes. Do thou
give unto sacrificing Brahmanas clarified butter, as also food and cars
and vehicles with horses harnessed thereto, and dwelling houses and
mansions and beds. Such gifts are fraught with prosperity and affluence
to the giver, and are regarded as pure, O Bharata. Those Brahmanas that
are not censurable for anything they do, and that have no means of
support assigned to them, should be searched out. Covertly or publicly do
thou cherish such Brahmanas by assigning them the means of support. Such
conduct always confers higher benefit upon Kshatriyas than the Rajasuya
and the Horse-sacrifices. Cleansing thyself of sin, thou art sure of
attaining to Heaven. Filling thy treasury thou shouldst do good to thy
kingdom. By such conduct thou art sure to win much wealth and become a
Brahmana (in thy next life). Do thou, O Bharata, protect thy own means
(of support and of doing acts of righteousness), as also the means of
other people's subsistence. Do thou support thy servants as thy own
children. Do thou, O Bharata, protect the Brahmanas in the enjoyment of
what they have and make gifts unto them of such articles as they have
not. Let thy life be devoted to the purpose of the Brahmanas. Let it
never be said that thou dost not grant protection to the Brahmanas. Much
wealth or affluence, when possessed by a Brahmana, becomes a source of
evil to him. Constant association with affluence and prosperity is
certain to fill him with pride and cause him to be stupefied (in respect
of his true duties). If the Brahmanas become stupefied and steeped in
folly, righteousness and duties are sure to suffer destruction. Without
doubt, if righteousness and duty come to an end, it will lead to the
destruction of all creatures. That king who having amassed wealth makes
it over (for safe keep) to his treasury officers and guards, and then
commences again to plunder his kingdom, saying unto his officers, 'Do ye
bring me as much wealth as you can extort from the kingdom,' and who
spends the wealth that is thus collected at his command under
circumstances of fear and cruelty, in the performance of sacrifices,
should know that those sacrifices of his are never applauded by the
righteous. The king should perform sacrifices with such wealth as is
willingly paid into his treasury by prosperous and unpersecuted subjects.
Sacrifices should never be performed with wealth acquired by severity and
extortion. The king should then perform great sacrifices with large
presents in the shape of Dakshina, when in consequence of his being
devoted to the good of his subjects, the latter bathe him with copious
showers of wealth brought willingly by them for the purpose. The king
should protect the wealth of those that are old, of those that are
minors, of those that are blind, and of those that are otherwise
disqualified. The king should never take any wealth from his people, if
they, in a season of drought, succeed in growing any corn with the aid of
water obtained from wells. Nor should he take any wealth from weeping
women.[326] The wealth taken from the poor and the helpless is sure to
destroy the kingdom and the prosperity of the king. The king should
always make unto the righteous gifts of all enjoyable articles in
abundance. He should certainly dispel the fear of famishing which those
men may have.[327] There are no men more sinful than those upon whose
food children look with wistfulness without being able to eat them duly.
If within thy kingdom any learned Brahmana languishes with hunger like
any of those children, thou shalt then incur the sin of foeticide for
having allowed such an act. King Sivi himself had said this, viz., 'Fie
on that king in whose kingdom a Brahmana or even any other man languishes
from hunger.' That kingdom in which a Brahmana of the Snataka class
languishes with hunger becomes overwhelmed with adversity. Such a kingdom
with its king also incurs reproach. That king is more dead than alive in
whose kingdom women are easily abducted from the midst of husbands and
sons, uttering cries and groans of indignation and grief The subjects
should arm themselves to slay that King who does not protect them, who
simply plunders their wealth, who confounds all distinctions, who is ever
incapable of taking their lead, who is without compassion, and who is
regarded as the most sinful of kings. That king who tells his people that
he is their protector but who does not or is unable to protect them,
should be slain by his combined subjects, like a dog that is affected
with the rabies and has become mad. A fourth part of whatever sins are
committed by the subjects clings to that king who does not protect, O
Bharata. Some authorities say that the whole of those sins is taken by
such a king. Others are of opinion that a half thereof becomes his.
Bearing in mind, however, the declaration of Manu, it is our opinion that
a fourth part of such sins becomes the unprotecting king's. That king, O
Bharata, who grants protection to his subjects obtains a fourth part of
whatever merits his subjects acquire living under his protection. Do
thou, O Yudhishthira, act in such a way that all thy subjects may seek
thee as their refuge as long as thou art alive, even as all creatures
seek the refuge of the deity of rain or even as the winged denizens of
the air seek the refuge of a large tree. Let all thy kinsmen and all thy
friends and well-wishers, O scorcher of foes, seek thee as their refuge
even as the Rakshasas seek Kuvera or the deities seek Indra as theirs."'"