Rajadharmanushasana Parva — Arjuna cheers up Yudhishthira by saying that it is by prowess that one acquired kingdom

Vaishampayana said Like a person reluctant to forgive an insult, the highly energetic Arjuna of keen speech and prowess, betraying great fierceness and licking the corners of his mouth, said smilingly these

'O how painful, how distressing, I am sorry to see this great agitation of your heart, since having performed such a superhuman feat, you are deterinined to forsake the world,

Having killed your enemies, and having the sovereignty of the Earth, which has been won ever by observing of the duties of your own order, why should you give up everything through fickleness of heart?

Where on Earth has a eunuch or a procrastinating person acquired sovereignty? Why then did you beside yourself with anger, slay all the kings of the Earth.

He that would lead the life of a mendicant, cannot, by any act of his, enjoy the good things of Earth. Shorn of prosperity and other resources, he can never acquire fame on Earth or sons and animals.

If, O king, abandoning this prosperous kingdom, you lead the wretched life of a mendicant, what will the world say of you?

Why do you say that leaving aside all the good things of the Earth, shorn of prosperity, and of resources, you will live like a mendicant and a vulgar person.

You are born in a royal family. Having conquered the whole Earth, do you foolishly wish to live in the forest after for-saking everything of virtue of profit?

In your absence, dishonest men will despoil sacrifices. That sin will certainly contaminate you.

Having perpetrated many wicked acts in a state of poverty, king Nahusha spoke ill of that state and said that poverty is for recluses.

To make no provision for the morrow is a practice that suits Rishis. You know this well! The religion of kings, however, depends entirely on wealth.

One who robs another of riches, robs him of his religion as well. Who amongst us, therefore, O king, would forgive an act of depriving us of our wealth.

It is seen that a poor man, even when he stands hard by, is accused falsely. Poverty is a sin. You should not, therefore, speak high of poverty.

A degraded man as also a poor man, O king, have both to rue their fate, I see no difference between these two.

The increased and deposited wealth like rivers from mountain begets all kinds of meritorious acts.

From wealth originate all religious acts, all pleasures, and heaven itself, O king, Without wealth, a man cannot find the very means of maintaining his life.

The acts of a person who, endued with little intelligence allows himself to be divested of wealth, are all dried up like shallow rivers in the summer.

He who has wealth has friends. He who has wealth has kinsmen. He who has wealth is considered as a sincere man in the world. He who has wealth is regarded as a learned man.

If a person who has no wealth desires to accomplish a particular object, he meets with failure. Wealth Wealth accumulates wealth, like elephants capturing (wild) elephants.

Religious acts, pleasures, joy, courage, anger, learning, and sense of dignity, all originate from wealth, O king.

Wealth begets family prestige. wealth multiples one's religious merit. He who is without wealth has neither this world, nor the next,O foremost of men.

The man who has no wealth cannot celebrate religious acts, for these originate from wealth, like rivers from a mountain.

He whose limbs are lean is not truly a lean man, but he who is lean in respect of horses and kine and servants and guests is truly so.

Judge truly, O kihg, and mark the conduct of the gods and the Danavas. O king, do the gods ever seek anything else than the destruction of their kinsmen (the Asuras)?

If the appropriation of another's wealth be not regarded as right, how, O monarch, will kings practise virtue on this Earth? Learned men have, in the Vedas, laid down this injunction.

The learned man have decreed that kings should live, reciting every day the three Vedas, seeking to acquire wealth, and carefully celebrating sacrifices with the wealth thus acquired.

The gods, through civil war, have secured footing in the celestial region. When the very gods have won their prosperity through civil war, what fault can there be in such quarrels?

Verily the gods, even behave thus. The eternal precepts of the Vedas also approve of it. To learn, teach, sacrifice, and assist at others sacrifices,-these are our primary duties. The wealth that kings appropriate from others, becomes the instrument of their prosperity. Wealth is never acquired without doing some injury to others.

It is even thus that kings conquer this world. Having conquered, they are justified to regard that wealth as theirs, just as sons speak of the wealth of their fathers as their own, The royal sages that have gone to heaven have described this to be the duty of kings.

Like water flowing on every direction from a rising ocean, wealth goes on all sides from the treasuries of kings.

This Earth formerly belonged to king Dvilipa, Nahusha, Ambarisha, and Mandhatri. She is now yours.

You should, therefore, celebrate a great sacrifice with enough presents of all sorts and a sufficient quantity of the Earth's produce. If you do not perform that sacrifice, O king, then the sins of this kingdom will visit you.

Those subjects whose king performs a horse-sacrifice with enough presents, are all freed from sins and sanctified by witnessing the ablutions at the end of the sacrifice.

In a great sacrifice requiring libations of all kinds of flesh, Mahadeva himself, poured all creatures as sacrificial libations and then his own self.

This is the eternal and holy road. Its fruits are never destroyed. This is the great road called Dasharatha. Abandoning it, 'O king, what other path would you follow"? called Dasharatha. Abandoning it, 'O king, what other path would you follow"?