essed of
ascetic merit and engaged in the study of the Vedas, may want. Let
everything that this Brahmana asketh for be giver to him cheerfully. A
Brahmana is the embodiment of pre-eminent energy: he is also the
embodiment of the highest ascetic merit. It is in consequence of the
virtuous practices of Brahmanas that the sun shineth in the heavens. It
was for their disregard of Brahmanas that were deserving of honour that
the mighty Asura Vatapi, as also Talajangha, was destroyed by the curse
of the Brahmanas. For the present, O child, it is a highly virtuous one
of that order that is entrusted to thy keep. Thou shouldst always tend
this Brahmana with concentrated mind. O daughter, I know that, from
childhood upwards, thou hast ever been attentive to Brahmanas, and
superiors, and relatives, and servants, and friends, to thy mothers and
myself. I know thou bearest thyself well, bestowing proper regard upon
everyone. And, O thou of faultless limbs, in the city of the interior of
my palace, on account of thy gentle behaviour, there is not one, even
among the servants, that is dissatisfied with thee. I have, therefore,
thought thee fit to wait upon all Brahmanas of wrathful temper. Thou art,
O Pritha, a girl and has been adopted as my daughter. Thou art born in
the race of the Vrishnis, and art the favourite daughter of Sura. Thou
wert, O girl, given to me gladly by thy father himself. The sister of
Vasudeva by birth, thou art (by adoption) the foremost of my children.
Having promised me in these words,--I will give my first born,--thy
father gladly gave thee to me while thou wert yet in thy infancy. It is
for this reason that thou art my daughter. Born in such a race and reared
in such a race, thou hast come from one happy state to another like a
lotus transferred from one lake to another. O auspicious girl, women,
specially they that are of mean extraction, although they may with
difficulty be kept under restraint, become in consequence of their unripe
age, generally deformed in character. But thou, O Pritha, art born in a
royal race, and thy beauty also is extraordinary. And then, O girl, thou
art endued with every accomplishment. Do thou, therefore, O damsel,
renouncing pride and haughtiness and a sense of self-importance, wait
upon and worship the boon-giving Brahmana, and thereby attain, O Pritha,
to an auspicious state! By acting thus, O auspicious and sinless girl,
thou wilt surely attain to auspiciousness! But if on t