feelings of revulsion, eat of wooden vessels having deep stomachs and
earthen plates and vessels that have been licked by dogs and that are
stained with pounded barley and other corn. The Vahikas drink the milk of
sheep and camels and asses and eat curds and other preparations from
those different kinds of milk. Those degraded people number many bastards
among them. There is no food and no milk that they do not take. The
Aratta-Vahikas that are steeped in ignorance, should be avoided.' Thou
shouldst know this, O Shalya. I must, however, again speak to thee about
what another Brahmana had said unto me in the Kuru court, 'How can one go
to heaven, having drunk milk in the town called Yugandhara, and resided
in the place called Acyutasthala, and bathed in the spot called
Bhutilaya? There where the five rivers flow just after issuing from the
mountains, there among the Aratta-Vahikas, no respectable person should
dwell even for two days. There are two Pishacas named Vahi and Hika in
the river Vipasa. The Vahikas are the offspring of those two Pishacas.
They are not creatures created by the Creator. Being of such low origin,
how can they be conversant with the duties ordained in the scriptures?
The Karashakas, the Mahishakas, the Kalingas, the Keralas, the
Karkotakas, the Virakas, and other peoples of no religion, one should
always avoid.' Even thus did a Rakshasa woman of gigantic hips speak unto
a Brahmana who on a certain occasion went to that country for bathing in
a sacred water and passed a single night there. The regions are called by
the name of Arattas. The people residing there are called the Vahikas.
The lowest of Brahmanas also are residing there from very remote times.
They are without the Veda and without knowledge, without sacrifice and
without the power to assist at other's sacrifices. They are all fallen
and many amongst them have been begotten by Shudras upon other peoples'
girls. The gods never accept any gifts from them. The Prasthalas, the
Madras, the Gandharas, the Arattas, those called Khasas, the Vasatis, the
Sindhus and the Sauviras are almost as blamable in their practices."'"

45

"'Karna continued, "Thou shouldst know all this, O Shalya. I shall
however, again speak unto thee. Listen with close attention to what I
say. Once on a time a Brahmana came to our house as a guest. Observing
our practices he became highly gratified and said unto us, 'I dwelt for a
long time on a peak of the Himavat qu