are seen to
be satisfied with less than a tenth part of such produce. There is no one
who owns the kingly office without some one else owning it in the world,
and there is no kingdom without a king.[1706] If there be no kingdom,
there can be no righteousness, and if there be no righteousness, whence
can Emancipation arise? Whatever merit is most sacred and the highest,
belongs to kings and kingdoms.[1707] By ruling a kingdom well, a king
earns the merit that attaches to a Horse-sacrifice with the whole Earth
given away as Dakshina. But how many kings are there that rule their
kingdoms well? O ruler of Mithila, I can mention hundreds and thousands
of faults like these that attach to kings and kingdoms. Then, again, when
I have no real connection with even my body, how then can I be said to
have any contact with the bodies of others? Thou canst not charge me with
having endeavoured to bring about an intermixture of castes. Hast thou
heard the religion of Emancipation in its entirety from the lips of
Panchasikha together with its means, its methods, its practices, and its
conclusion?[1708] If thou hast prevailed over all thy bonds and freed
thyself from all attachments, may I ask thee, O king, who thou preservest
thy connections still with this umbrella and these other appendages of
royalty? I think that thou hast not listened to the scriptures, or, thou
hast listened to them without any advantage, or, perhaps, thou hast
listened to some other treatises looking like the scriptures. It seems
that thou art possessed only of worldly knowledge, and that like an
ordinary man of the world thou art bound by the bonds of touch and
spouses and mansions and the like. If it be true that thou hast been
emancipated from all bonds, what harm have I done thee by entering thy
person with only my Intellect? With Yatis, among all orders of men, the
custom is to dwell in uninhabited or deserted abodes. What harm then have
I done to whom by entering thy understanding which is truly of real
knowledge? I have not touched thee, O king, with my hands, of arms, or
feet, or thighs, O sinless one, or with any other part of the body. Thou
art born in a high race. Thou hast modesty. Thou hast foresight. Whether
the act has been good or bad, my entrance into thy body has been a
private one, concerning us two only. Was it not improper for thee to
publish that private act before all thy court? These Brahmanas are all
worthy of respect. They are foremost of