is to the wife, even so are the
Brahmanas unto Kshatriyas. If there be a Kshatriya of full hundred years
of age and a good Brahmana child of only ten years, the latter should be
regarded as a father and the former as a son, for among the two, verily,
the Brahmana is superior. A woman in the absence of her husband, takes
his younger brother for her lord; even so the Earth, not having obtained
the Brahmana, made the Kshatriya her lord. The Brahmanas should be
protected like sons and worshipped like sires or preceptors. Indeed, O
best of the Kurus, they should be waited upon with reverence even as
people wait with reverence upon their sacrificial or Homa fires. The
Brahmanas are endued with simplicity and righteousness. They are devoted
to truth. They are always engaged in the good of every creature. Yet when
angry they are like snakes of virulent poison. They should, for these
reasons, be always waited upon and served with reverence and humility.
One should, O Yudhishthira, always fear these two, viz., Energy and
Penances. Both these should be avoided or kept at a distance. The effects
of both are speedy. There is the superiority, however, of Penances, viz.,
that Brahmanas endued with Penances, O monarch, can, if angry, slay the
object of their wrath (regardless of the measure of Energy with which
that object may be endued). Energy and Penances, each of the largest
measure, become neutralised if applied against a Brahmana that has
conquered wrath. If the two,--that is, Energy and Penances,--be set
against each other, then destruction would overtake both but not
destruction without a remnant, for while Energy, applied against
Penances, is sure to be destroyed without leaving a remnant. Penances
applied against Energy cannot be destroyed completely.[13] As the
herdsman, stick in hand, protects the herd, even so should the Kshatriya
always protect the Vedas and the Brahmanas. Indeed, the Kshatriya should
protect all righteous Brahmanas even as a sire protects his sons. He
should always have his eye upon the house of the Brahmanas for seeing
that their means of subsistence may not be wanting."'"

SECTION IX

"'Yudhisthira said, "O grandsire, O thou of great splendour, what do those
men become who, through stupefaction of intellect, do not make gifts unto
Brahmanas after having promised to make those gifts? O thou that art the
foremost of all righteous persons, do tell me what the duties are in this
respect. Indeed, what