upon one’s own wives, amiability, modesty, patience,—­the practice of these is the best of a religions as said by the self-create Manu himself.  Therefore, O son of Kunti, do thou observe this religion with care.  That Kshatriya, who, conversant with the truths or royal duties, takes sovereignty upon himself, restraining his soul at all times, equally regarding that which is dear and that which is not, and subsisting upon the remains of sacrificial feasts, who is engaged in restraining the wicked and cherishing the righteous, who obliges his subjects to tread in the path of virtue and who himself treads in that path, who at last transmits his crown to his son and betakes himself to the woods, there to live on the products of the wilderness and act according to the ordinances or the Vedas after having cast off all idleness, that Kshatriya who conducts himself thus, conforming in everything to the well-known duties of kings, is sure to obtain excellent fruits in both this world and the next.  That final emancipation, of which thou speakest, is exceedingly difficult to obtain, and its pursuit is attended with many impediments.  They that adopt such duties and practise charity and ascetic penances, that are possessed of the quality of compassion and are freed from desire and wrath, that are engaged in ruling their subjects with righteousness and fighting for the sake of kine and Brahmanas, attain hereafter to a high end.  For the Rudras with the Vasus and the Adityas, O scorcher of foes, and the Sadhyas and hosts of kings adopt this religion.  Practising without heedlessness the duties inculcated by that religion, they attain to heaven through those acts of theirs.’”

SECTION XXII

Vaisampayana said, “After this, Arjuna once more addressed his eldest brother of unfading glory, viz., king Yudhishthira of cheerless heart, and said these words:  ’O thou that art conversant with every kind of duty, having by the practice of Kshatriya duties obtained sovereignty that is so very difficult of acquisition, and having conquered all thy foes, why dost thou burn in grief?  O king, as regards Kshatriyas, death in battle is regarded more meritorious for them than the performance of diverse sacrifices.  It is so declared in the ordinance that lays down the duties of Kshatriyas.  Penances and Renunciation are the duties of Brahmanas.  Even this is the ordinance (affecting the two orders) about the next world.  Indeed, O puissant one, death in battle is laid down for Kshatriyas.  The duties of Kshatriyas are exceedingly fierce and are always connected with the use of weapons, and it has been laid down, O chief of the Bharatas, that they should, when the time comes, perish by weapons on the field of battle.  The life of even a Brahmana, O king, that lives in the observance of Kshatriya duties, is not censurable, for Kshatriyas also have sprung from Brahmana.  Neither Renunciation, nor Sacrifice, nor Penances, nor dependence on the wealth