wrath, they lost all consideration of what should be done and what should not.  Unrestrained sexual indulgence set in.  Men began to utter what they chose.  All distinctions between food that is clean and unclean and between virtue and vice disappeared.  When this confusion set in amongst men, the Vedas disappeared.  Upon the disappearance of the Vedas, Righteousness was lost.  When both the Vedas and righteousness were lost, the gods were possessed by fear.  Overcome with fear, O tiger among men, they sought the protection of Brahmana.  Having gratified the divine Grandsire of the universe, the gods, afflicted with grief, said unto him, with joined hands, ’O god, the eternal Vedas have been afflicted in the world of men by covetousness and error.  For this, we have been struck with fear.  Through loss of the Vedas, O Supreme Lord, righteousness also has been lost.  For this, O Lord of the three worlds, we are about to descend to the level of human beings.  Men used to pour libations upwards while we used to pour rain downwards.[170] In consequence, however, of the cessation of all pious rites among men, great distress will be our lot.  Do thou then, O Grandsire, think of that which would benefit us, so that the universe, created by thy power, may not meet with destruction.’  Thus addressed, the Self-born and divine Lord said unto them, ’I shall think of what will do good to all.  Ye foremost of gods, let your fears be dispelled!’ The Grandsire then composed by his own intelligence a treatise consisting of a hundred thousand chapters.  In it were treated the subject of Virtue, Profit, and Pleasure.  Which the Self-born designated as the triple aggregate.  He treated of a fourth subject called Emancipation with opposite meaning and attributes.  The triple aggregate in respect of emancipation, viz., to the attributes of Goodness, Passion, and Darkness, and another, (a fourth, viz., the practice of duty without hope of bliss or reward in this or the other world), were treated in it.  Another triple aggregate connected with Chastisement, viz., Conversation, Growth, and Destruction, was treated in it.[171] Another aggregate of six consisting of the hearts of men, place, time, means, overt acts, and alliances, and causes, were treated in it.  The religious rites laid down in the three Vedas, knowledge, and the acts necessary for the support of life, (viz., agriculture, trade, &c.), O bull of Bharata’s race, and the very extensive branch of learning called punitive legislation, were laid down in it.  The subjects also of behaviour towards counsellors, of spies, the indications of princes, of secret agents possessed of diverse means, of envoys and agents of other kinds, conciliation, fomenting discord, gifts, and chastisement, O king, with toleration as the fifth, were fully treated therein.  Deliberation of all kinds, counsels for producing disunion, the errors of deliberation, the results of the success or failure of counsels, treaties of three