are exempt from chastisement, and pledge further that thou wouldst protect the world from an intermixture of castes.’  Thus addressed, Vena’s son replied unto the deities headed by the Rishis, saying, ’Those bulls among men, viz., the highly blessed Brahmanas, shall ever be worshipped by me.’  Those utterers of Brahma then said unto him, ‘Let it be so!’ Then Sukra, that vast receptacle of Brahma, became his priest.  The Valakhilyas became his counsellors, and the Saraswatas his companions.  The great and illustrious Rishi Garga became his astrologer.  This high declaration of the Srutis is current among men that Prithu is the eighth from Vishnu.  A little before, the two persons named Suta and Magadha had come into existence.  They became his bards and panegyrists.  Gratified, Prithu, the royal son of Vena, possessed of great prowess, gave unto Suta the land lying on the sea-coast, and unto Magadha the country since known as Magadha.  We have heard that the surface of the earth had before been very uneven.  It was Prithu who made the terrestrial surface level.  In every Manwantara, the earth becomes uneven.[174] Vena’s son removed the rocks and rocky masses lying all around, O monarch, with the horn of his bow.  By this means the hills and mountains became enlarged.  Then Vishnu, and the deities of Indra, and the Rishis, and the Regents of the world, and the Brahmanas, assembled together for crowning Prithu (as the king of the world).  The earth herself, O son of Pandu, in her embodied form, came to him, with a tribute of gems and jewels.  Ocean, that lord of rivers, and Himavat, the king of mountains, and Sakra, O Yudhishthira, bestowed upon him inexhaustible wealth.  The great Meru, that mountain of gold, gave unto him heaps of that precious metal.  The divine Kuvera, borne on the shoulders of human beings, that lord of Yakshas and Rakshasas, gave him wealth enough for gratifying the needs of religion, profit, and pleasure.  Steeds, cars, elephants, and men, by millions, O son of Pandu, started into life as soon as Vena’s son thought of them.  At that time there was neither decrepitude, nor famine, nor calamity, nor disease (on earth).  In consequence of the protection afforded by that king, nobody had any fear from reptiles and thieves or from any other source.  When he proceeded to the sea, the waters used to be solidified.  The mountains gave him way, and his standard was never obstructed anywhere.  He drew from the earth, as a milcher from a cow, seven and ten kinds of crops for the food of Yakshas, and Rakshasas, and Nagas, and other creatures.  That high-souled king caused all creatures to regard righteousness as the foremost of all things; and because he gratified all the people, therefore, was he called Rajan (king).  And because he also healed the wounds of Brahmanas, therefore, he earned the name of Kshatriya.  And because the earth (in his region) became celebrated for the practice of virtue, therefore, she came to be called by many as Prithvi.  The eternal Vishnu himself,