Intermixture of the four orders takes place.  Vedic rites fail to produce fruits.  All the seasons cease to be delightful and become fraught with evil.  The voice, pronunciation, and minds of men lose vigour.  Diseases appear, and men die prematurely.  Wives become widows, and many cruel men are seen.  The clouds do not pour seasonably, and crops fail.  All kinds of moisture also fail, when the king does not, with proper attention to the great science, protect the subjects.  The king is the creator of the Krita age, of the Treta, and of the Dwapara.  The king is the cause of the fourth age (called Kali).  If he causes the Krita age, he attains to everlasting heaven.  If he causes the Treta age, he acquires heaven for a period that is limited.  If he causes the Dwapara, he attains to blessedness in heaven according to the measure of his merits.  By causing the Kali age, the king incurs a heavy load of sin.  Stained by wickedness, he rots in hell for innumerable years, for sinking in the sins of his subjects, he incurs great sin and infamy himself.  Keeping the great science in his view, the Kshatriya possessed of learning should strive to acquire those objects which he desires and protect those that have been already acquired.  The science of chastisement, which establishes all men in the observance of their respective duties, which is the groundwork of all wholesome distinctions, and which truly upholds the world and sets it agoing, if properly administered, protects all men like the mother and the father protecting their children.  Know, O bull among men, that the very lives of creatures depend upon it.  The highest merit a king can acquire is acquaintance with the science of chastisement and administering it properly.  Therefore, O thou of Kuru’s race, protect thy subjects righteously, with the aid of that great science.  By protecting the subjects and adopting such a conduct, thou wilt surely attain to such blessedness in heaven as is difficult of acquisition.”

SECTION LXX

“Yudhishthira said, ’By adopting that conduct, O thou that art conversant with every kind of behaviour, can a king succeed in easily acquiring, both here and hereafter, objects productive of happiness in the end?’

“Bhishma said, ’There are these thirty-six virtues (which a king should observe).  They are connected with thirty-six others.  A virtuous person, by attending to those qualities, can certainly acquire great merit.  The king should observe his duties without wrath and malice.  He should not abandon kindness.  He should have faith.  He should acquire wealth without persecution and cruelty.  He should pursue pleasure without attachments.  He should, with cheerfulness, utter what is the agreeable, and be brave without brag.  He should be liberal but should not make gifts to persons that are unobserving.  He should have prowess without cruelty.  He should make alliance, avoiding those that are wicked.