region of Brahman by the aid of Yoga-meditation.  About that time, O delighter of the Kurus, there occurred a severe drought.  Afflicted by hunger, the whole world of living creatures became exceedingly weak.  At a sacrifice which had been performed in former times by Sivi’s son he had given away unto the Ritwiks a son of his as the sacrificial present.  About this time, unendued with longevity as the prince was, he died of starvation.  The Rishis named, afflicted with hunger, approached the dead prince and sat surrounding him.  Indeed, those foremost of Rishis, beholding the son of him at whose sacrifice they had officiated, O Bharata, thus dead of starvation, began to cook the body in a vessel, impelled by the pangs of hunger.  All food having disappeared from the world of men, those ascetics, desirous of saving their lives, had recourse, for purposes of sustenance, to such a miserable shift.  While they were thus employed.  Vrishadarbha’s son, viz., king Saivya, in course of his roving, came upon those Rishis.  Indeed, he met them on his way, engaged in cooking the dead body, impelled by the pangs of hunger.’”

“The son of Vrishadarbha said, ’The acceptance of a gift (from me) will immediately relieve you all.  Do you, therefore, accept a gift for the support of your bodies!  Ye ascetics endued with wealth of penances, listen to me as I declare what wealth I have!  That Brahmana who solicits me (for gifts) is ever dear to me.  Verily, I shall give unto you a thousand mules.  Unto each of you I shall give a thousand kine of white hair, foremost in speed, each accompanied by a bull, and each having a well-born calf, and, therefore, yielding milk.  I shall also give unto you a thousand bulls of white complexion and of the best breed and capable of bearing heavy burdens.  I shall also give you a large number of kine, of good disposition, the foremost of their kind, all fat, and each of which, having brought forth her first calf, is quick with her second.[418] Tell me what else I shall give of foremost villages, of grain, of barley, and of even the rarer and costly jewels.  Do not seek to eat this food that is inedible.  Tell me what I should give unto you for the support of your bodies!’

“The Rishis said, ’O king, an acceptance of gifts from a monarch is very sweet at first but it is poison in the end.  Knowing this well, why do you, O king, tempt us then with these offers?  The body of the Brahmana is the field of the deities.  By penance, it is purified.  Then again, by gratifying the Brahmana, one gratifies the deities.  If a Brahmana accepts the gifts made to him by the king, he loses, by such acceptance, the merit that he would otherwise acquire by his penances that day.  Indeed, such acceptance consumes that merit even as a blazing conflagration consumes a forest.  Let happiness be thine, O king, as the result of the gifts thou makest to those that solicit thee!’ Saying these words unto them, they left the spot, proceeding by