shall I again, decked in ornaments, and with those maidens and ladies of large proportions, gorge upon a large number of sheep and large quantities of pork and beef and the meat of fowls and asses and camels?  They who do not eat sheep live in vain!"’ Even thus, O Shalya, the young and old, among the inhabitants of Sakala, intoxicated with spirits, sing and cry.  How can virtue be met with among such a people?  Thou shouldst know this.  I must, however, speak again to thee about what another brahmana had said unto us in the Kuru court, ’There where forests of Pilus stand, and those five rivers flow, viz., the Satadru, the Vipasa, the Iravati, the Candrabhaga, and the Vitasa and which have the Sindhu for their sixth, there in those regions removed from the Himavat, are the countries called by the name of the Arattas.  Those regions are without virtue and religion.  No one should go thither.  The gods, the pitris, and the brahmanas, never accept gifts from those that are fallen, or those that are begotten by Shudras on the girls of other castes, or the Vahikas who never perform sacrifices and are exceedingly irreligious.’  That learned brahmana had also said in the Kuru court, ’The Vahikas, without any feelings of revulsion, eat of wooden vessels having deep stomachs and earthen plates and vessels that have been licked by dogs and that are stained with pounded barley and other corn.  The Vahikas drink the milk of sheep and camels and asses and eat curds and other preparations from those different kinds of milk.  Those degraded people number many bastards among them.  There is no food and no milk that they do not take.  The Aratta-Vahikas that are steeped in ignorance, should be avoided.’  Thou shouldst know this, O Shalya.  I must, however, again speak to thee about what another brahmana had said unto me in the Kuru court, ’How can one go to heaven, having drunk milk in the town called Yugandhara, and resided in the place called Acyutasthala, and bathed in the spot called Bhutilaya?  There where the five rivers flow just after issuing from the mountains, there among the Aratta-Vahikas, no respectable person should dwell even for two days.  There are two Pishacas named Vahi and Hika in the river Vipasa.  The Vahikas are the offspring of those two Pishacas.  They are not creatures created by the Creator.  Being of such low origin, how can they be conversant with the duties ordained in the scriptures?  The Karashakas, the Mahishakas, the Kalingas, the Keralas, the Karkotakas, the Virakas, and other peoples of no religion, one should always avoid.’  Even thus did a Rakshasa woman of gigantic hips speak unto a brahmana who on a certain occasion went to that country for bathing in a sacred water and passed a single night there.  The regions are called by the name of Arattas.  The people residing there are called the Vahikas.  The lowest of brahmanas also are residing there from very remote times.  They are without the Veda and without knowledge, without sacrifice and without the power to assist at other’s sacrifices.  They are all fallen and many amongst them have been begotten by Shudras upon other peoples’ girls.  The gods never accept any gifts from them.  The Prasthalas, the Madras, the Gandharas, the Arattas, those called Khasas, the Vasatis, the Sindhus and the Sauviras are almost as blamable in their practices.’”