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VII, 24.
THE KING.
219
17. Punishment is in reality) the king (and) the male, that the manager of affairs, that the ruler, and that is called the surety for the four orders obedience to the law.
18. Punishment alone governs all created beings, punishment alone protects them, punishment watches over them while they sleep; the wise declare punishment (to be identical with) the law.
19. If (punishment) is properly inflicted after (due) consideration, it makes all people happy; but inflicted without consideration, it destroys everything.
20. If the king did not, without tiring, inflict punishment on those worthy to be punished, the stronger would roast the weaker, like fish on a spit;
21. The crow would eat the sacrificial cake and the dog would lick the sacrificial viands, and ownership would not remain with any one, the lower ones would (usurp the place of) the higher ones.
22. The whole world is kept in order by punishment, for a guiltless man is hard to find; through fear of punishment the whole world yields the enjoyments (which it owes).
23. The gods, the Dânavas, the Gandharvas, the Rakshasas, the bird and snake deities even give the enjoyments (due from them) only, if they are tormented by the fear of punishment.
24. All castes (varna) would be corrupted (by intermixture), all barriers would be broken through,
17. That is the male,' i. e. "compared with him all others are (weak) women' (Kull.).
19. Yâgñ. I, 355.
23. The commentators quote in explanation of this verse a passage from the Yagur-veda,' Through fear the fire warms, through fear the sun shines, through fear move Indra, the Wind, and Death, as the fifth
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