SECTION LXVII.
AT length the weary night in Ayodhyā. rendered cheerless by lamentations, and populous with men with voice choked with tears, was spent. And when the night departed and the sun had arisen, those officers of the royal house-hold belonging to the twice-born order, Mārkandeya, Maudgalya, Vāmadeva, Kāçyapa, Kātyāyana, Gautama, and the highly famous Jāvāli, assembled together along with the the counsellors, spoke each on different topics. Then facing the royal priest, the eminent Vasistha, they said, "That night that had appeared like unto an hundred years has at last been painfully passed. The king racked by sorrow for his son has breathed his last, the mighty monarch has ascended heaven, Rāma has taken refuge in the woods, the energetic Lakshmana has gone with Rāma, and both Bharata and Satrugna— repressors of foes—are staying in Kekaya in pleasant Rajagriha, the abode of their maternal grandfather. Do you select some one this very day from the descendants of Ikshwāku, be king here. Verily doth a kingdom go to ruin, when without a king. He that goes garlanded with lightning, and has a mighty voice, even the cloud—doth not with skyey shower drench the Earth in a kingdom without a king. In a kingless kingdom no one sows corn. In a kingless kingdom the son does not obey his sire, or the wife her husband. A kingless kingdom possesses no wealth, and wives are hard to keep in such a place. This great fear attends a kingless country. And where is other morality (besides that detailed above) to be found at such a place? In a kingless country men do not form themselves into associations, nor do they, inspired with cheerfulness, make elegant gardens or sacred edifices. In a kingless country, the twice-born ones do not celebrate sacrifices. In a kingless country, in mighty sacrifices wealthy Brāhmanas do not confer (on the officiating priests) the dakshinās (which they receive according to the ordinance), In a kingless country, neither social gatherings, nor festivities characterised by the presence of merry theatrical managers and performers, increase. In a kingless country disputants cannot decide their point; nor are persons given to hearing Purānic recitations pleased by those delighting in the practice. In a kingless country, bevies of virgins decked in gold do not repair to gardens for purposes of sport. In a kingless country, the wealthy are not well protected; nor do shepherds and cultivators sleep with their doors open. In a kingless country pleasure-seeking people do not in company with females go to the woods by means of swift vehicles, In a kingless country long-tusked elephants sixty years old, bearing bells on their necks, do not walk the highway. In a kingless country one hears not the clappings of persons engaged in shooting arrows constantly. In a kingless country traders coming from distant lands, loaded with various kinds of merchandise, do not with safety go along the roads. In a kingless country the ascetic with his subdued senses, himself his sole protector, who makes his quarters wherever evening overtakes him, cannot walk contemplating the Deity. In a kingless country, one cannot protect what one has, or procure what one has not. In a kingless country, the forces cannot bear the onslaught of the foe. In a kingless country men cannot at will go on excellent and high-mettled horses and ornamented cars. In a kingless country persons well versed in learning can not engage in controversy, repairing to woods and groves. In a kingless country, persons with intent hearts do not offer garlands, sweets, and dakshinās, for worshipping the gods. In a kingless country, princes smeared with sandal and aguru, do not look graceful like trees in spring. Even as a river without water, a wood without grass, a herd of kine without a keeper, is a kingdom without a king. The sign of a car is its pennon, of fire is smoke, and our banner the king, has gone to heaven. In a kingless country a person hardly preserves his life; and like fishes people eat up one another. Even those heretics who having disregarded the dignity of social morality had met with chastisement at the hands of the king, their fear removed—give themselves airs. As the sight is engaged in the welfare of the body, the king—that fountain of truth and religion—is engaged in compassing the good of the kingdom. The king is truth, the king is morality, the king is the racial dignity of those possessed of the same, the king is the father, the king is the mother—the king compasseth the welfare of men. By virtue of magnanimity of character, a king surpasses Yama and Vaiçravana and Sakra and Varuna endowed with mighty strength. If there were not a king in this world to adjudge fair and foul, darkness would overspread (the face of the earth) and people could not distinguish anything whatever. As the ocean keepeth within its continent, we even while the monarch lived, did not disregard your words. Do you, O best of Brāhmanas, beholding our acts rendered nugatory, and this empire become a wilderness for want of a king, install that descendant of Ikshwāku or any other as king of this realm."