The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - Khamkoo

where sacrifices are to be performed. If each order acts in this way,
righteousness would not suffer any diminution. If righteousness is preserved in its
entirety, all creatures inhabiting the earth would be happy. Beholding the
happiness of all creatures on earth, the deities in heaven become filled with
gladness. Hence, that king who, agreeably to the duties laid down for his order,
protects the other classes, becomes worthy of respect. Similarly, the Brahmana
that is employed in studying the scriptures, the Vaisya that is engaged in earning
wealth, and the Sudra that is always engaged in serving the three other classes
with concentrated attention, become objects of respect. By conducting
themselves in the other ways, O chief of men, each order is said to fall away from
virtue. Keeping aside gifts by thousands, even twenty cowries that one may give
painfully, having earned them righteously, will be productive of the great benefit.
Those persons, O king, who make gifts unto Brahmanas after reverencing them
duly, reap excellent fruits commensurate with those gifts. That gift is highly prized
which the donor makes after seeking out the donee and honouring him properly.
That gift is middling which the donor makes upon solicitation. That gift, however,
which is made contemptuously and without any reverence, is said to be very
inferior (in point of merit). Even this is what those utterers of the truth, viz., the
sages, say. While sinking in this ocean of life, man should always seek to cross
that ocean by various means. Indeed, he should so exert himself that he might
be freed from the bonds of this world. The Brahmana shines by self restraint; the
Kshatriya by victory; the Vaisya by wealth; while the Sudra always shines in glory
through cleverness in serving (the three other orders).‟”
SECTION CCXCV
“Parasara said, „In the Brahmana, wealth acquired by acceptance of gifts, in the
Kshatriya that won by victory in battle, in the Vaisya that obtained by following
the duties laid down for his order, and in the Sudra that earned by serving the
three other orders, however small its measure, is worthy of praise, and spent for
the acquisition of virtue is productive of great benefits. The Sudra is said to be
the constant servitor of the three other classes. If the Brahmana, pressed for a
living, betakes himself to the duties of either the Kshatriya or the Vaisya, he does
not fall off from righteousness. When, however, the Brahmana betakes himself to
the duties of the lowest order, then does he certainly fall off. When the Sudra is
unable to obtain his living by service of the three other orders, then trade, rearing
of cattle, and the practice of the mechanical arts are lawful for him to follow.
Appearance on the boards of a theatre and disguising oneself in various forms,
exhibition of puppets, the sale of spirits and meat, and trading in iron and leather,
should never be taken up for purposes of a living by one who had never before
been engaged in those professions every one of which is regarded as censurable
in the world. It hath been heard by us that if one engaged in them can abandon
them, one then acquires great merit. When one that has become successful in
life behaves sinfully in consequence of one‟s mind being filled with arrogance,
one‟s acts under such circumstances can never pass for authority. It is heard in
Mahabharta of Krishna Dwipayana Vyasa, translated to English by Kesarimohan Ganguli
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