108
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 9, Ch. 11]
greatly affectionate and favorable to the  brāhmaṇas . Thus with melted hearts they returned all the property received from Him and spoke as follows.
PURPORT
In the previous chapter it was said that the  prajās , the citizens, strictly followed the system of  varṇāśrama-dharma . The  brāhmaṇas  acted exactly like  brāhmaṇas , the  kṣatriyas  exactly like  kṣatriyas , and so on. Therefore, when Lord Rāmacandra gave everything in charity to the  brāhmaṇas , the  brāhmaṇas , being qualified, wisely considered that  brāhmaṇas  are not meant to possess property to make a profit from it. The qualifications of a  brāhmaṇa  are given in  Bhagavad-gītā  (18.42):
śamo damas tapaḥ śaucam 
    kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca 
    jñānam vijñānam āstikyam 
    brahma-karma svabhāvajam
“Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness—these are the qualities by which the  brāhmaṇas  work.” The brahminical character offers no scope for possessing land and ruling citizens; these are the duties of a  kṣatriya . Therefore, although the  brāhmaṇas  did not refuse Lord Rāmacandra’s gift, after accepting it they returned it to the King. The  brāhmaṇas  were so pleased with Lord Rāmacandra’s affection toward them that their hearts melted. They saw that Lord Rāmacandra, aside from being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was fully qualified as a  kṣatriya  and was exemplary in character. One of the qualifications of a  kṣatriya  is to be charitable. A  kṣatriya , or ruler, levies taxes upon the citizens not for his personal sense gratification but to give charity in suitable cases.  Dānam īśvara-bhāvaḥ . On one hand,  kṣatriyas  have the propensity to rule, but on the other they are very liberal with charity. When Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira gave charity, he engaged Karṇa to take charge of distributing it. Karṇa was very famous as  Dātā Karṇa . The word  dātā  refers to one who gives charity very liberally. The kings always kept a large quantity of food grains in stock, and whenever there was any scarcity of