Text 27] Birth of Emperor Pariksit 647

the line of royal succession in the family of Maharaja Yudhisthira, all the
kings, without exception, were the wisest men of their times, and so also
it is foretold about Maharaja Pariksit and his son Maharaja Janamejaya
who was yet to be born. Such wise kings can become chastisers of upstarts
and uprooters of Kali, or quarrelsome elements. As it will be clear in the
chapters ahead, Maharaja Pariksit wanted to kill the personified Kali who
was attempting to kill a cow, the emblem of peace and religion. The
symptoms of Kali are 1) wine, 2) women, 3) gambling and 4) slaughter-
houses. Wise rulers of all states should take lessons from Maharaja Pariksit
in how to maintain peace and morality by subduing the upstarts and
quarrelsome people who indulge in wine, illicit connection with women,
gambling and meat-eating supplied by regularly maintained slaughterhouses.
In this age of Kali, regular license is issued for maintaining all of these
different departments of quarrel. So how can they expect peace and
morality in the state? The state fathers, therefore, must follow the prin-
ciples of becoming wiser by devotion to the Lord, by chastising the breaker
of discipline and by uprooting the symptoms of quarrel, as mentioned
above. If we want blazing fire, we must use dry fuel. Blazing fire and moist
fuel go ill together. Peace and morality can prosper only by the principles
of Maharaja Pariksit and his followers.

TEXT 27

TAN Ay feaqarahian |
TIA STI THAR: WE et: Roll

taksakad atmano mrtyum
dvija-putropasarjitat

prapatsyata upasrutya
mukta-sangah padam hareh

taksakat—by the snake-bird; atmanah—of his personal self; mrtyum—
death; dvija-putra—the son of a brahmana; upasarjitat—being sent by;
prapatsyate—having taken shelter of; upagrutya—after hearing; mukta-
sangah—freed from all attachment; padam—position; hareh—of the Lord.

TRANSLATION

After hearing about his death, which will be caused by the bite of a
snakebird sent by a son of a brahmana, he will get himself freed from all
