880 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 17

who shall be unprotected by their masters, the bona fide vaisyas, or the
mercantile community. In the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 18.44), it is said that the
vaisyas are meant to deal in agriculture, cow protection and trade. In the
age of Kali, the degraded vaisyas, or the mercantile men, are engaged in
supplying cows to slaughterhouses. The ksatriyas are meant to protect the
citizens of the state, whereas the vaisyas are meant to protect the cows
and bulls and utilize them to produce grains and milk. The cow is meant
to deliver milk, and the bull is meant to produce grains. But in the age of
Kali, the sidra class of men are in the posts of administrators, and the
cows and bulls, or the mothers and the fathers, unprotected by the vaisyas,
are subjected to the slaughterhouses organized by the sidra administrators.

TEXT 2

wt amend eae fra
tart waa ded axafeaz i 2

ursam mrnala-dhavalam
mehantam iva bibkyatam

vepamanam padaikena
sidantam sudra-taditam

vrsam— the bull; mrnala-dhavalam—as white as a white lotus; mehantam—
urinating; iva—as if; bibh yatam—being too afraid; vepamanam—trembling;
pada ekena—standing on only one leg; sidantam— terrified; sudra-taditam—
being beaten by a sudra.

TRANSLATION

The bull was as white as a white lotus flower. He was terrified of the
sidra who was beating him, and he was so afraid that he was standing on
one leg, trembling and urinating.

PURPORT

The next symptom of the age of Kali is that principles of religion,
which are all spotlessly white, like the white lotus flower, will be attacked
by the uncultured sidra population of the age. They may be descendants
of brahmana or ksatriya forefathers, but in the age of Kali, for want of
sufficient education and culture of Vedic wisdom, such sidra-like popula-
