Text 9] Maharaja Prthu Becomes Angry at the Earth 673
mat fart fafage om
qeamaen: = ofaeaatag 1 8 II
mattreya wvdca
yadabhisiktah prthur anga viprair
admantrito janatayas ca palah
prajd@ niranne ksiti-prstha etya
ksut-ksdma-dehah patim abhyavocan
maitreyah uvaca—the great sage Maitreya said; yada—when; abhisiktah—
was enthroned; prthuh— King Prthu; aaga—my dear Vidura; vipraih—by the
brahmanas; dmantritah—was declared; janatdyah—of the people; ca—also;
palah—the protector; prajah—the citizens; niranne—being without food
grains; ksiti-prsthe—the surface of the globe; etya—coming near; ksudh—by
hunger; ks@ma—skinny; dehah—their bodies; patim—to the protector;
abhyavocan—they said.
TRANSLATION
The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, at the time King
Prthu was enthroned by the great sages and brahmanas and declared to be
the protector of the citizens, there was a scarcity of food grains. The
citizens actually became skinny due to starvation. Therefore they came
before the King and informed him of their real situation.
PURPORT
Information is given herein concerning the selection of the king by the
brahmanas. According to the varndsrama system, the brahmanas are
considered to be the heads of the society and therefore to be situated in
the topmost social posilion. The varndsrama-dharma, the institution of
four varnas and four a@sramas, is very scientifically designed. As stated in
Bhagavad-gita, varndsrama-dharma is not a man-made institution but is
God-made. In this narration it is clearly indicated that the brahmanas used
to control the royal power. When an evil king like Vena ruled, the
brahmanas would kill him through their brahminical powers and would
select a proper ruler by testing his qualifications. In other words, the
brahmanas, the intelligent men or great sages, would control the monarchi-
cal powers. Here we have an indication of how the brahmanas elected King
Prthu to the throne as the protector of the citizens. The citizens, being
skinny due to hunger, approached the King and informed him that
necessary action should be taken. The structure of the varndsrama-dharma
was so nice that the brahmanas would guide the head of state. The head
