Free Mahabharata: Volume 8 by Bibek Debroy

circumstances should a spirited warrior slay a woman. Cattle and women should not be harmed and war must not be waged on their account. Grain must not be destroyed and one should not pointlessly create obstructions in ploughing, or in the worship of gods, ancestors and guests. Among all the beings, brahmanas deserve to be freed. 26 One must compensate them, even if one has to give up all of one’s property. If they are extremely enraged and chant their mantras, there is no one in the three worlds who will be saved and will not be defeated. A person who speaks ill of brahmanas or wishes for their destruction will be destroyed. This is as certain as the rising of the sun. Dwell here and receive the fruits. Those who do not give accordingto their capacity will be attacked by our soldiers. The rod has been intended for the sake of ensuring virtue. It is certain that it is not meant to inflict death. However, it has been said that if a person obstructs virtuous people, it is dharma to kill him. There are some who obtain a living by causing injury to the kingdom. They are compared to worms inside a carcass. However, even if someone is a bandit, if he conducts himself in accordance with the sacred texts of dharma, despite being a bandit, he will swiftly obtain success.’ All of them honoured Kapavya’s instructions. All of them obtained a livelihood and abandoned their wicked ways. Because of his deeds, Kapavya obtained great success. He acted so as to ensure safety for the virtuous and restrained the bandits from wicked deeds. If someone regularly recounts this conduct of Kapavya, he will never be afflicted by any fear from residents of the forest, or from beings. There will never be any fear from mortals or immortals, from the virtuous or the wicked. O king! He will be like a leader in the forest.”’

Chapter 1463(135)
    ‘Bhishma said, “On this, listen to this supreme and foremost account. This is about procrastination in deciding what should be done and what should not be done. In a pond that wasn’t very deep, there were three
shakula
fishes who were friends. O Kounteya! Among the many other fishes that were there, these became companions. Out of these three that dwelt in the water, one knew when the right time had come, the second one was far-sighted and the third was a procrastinator. On one occasion, fishermen assembled around the pond. Using various outlets, they started to drain out the water to lower spots. On discerning thatthe water level was declining, the far-sighted fish told his two friends that a danger had arrived. ‘There is a disaster for all of us who dwell in the water. Let us quickly go somewhere else, before the path is destroyed. Those who follow good policy counter a danger before it has arrived. There is no doubt about this. We should decide to quickly go.’ The procrastinator replied, ‘What you have said is true. But it is my certain view that there is no need for us to hurry.’ The one with the right understanding spoke to the far-sighted one, ‘When it is the right time, I will not avoid doing anything that needs to be done.’ Having been thus addressed, the far-sighted and immensely intelligent one emerged through the single stream that still remained and went into a deeper body of water. When they saw that the water had been drained out from the pond, the fishermen, who earned a living off fish, used different methods to catch the fish. They fluttered around in the pond, which was without any water. Together with the others, the fish that was a procrastinator was captured. When he saw that the fish were being strung together on a rope, the one with the right understanding penetrated into the midst of the ones that had already been strung and seized the rope in its mouth, as if it had already been captured. They 31 thought that all the fish had been captured. They took the fish to a clean bit of water to clean them. The one with the right understanding let go of the rope and swiftly