Verse 8

⁸Urged in this way by Vidura towards the story of Vasudeva, Maitreya praised him and, glad at heart, answered him. ⁹Dear one, when Prthu had been anointed by the brahmins and named guardian of the people, and there was no food on the face of the earth, the people came to their lord with their bodies wasted by hunger and said: ¹⁰King, we are burnt by the fire in our bellies as trees are burnt by fire lodged in a hollow. Today we come for refuge to you who are a refuge, made our lord and the maker of our living. ¹¹So take it on yourself to give food to us who are worn with hunger, god among kings, before we perish with our strength gone. You are the lord of our livelihood and the guardian of the world.

¹²Hearing the pitiful lament of his people, Prthu thought long, best of the Kurus, and he found the cause of it. ¹³Having settled it in his mind, he took up his bow and set an arrow against the earth, angry as the destroyer of the three cities.