Verse 32

²⁶Tormented by hunger he seized the brahmin. His wife, whose purpose was left unfinished, said: You are no raksasa. You are plainly a great chariot fighter of the Iksvakus. ²⁷You are Madayanti's husband, hero. You should not do such a wrongdoing. I want a child; give me back my husband, this brahmin, whose purpose is unfinished. ²⁸This human body, king, gives a man every end he can seek. To kill it, hero, is called the killing of every end at once. ²⁹This brahmin is learned, and austerity and good conduct and every merit are in him. He wants to worship Brahman, who is named the great Person, hidden inside beings by the strands, as the self of every being.

³⁰How does this best of brahmin sages deserve to be killed by you, first among royal sages, mighty one, knower of dharma, as a son might be killed by his father? ³¹He is good, he has done no wrong, he is an unborn thing, he is a speaker of Brahman. How can you, whom the good hold in honour, think of killing him as one thinks of killing a tawny beast? ³²If he is to be made food, then eat me first. Without him I shall not live one moment; I would be as good as a corpse.