Verse 49
When the hardship comes· Verses 44–49
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44Those who lift up a sinking brahmin who keeps me for his end: those I shall lift out of their troubles before long, as a boat lifts a man out of the sea. 45The king should lift all his people out of trouble as a father does, and, being steady, should lift himself by himself, as the lord of elephants lifts the elephants. 46A ruler of men of that kind, having shaken off here everything that is ill, takes his joy with Indra in a sky-chariot bright as the sun. 47A brahmin who is sinking should cross his trouble by the trader's calling, by goods; or, hard pressed, by the sword; but never in any way by the life of a dog. 48A kshatriya in trouble should live by the vaisya's calling, or by hunting; or he may go about in the guise of a brahmin; but never in any way by the life of a dog.
49A vaisya may take up the sudra's calling, and a sudra the making of mats and the craftsman's work. Once he is free of the hardship, let him not want a living by blameworthy work.