At Vainya's Sacrifice

There was a royal sage named Vainya, who had begun a horse sacrifice, the great royal rite. Atri set out to go to him to ask for wealth. Then, thinking it over with dharma, the right way of living, in view, he changed his mind and chose the forest instead. He called his wife and his sons and said, We will win a reward that is great and lasting and free of trouble. Let us go to the forest at once.

His wife, who held to dharma, answered him: Go to the great Vainya and ask him for wealth. He is sacrificing, and he will give wealth to one who asks. Take it, and divide it among your servants and your sons, and then go wherever you wish. The knowers of dharma call this the highest dharma.

Atri said, The great Gautama has told me that Vainya is a man of dharma and keeps his vows of truth. But there are brahmins there who hate me. Gautama warned me of it, and so I have held back. Whatever good word I speak there, they will twist it and make it worthless. Still, you are wise, and your counsel pleases me. I will go. Vainya will give me cows and great wealth.

So he went to the place of the sacrifice and praised the king. King Vainya, he said, you are the lord, the first king on earth. The hosts of sages praise you. There is no one but you who knows dharma.

The sage Gautama was there, and he was angry. Do not say that again, Atri, he said. Your mind is not steady. Here our first ruler is Indra, the lord of creatures. Atri answered him, giving the king a name that belongs to the gods: This king is the ordainer too, as Indra is the lord of creatures. It is you who are deluded. Gautama said, I know; I am not deluded. It is you who are deluded, eager to speak. You praise him because you have come into his presence and hope to prosper by it. You do not know the highest dharma, nor what it is for. You are a child and a fool, though somehow you have grown old.

The two of them stood arguing before the sages, and the sages at the sacrifice asked who had let these two into Vainya's hall, and why they stood there shouting at each other. Kaśyapa, who knew all of dharma, told them about the two who were quarrelling. Gautama told the sages, Hear the question between us. Atri says that Vainya is the ordainer. On this we are in great doubt.

The sages went at once to Sanatkumāra, a son of Brahmā, who knew dharma, to settle the doubt. And Sanatkumāra said, The priest's power is joined to the king's, and the king's to the priest's. The king is the first dharma, and the lord of his people. He is Indra, king of the gods; he is Śukra, the teacher of the demons; he is the ordainer; he is Bṛhaspati, the teacher of the gods. He is praised by these names: lord of creatures, the shining one, the sovereign, the ruler of the earth. Who would not honour him? As the sun drives away darkness among the gods in heaven, so the king drives away wrong on earth. So the king comes first, and the side that said this of the king has won.

Then King Vainya was glad, and said to Atri, who had praised him first: Because you named me the greatest among all men, and the equal of all the gods, I will give you wealth of many kinds. He gave him a thousand serving women, well dressed and adorned, ten crores of gold and ten loads of fine gold. You know all things, he said. Atri took it all, as was right, and went home. He gave the wealth to his sons with a glad heart, and then, with his mind composed, he went to the forest to practise austerity.