Devanagari
मैत्रेय उवाच
यदाभिषिक्त: पृथुरङ्ग विप्रै-रामन्त्रितो जनतायाश्च पाल: । प्रजा निरन्ने क्षितिपृष्ठ एत्यक्षुत्क्षामदेहा: पतिमभ्यवोचन् ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
maitreya uvāca
yadābhiṣiktaḥ pṛthur aṅga viprair
āmantrito janatāyāś ca pālaḥ
prajā niranne kṣiti-pṛṣṭha etya
kṣut-kṣāma-dehāḥ patim abhyavocan
Synonyms
maitreyaḥ uvāca
—
the great sage Maitreya said
;
yadā
—
when
;
abhiṣiktaḥ
—
was enthroned
;
pṛthuḥ
—
King Pṛthu
;
aṅga
—
my dear Vidura
;
vipraiḥ
—
by the brāhmaṇas
;
āmantritaḥ
—
was declared
;
janatāyāḥ
—
of the people
;
ca
—
also
;
pālaḥ
—
the protector
;
prajāḥ
—
the citizens
;
niranne
—
being without food grains
;
kṣiti
—
pṛṣṭhe — the surface of the globe
;
etya
—
coming near
;
kṣut
—
by hunger
;
kṣāma
—
skinny
;
dehāḥ
—
their bodies
;
patim
—
to the protector
;
abhyavocan
—
they said .
Translation
The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, at the time King Pṛthu was enthroned by the great sages and brāhmaṇas and declared to be the protector of the citizens, there was a scarcity of food grains. The citizens actually became skinny due to starvation. Therefore they came before the King and informed him of their real situation.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Maitreya said: O Vidura! When Pṛthu was requested by the citizens to be the protector and enthroned by the brāhmaṇas, the citizens approached him with thin bodies at a time when the earth was without food and addressed him.
The citizens engaged him as King, saying “You are the protector.”
Purport
Information is given herein concerning the selection of the king by the
brāhmaṇas.
According to the
varṇāśrama
system, the
brāhmaṇas
are considered to be the head of the society and therefore to be situated in the topmost social position. The
varṇāśrama-dharma,
the institution of four
varṇas
and four
āśramas,
is very scientifically designed. As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā,
varṇāśrama-dharma
is not a man-made institution, but is God-made. In this narration it is clearly indicated that the
brāhmaṇas
used to control the royal power. When an evil king like Vena ruled, the
brāhmaṇas
would kill him through their brahminical powers and would select a proper ruler by testing his qualifications. In other words, the
brāhmaṇas,
the intelligent men or great sages, would control the monarchical powers. Here we have an indication of how the
brāhmaṇas
elected King Pṛthu to the throne as the protector of the citizens. The citizens, being skinny due to hunger, approached the King and informed him that necessary action should be taken. The structure of the
varṇāśrama-dharma
was so nice that the
brāhmaṇas
would guide the head of state. The head of state would then give protection to the citizens. The
kṣatriyas
would take charge of protecting the people in general, and under the protection of the
kṣatriyas,
the
vaiśyas
would protect the cows, produce food grains and distribute them.
Śūdras,
the working class, would help the higher three classes by manual labor. This is the perfect social system.