Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/271

Rh Sukra said, 'O son of Vrihaspati, thou art, indeed, one already crowned with success, because regardest thee so well. Accept now the science that I will today impart to thee, if indeed, thou art no Indra in the form of Kacha! None can come out of my stomach with life. A Brahmana, however, must not be slain. Therefore, accept thou the science I impart to thee. Stat thou into life as my son! And possessed of the knowledge, having received it from me, and revived by me, look thou that coming out of my body thou mayest have in view what gratitude dictateth.

Vaisampayana continued, "Receiving then the science imparted to him by his preceptor, ripping open his stomach the handsome Brahmana Kacha came out like the moon at evening in the fifteenth day of the lighted fortnight. And beholding the remains of his preceptor lying like a heap of Brahma, even Kacha revived him with the aid of the science he had received. And worshipping him with regard, Kacha then said unto his preceptor, 'Him who poureth the nectar of knowledge into one's ears, even as thou hast done into those of myself who am void of all knowledge, him do I regard both as my father and mother. And remembering the immense service done by him, who is there so ungrateful as to injure him? They that, having acquired knowledge, injure their preceptor who is always an object of worship, who is the giver of knowledge, who is the most precious of all precious objects on earth, become hated on earth and finally go to the regions of the sinful.

Vaisampayana continued, "The learned Sukra, having been deceived while under wine, and remembering the total loss of consciousness that is one of the terrible consequences of drink, and beholding too before him the handsome Kacha whom he had, in a state of unconsciousness, drunk with his wine, then thought of effecting a reform in the manners of the Brahmanas. The high-souled Usana rising up from the ground in anger then spoke as follows:—'That wretched Brahmana who from this day will, being unable to resist the temptation, drink wine, shall be regarded to have lost his virtue, shall be reckoned to have committed the sin of slaying a Brahmana,