In the beautiful and fertile State of Travancore in the extreme
south of India, where traffic is conveyed over rivers and canals,
the Maharaja assumes every year a hereditary obligation to expiate
the sin incurred by wars and the annexation in the distant past
of several petty states to Travancore. For fifty-six days annually
the Maharaja visits the temple thrice daily to hear Vedic hymns
and recitations; the expiation ceremony ends with the LAKSHADIPAM
or illumination of the temple by a hundred thousand lights.
The great Hindu lawgiver Manu {FN41-8} has outlined the duties of
a king. "He should shower amenities like Indra (lord of the gods);
collect taxes gently and imperceptibly as the sun obtains vapor
from water; enter into the life of his subjects as the wind goes
everywhere; mete out even justice to all like Yama (god of death);
bind transgressors in a noose like Varuna (Vedic deity of sky and
wind); please all like the moon, burn up vicious enemies like the
god of fire; and support all like the earth goddess.
"In war a king should not fight with poisonous or fiery weapons nor
kill weak or unready or weaponless foes or men who are in fear or
who pray for protection or who run away. War should be resorted to
only as a last resort. Results are always doubtful in war."
Madras Presidency on the southeast coast of India contains the
flat, spacious, sea-girt city of Madras, and Conjeeveram, the Golden
City, capital site of the Pallava dynasty whose kings ruled during
the early centuries of the Christian era.
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