“Kunti said, ‘I desire to learn from you the cause of
this grief, for I will remove it, if possible.’
“The Brahmana replied, 'O you of wealth of Tapas, your
speech is indeed worthy of you. But this grief is incapable of being removed by
any human being. Not far from this town, there lives a Rakshasa of the name of
Baka, who is the lord of this country and town. Thriving on human flesh, that
wretched Rakshasa endued with great strength rules this country. He being the
chief of the Asuras, this town and the country in which it is situated are
protected by his might. We have no fear from the schemes and devices of any
enemy, or indeed from any living soul.
“The fee, however, fixed for that Rakshasa is his
food, which consists of a cart-load of rice, two buffaloes, and a human being
who conveys them to him. One after another, the house-holders have to send him
this food. However, the turn comes to a particular family at intervals of many
long years. If there are any that seek to avoid it, the Rakshasa slays them
with their children and wives and eats them all.
“In
this country, there is a city called Vetrakiya, where lives the king of these
territories. He is ignorant of the science of government, and possessed of
little intelligence, he adopts not with care any measure by which these
territories may be rendered safe for all time to come. But we certainly deserve
it all, to the extent as we live within the territory of that wretched and weak
monarch in everlasting anxiety. Brahmanas can never be
made to stay permanently within the territories of any one (country),
for they are dependent on nobody, they live rather like birds travelling all
countries in perfect freedom. It has been said that one must secure a (good) king, then a wife, and then wealth. It is
by the acquisition of these three that one can rescue his relatives and sons.
But as regards the acquisition of these three, the course of my actions has
been the reverse. Hence, plunged into a sea of danger, I am suffering to a high
degree of intensity. That turn, destructive of one's family, has now transferred
upon me. I shall have to give to the Rakshasa as his fee the food of the already
mentioned description and one human being in addition. I
have no wealth to buy a man with. I cannot by any means accept to separate
with any one of my family, nor do I see any way of escape from (the clutches of) that Rakshasa. I am now sunk in an ocean of grief from which there is
no escape. I shall go to that Rakshasa today along with all of my family in
order that that wretch (Baka) might eat
us all at once’”
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