No one on earth has equalled him in sacrifices,
charity, and intelligence. Swetaki performed the five great sacrifices and
many others, at all of which the presents unto Brahmanas were large. The
heart of that monarch, O king, was always set upon sacrifices, religious
rites, and gifts of all kinds. And king Swetaki of great intelligence,
assisted by his Ritwiks performed sacrifices for many long years, till
those sacrificial priests with eyes afflicted by the continued smoke and
becoming very weak, left that monarch, wishing never more to assist at his
sacrifices. The king, however, repeatedly asked those Ritwiks to come to
him. But they came not to his sacrifice in consequence of the painful
state of their eyes. The king, therefore, invited at the command of his
own Ritwiks, others like unto them, and completed the sacrifice that he
had begun. After some days had elapsed, king Swetaki desired to perform
another sacrifice which should extend for a hundred years. But the
illustrious monarch obtained not any priest to assist him in it. The
celebrated king then, with his friends and relatives, casting off all
sloth, repeatedly courted his priests with great persistence, by bowing
down unto them, by conciliatory speeches, and by gifts of wealth. All of
them, however, refused to accomplish the purpose which that king of
immeasurable energy had in view. Then that royal sage, getting angry,
addressed those Brahmanas sitting in their asylums, and said, 'If, ye
Brahmanas, I were a fallen person, or, if, I were wanting in homage and
service to you, I should then deserve to be abandoned without scruple by
you and by other Brahmanas at the same time.
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