Chapter 18: Prithu Mahârâja Milks the Earth:
(1) Maitreya said: 'After mother earth thus had offered King Prithu prayers, his lips were still trembling of anger. She in fear then managed to come to her senses and spoke again: (2) 'Please pacify your anger o King, understand that what I said, I've said as someone who as an intelligent person, just like a bumblebee, gathers the essence from everywhere. (3) By the great sages who realized the truth methods were found and applied for the common people to have a better life in this world as well as the next. (4) For anyone who fully follows the principles that are traditionally taught to the inexperienced who live by their faith, it is very easy to enjoy what was aimed at. (5) He who in neglect [of the traditions] not knowing the facts engages on his own initiative, will in pursuing his goals see himself fail again and again. (6) O King, all the herbs and seeds that in the past were created by Lord Brahmâ and are cherished by me, we see now in the hands of irresponsible people who have no respect for the spiritual practice. (7) Not being taken care of and neglected by local rulers like your goodness, I have for this world that has fallen into thievery, hidden all the herbs and seeds that are needed for the offerings. (8) Because of being hidden within me for such a long time those herbs and seeds have deteriorated and thus your Majesty should take them out the way it is prescribed. (9-10) O hero, arrange for a calf of mine, from my affection for it I will, if you also arrange for a milking pot and a milkman, fulfill all your desires for milk for each of you. I will as well, o mighty-armed one, o protector of the living beings, provide for the food you wanted for feeding yourself, if you so desire. (11) You will also have to engage in leveling me, the earth, o King, so that the waters that fell from the sky by the mercy of the godhead, outside of the rainy season have not flown away o mighty one.'
(12) Thinking of the pleasing and good words of the earth, the king wisely set himself with a calf to the task and obtained thus milking, all grains and herbs. (13) Everywhere else other men of intelligence also took out the essence and likewise cared [for a calf] to milk from Prithu's planet earth whatever they wanted. (14) O good one, the sages milking the goddess with their senses [as the milking pot], produced, by dint of sage Brihaspati as the calf, milk in the pure form of Vedic hymns. (15) Producing from Indra, the king of heaven, as the calf, the godly milked into a golden pot the nectar of the milk of mental power and the strength of the body and the senses. (16) The sons of Diti, the enemies of God, produced with Prahlâda as the calf, with the most important [devotee] among the godless, the milk of fermented and distilled beverages in an iron pot. (17) The singers and denizens of heaven produced with him who was named Vis'vâvasu as the calf, into a vessel in the form of a lotus the milk of sweet music and beauty. (18) The most fortunate demigods responsible for the funeral rites, with great faith produced with Aryamâ from the realm of the ancestors the milk of the offerings of food into an unbaked earthen pot. (19) The perfected ones and the scholars and such [Vidyâdharas] appointing Kapila as the calf and with the ether [as the milking pot] produced the knowledge of proceeding at will with yogic mystic powers [siddhis]. (20) Others endowed with magical and mystical powers [the Kimpurushas] produced with Maya [a demon] as the calf and with concentration [or dhârana as the milking pot] the milk of the wondrous ability of making the body invisible. (21) The descendants of Kuvera, the demons, ghosts and witches [respectively the Yakshas, Râkshasas, Bhûtas and Pis'âcas] who are all habituated to eating meat, with Lord S'iva's incarnation Rudra [Bhûtanâtha] as the calf, milked out a beverage made of blood in a pot of skulls. (22) So also the snakes with and without hoods, the scorpions and the constrictor snakes, produced with Takshaka, their chief, as the calf, the milk of poison in the pot of the snake pit. (23-24) The four-legged creatures produced with the bull carrier of Lord S'iva [Nandi] as the calf from the green grasses their milk in the pot of the wilderness. The other sharp toothed animals, the predators, with the lion as their calf milked out the flesh of other beings and the birds with Garuda as their calf produced in the pot of their own body the milk of the moving [insects and worms] and nonmoving living beings [the plants and grasses]. (25) With the banyan tree as their calf the different trees produced milk in the form of their juices while the hills and mountains with the Himalayas as the calf produced the various minerals of their peaks. (26) With the leaders as the calves and with each his own specific milking pot thus from the planet Earth ruled by King Prithu the milk was produced of everything that one needed.
(27) O chief of the Kurus, milking the earth with the different calfs, pots and milkers, thus by Prithu and the others following his example, the milk was obtained of all the different forms of food needed to sustain the living entities. (28) King Prithu, being very pleased with all desirables produced as milk, full of affection thereafter treated the planet earth as if she was his own daughter. (29) The emperor, the mighty son of Vena, with the power of his bow had broken up all the hilltops of the entire earth and thus had leveled [cultivated] her almost completely. (30-31) And so the Supreme Lord present on this earth as the son of Vena was as a father to the citizens in employing them and preparing at different locations for numbers of suitable dwellings according to the need: villages, cities, settlements and forts of different kinds as also habitations for the milkmen, pens for livestock, camps, mines, agricultural towns and mountain hamlets. (32) Before Prithu there was on this earth certainly never this kind of planning of towns and villages; one used to live everywhere unrestricted as one liked.'
(12) Thinking of the pleasing and good words of the earth, the king wisely set himself with a calf to the task and obtained thus milking, all grains and herbs. (13) Everywhere else other men of intelligence also took out the essence and likewise cared [for a calf] to milk from Prithu's planet earth whatever they wanted. (14) O good one, the sages milking the goddess with their senses [as the milking pot], produced, by dint of sage Brihaspati as the calf, milk in the pure form of Vedic hymns. (15) Producing from Indra, the king of heaven, as the calf, the godly milked into a golden pot the nectar of the milk of mental power and the strength of the body and the senses. (16) The sons of Diti, the enemies of God, produced with Prahlâda as the calf, with the most important [devotee] among the godless, the milk of fermented and distilled beverages in an iron pot. (17) The singers and denizens of heaven produced with him who was named Vis'vâvasu as the calf, into a vessel in the form of a lotus the milk of sweet music and beauty. (18) The most fortunate demigods responsible for the funeral rites, with great faith produced with Aryamâ from the realm of the ancestors the milk of the offerings of food into an unbaked earthen pot. (19) The perfected ones and the scholars and such [Vidyâdharas] appointing Kapila as the calf and with the ether [as the milking pot] produced the knowledge of proceeding at will with yogic mystic powers [siddhis]. (20) Others endowed with magical and mystical powers [the Kimpurushas] produced with Maya [a demon] as the calf and with concentration [or dhârana as the milking pot] the milk of the wondrous ability of making the body invisible. (21) The descendants of Kuvera, the demons, ghosts and witches [respectively the Yakshas, Râkshasas, Bhûtas and Pis'âcas] who are all habituated to eating meat, with Lord S'iva's incarnation Rudra [Bhûtanâtha] as the calf, milked out a beverage made of blood in a pot of skulls. (22) So also the snakes with and without hoods, the scorpions and the constrictor snakes, produced with Takshaka, their chief, as the calf, the milk of poison in the pot of the snake pit. (23-24) The four-legged creatures produced with the bull carrier of Lord S'iva [Nandi] as the calf from the green grasses their milk in the pot of the wilderness. The other sharp toothed animals, the predators, with the lion as their calf milked out the flesh of other beings and the birds with Garuda as their calf produced in the pot of their own body the milk of the moving [insects and worms] and nonmoving living beings [the plants and grasses]. (25) With the banyan tree as their calf the different trees produced milk in the form of their juices while the hills and mountains with the Himalayas as the calf produced the various minerals of their peaks. (26) With the leaders as the calves and with each his own specific milking pot thus from the planet Earth ruled by King Prithu the milk was produced of everything that one needed.
(27) O chief of the Kurus, milking the earth with the different calfs, pots and milkers, thus by Prithu and the others following his example, the milk was obtained of all the different forms of food needed to sustain the living entities. (28) King Prithu, being very pleased with all desirables produced as milk, full of affection thereafter treated the planet earth as if she was his own daughter. (29) The emperor, the mighty son of Vena, with the power of his bow had broken up all the hilltops of the entire earth and thus had leveled [cultivated] her almost completely. (30-31) And so the Supreme Lord present on this earth as the son of Vena was as a father to the citizens in employing them and preparing at different locations for numbers of suitable dwellings according to the need: villages, cities, settlements and forts of different kinds as also habitations for the milkmen, pens for livestock, camps, mines, agricultural towns and mountain hamlets. (32) Before Prithu there was on this earth certainly never this kind of planning of towns and villages; one used to live everywhere unrestricted as one liked.'
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