Classic Poem

Though the world, as fine as sugarcane syrup and no less wonderful
than the world of the Nagas, was theirs, it did not pass on with them
but went to others, though they were foreign kings who struggled for it.
You should give away flowers and gold and sanctify your gifts with water
so that the moistened hands of Brahmins who come to you in need
are filled. You should drink pure toddy filtered through fiber
and served in golden vessels by richly ornamented women
and you should get yourself drunk and give away treasures
to those coming to you in need! So you ought to live through the days
allotted for you in this world. You will have no other boat
when drowning but your good deeds as your source of life!
You kings who ride in chariots with banners, you who own
the white umbrellas of victory, enthroned in your beauty
which is like the three fires of the twice-born Brahmins
who have subdued their senses through one-pointed will!
What I have said is all that I know. May you live your days in splendor!
May they be loftier than the stars that rise and move
through the sky, more numerous than raindrops from a dark thundering cloud!