Note 80 — THE KING AND HIS FOUR MINISTERS.
Edward Rehatsek translation
The Pandit remarks that this kind of statement often occurs in stories in proof of the just reign of a monarch. The Hindú idea is, that so long as justice and equity characterised a king’s rule, even beasts naturally inimical were disposed to live in friendship. When timely rain fails or famine stalks through the land, turning his eyes from the natural causes, the orthodox Hindú will say that such a king is now reigning over them unjustly, and hence the calamity.