The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 12.63.29

12.63.29

sarve tyāgā rājadharmeṣu dṛṣṭāḥ sarvā dīkṣā rājadharmeṣu coktāḥ |
sarve yogā rājadharmeṣu coktāḥ sarve lokā rājadharmānpraviṣṭāḥ || 29 ||

Inasmuch, however, as they can adopt it if they choose, this mode of life, therefore, is open to the four orders. Amongst men, the highest duties are those which are practised by Kshatriyas. The whole world is subject to the might of their arms. All the duties, principal and subordinate, of the three other orders, are dependent (for their observance) upon the duties of the Kshatriya. The Vedas have declared this. Know that as the footprints of all other animals are engulfed in those of the elephant, even so all the duties of the other orders, under every circumstance, are engulfed, in those of the Kshatriya. Men conversant with the scriptures say that the duties of the other three orders afford small relief or protection, and produce small rewards. The learned have said that the duties of the Kshatriya afford great relief and produce great rewards. All duties have kingly duties for their foremost. All the orders are protected by them. Every kind of renunciation occurs in kingly duties, O monarch, and renunciation has been said to be in eternal virtue and the foremost of all. If the science of chastisement disappears, the Vedas will disappear. All those scriptures also that inculcate the duties of men become lost. Indeed, if these ancient duties belonging to the Kshatriyas be abandoned, all the duties in respect of all the modes of life, become lost. All kinds of renunciation are seen in kingly duties: all kinds or initiation occur in them;

all kinds of learning are connected with them; and all kinds of worldly behaviour enter into them. As animals, if slaughtered by the vulgar, become the means of destroying the virtue and the religious acts of the slaughterers, even so all other duties, if deprived of the protection given by kingly duties, become liable to attack and destruction, and men, full of anxiety, disregard the practices laid down for them.'"