Matsyapurana 142.58

142.58

satyaṃ japastapo dānaṃ pūrvadharmo ya ucyate
yadā dharmasya hrasate śākhādharmasya vardhate //

Truthfulness, meditation, asceticism and charity are the extant dharmas. When they decline, adharma becomes dominant. When to drive it away and make dharma revive, most valiant and longlived heroes take their births. They award just punishments, are great yogis, performers of sacrifices, Brahmavâdis have their eyes like lotuses, broad forehead and big faces, well formed limbs, lion like chests, strutting like elephants and highly powerful and virtuous. Thus in the Tretâyuga the chakravarti kings were great archers and endowed with all auspicious signs Their regal splendour and prowess extends far and wide like the branches of the banyan tree By Nyagrodha is meant arms, Vyâsa means the extent of the arms outstretched That is their growth and height measured as above Chakra (discus), chariots Queen, jewels, horses, elephants and gold formed their treasure and were counted as Ratnas (jewels) These gems were first attained at the end of Svāyambhuva Manu Emperors in the world in all the Manvantaras (past, present and future) are born with the parts of viṣṇu inherent in them They are extraordinarily endowed with power, dharma comfort and riches Emperors had a vast store of Artha, Dharma, Kāma, fame, and Victory without any of these going against another Thus the kings, endowed with power, defeated even the Ṛiṣis in their eight Siddhis, such as Aṇimâ, Laghima, etc, in their knowledge of the Sastras and in their asceticism They were endowed with divine marks and signs and they defeated the demons and human beings by their extraordinary strength They seemed to be very fortunate They were born with handsome forms bearing all the lucky signs according to palmistry, viz, fine lines on the forehead and fine tongue, sombre radiance of the teeth, long ears, hands touching the knees, shoulders like that of a bull and a lion, with their feet marked with quoits and fish and the hands with conches etc They lived up to 85 000 years and did not know the troubles of the old age, and had accesses to the heaven, oceans, lower regions and mountains Sacrifices, asceticism, charity and truthfulness were the four limbed dharmas of the Tretâ age and were, unscrupulously, observed by them—58 73