Again, I greet with a sincere heart the malevolent class, who are hostile without purpose even to the friendly, to whom others’ loss is their own gain, and who delight in others’ desolation and wail over their prosperity. They try to eclipse the glory of Viƒ˜u and Ýiva even as the demon RŒhu intercepts the light of the full moon (during what is known as the lunar eclipse); and they are valiant like the reputed king SahasrabŒhu others’ woe. They detect others’ faults as if with a thousand eyes and their (designing) mind mars others’ interests even as a fly spoils clarified butter. In splendour they emulate the god of fire and in anger they vie with the god of death, who rides a buffalo. They are rich in crime and vice as Kubera, the god of riches, is in gold. Like the rise of a comet their advancement augurs ill for others’ interests; like the slumber of Kumbhakar˜a† their decline alone is propitious for the world. They lay down their very life in order to be able to harm others, even as hail-stones dissolve after destroying the crop. I reverence a wicked soul as the fiery (thousand-tongued) serpent-god Ýeƒa, in so far as he eagerly expatiates on others’ faults with a thousand tongues as it were. Again, I bow to him as the celebrated king P¾thu (who prayed for ten thousand ears in order to be able to hear the glories of the Lord to his heart’s content) inasmuch as he hears of others’ faults with the thousand ears as it were. Once more do I supplicate to him as Indra (the lord of celestials) in so far as wine appears charming and beneficial to him (even as the army of gods is beneficent to Indra). ‡ Harsh Ianguage is dear to him even as the thunderbolt is fondly cherished by Indra; and he detects others’ faults with a thousand eyes as it were. (1—6)