It is heard in the Puranas that formerly mankind were self-controlled, that they valued virtue greatly, that the practices they followed for livelihood were all agreeable to propriety and the injunctions laid down in the scriptures; and that the only punishment that was necessary for chastising them when they did wrong was merely the deprecation of their deeds.
कृतपूर्वं तु महान् श्रूयन्ते हि पुराणेषु प्रजा धिग्दण्डशासनाः। दान्ता धर्मप्रधानाश्च न्यायधर्मानुवृत्तिकाः॥