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CHAP. inherited from ancestors, and one enslaved by way ⚫ of punishment on his inability to pay a large fine.

VIII.

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416. • Three persons, a wife, a son, and a slave, are declared by law to have in general no wealth 'exclusively their own: the wealth, which they may earn, is regularly acquired for the man, to whom they belong.

417. A Bráhmen may seize without hesitation, if he be distressed for a subsistence, the goods of his Súdra-slave; for, as that slave can have no property, his master may take his goods.

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418. With vigilant care should the king exert him'self in compelling merchants and mechanicks to perform their respective duties; for, when such men swerve from their duty, they throw this world into 'confusion.

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419. Day by day must the king, though engaged in forensick business, consider the great objects of publick measures, and inquire into the state of his carriages, elephants, horses, and cars, his constant revenues and necessary expences, his mines of pre'cious metals or gems, and his treasury:

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420. Thus, bringing to a conclusion all these weighty affairs, and removing from his realm and from himself every taint of sin, a king reaches the supreme path of beatitude.'

CHAP..

CHAP. IX.

On the same; and on the Commercial and Servile Classes.

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IX.

1. I Now will propound the immemorial duties of CHAP man and woman, who must both remain firm in the legal path, whether united or separated.

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2. Day and night must women be held by their protectors in a state of dependence; but in lawful and innocent recreations, though rather addicted to them, they may be left at their own disposal.

3. Their fathers protect them in childhood; 'their husbands protect them in youth; their sons protect them in age: a woman is never fit for independence.

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4. Reprehensible is the father, who gives not his daughter in marriage at the proper time; and the husband, who approaches not his wife in due season; reprehensible also is the son, who protects not his 'mother after the death of her lord.

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5. Women must, above all, be restrained from the ⚫ smallest illicit gratification; for, not being thus re'strained, they bring sorrow on both families:

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Let husbands consider this as the supreme law ordained for all classes; and let them, how weak

soever,

CHAP.

IX.

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soever, diligently keep their wives under lawful re'strictions;

7. For he who preserves his wife from vice, preserves his offspring from suspicion of bastardy, his 'ancient usages from neglect, his family from disgrace, ' himself from anguish, and his duty from violation.

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8. The husband, after conception by his wife, becomes himself an embryo, and is born a second 'time here below; for which reason the wife is called jáyá, since by her (jáyaté) he is born again:

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9. Now the wife brings forth a son endued with 'similar qualities to those of the father; so that, 'with a view to an excellent offspring, he must vigilantly guard his wife.

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10. No man, indeed, can wholly restrain women by violent measures; but, by these expedients, they may be restrained :

11. Let the husband keep his wife employed in 'the collection and expenditure of wealth, in purifi'cation and female duty, in the preparation of daily food, and the superintendence of household utensils.

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12. By confinement at home, even under affec'tionate and observant guardians, they are not secure; but those women are truly secure, who are guarded by their own good inclinations.

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13. 6

Drinking spirituous liquor, associating with

· evil

' evil persons, absence from her husband, rambling CHAP.

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abroad, unseasonable sleep, and dwelling in the 'house of another, are six faults which bring infamy on a married woman:

14. Such women examine not beauty, nor pay attention to age; whether their lover be handsome or ugly, they think it is enough that he is a man, and pursue their pleasures.

15. Through their passion for men, their mutable temper, their want of settled affection, and their perverse nature (let them be guarded in this world ever so well), they soon become alienated from their ⚫ husbands.

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16. Yet should their husbands be diligently careful in guarding them; though they well know the disposition, with which the lord of creation formed them:

17. MENU allotted to such women a love of their bed, of their seat, and of ornamn, impure appe'tites, wrath, weak flexibility, desire of mischief, ' and bad conduct.

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18. Women have no business with the texts of the Veda; thus is the law fully settled: having, therefore, no evidence of law, and no knowledge of expiatory texts, sinful women must be as foul as falsehood itself; and this is a fixed rule.

19. To this effect

many texts, which may show

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their

IX.

CHAP. their true disposition, are chanted in the Vedas: hear now their expiation for sin.

IX.

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20.

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"That pure blood, which my mother defiled by adulterous desire, frequenting the houses of other men, and violating her duty to her lord, that blood

may my father purify!" Such is the tenour of the holy text, which her son, who knows her guilt, must pronounce for her ;

21. And this expiation has been declared for every unbecoming thought, which enters her mind, concerning infidelity to her husband; since that is the beginning of adultery.

22. Whatever be the qualities of the man, with 'whom a woman is united by lawful marriage, such qualities even she assumes; like a river united with the sea.

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23. ACSHAMA'LA',

a woman of the lowest birth, 'being thus united to VASISHT'HA, and SA'RANGI, being united to MANDAPA'LA, were entitled to very high

'honour :

24. These, and other females of low birth, have ' attained eminence in this world by the respective good qualities of their lords.

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25. Thus has the law, ever pure, been propounded for the civil conduct of men and women: hear, next,

the laws concerning children, by obedience to which

may happiness be attained in this and the future • life.

26. WHEN

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