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137.

Of those two let mankind consider him as the CH AP. III. superiour, whose father had studied the scripture, yet 'for the sake of performing rites with holy texts, the other is worthy of honour.

138. Let no man, at the prescribed obsequies, give food to an intimate friend; since advantage to a friend must be procured by gifts of different property to 'that Bráhmen let the performer of a sráddha give food, whom he considers neither as a friend nor as ' a foe.

139. For him, whose obsequies and offerings of ' clarified butter are provided chiefly through friendship, no fruit is reserved in the next life, on account either of his obsequies or of his offerings.

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140. The man, who, through delusion of intellect, forms temporal connexions by obsequies, is excluded 'from heavenly mansions, as a giver of the sráddha 'for the sake of friendship, and the meanest of twiceborn men :

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141. Such a convivial present, by men of the three highest classes, is called the gift of Pisáchas, and ' remains fixed here below, like a blind cow in one 'stall.

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142. As a husbandman, having sown seed in a barren soil, reaps no grain, thus a performer of holy rites, having given clarified butter to an unlearned Bráhmen, attains no reward in heaven;

143. But a present made, as the law ordains, to a • learned

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learned theologian, renders both the giver and the receiver partakers of good fruits in this world and in the next.

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144. If no learned Bráhmen be at hand, he may at his pleasure invite a friend to the sráddha, but not a foe, be he ever so learned; since the oblation, being ' eaten by a foe, loses all fruit in the life to come. 145. With great care let him give food at the sráddha to a priest, who has gone through the scripture, but has chiefly studied the Rigvéda; to one, who has read all the branches, but principally those of the Yajush; or to one who has finished the whole, with particular attention to the Sáman :

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146. Of that man whose oblation has been eaten, after due honours, by any one of those three Bráh( mens, the ancestors are constantly satisfied as high

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as the seventh person, or to the sixth degree.

147. This is the chief rule in offering the sráddha to the gods and to ancestors; but the following may ⚫ be considered as a subsidiary rule, where no such 'learned priests can be found, and is ever observed by good men :

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148. Let him entertain his maternal grandfather, his maternal uncle, the son of his sister, the father of his wife, his spiritual guide, the son of his daughter, or her husband, his maternal cousin, his officiating priest, or the performer of his sacrifice.

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149. For an oblation to the gods, let not the man, 'who

III.

'who knows what is law, scrupulously inquire into the CHAP. ' parentage of a Bráhmen; but for a prepared oblation 'to ancestors let him examine it with strict care.

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150. Those Bráhmens, who have committed any inferiour theft or any of the higher crimes, who are deprived of virility, or who profess a disbelief in a 'future state, MENU has pronounced unworthy of honour at a sráddha to the gods or to ancestors.

151. To a student in theology, who has not read 'the Véda, to a man punished for past crimes by being 'born without a prepuce, to a gamester, and to such as perform many sacrifices for other men, let him never give food at the sacred obsequies.

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152. Physicians, image-worshippers for gain, sellers ' of meat, and such as live by low traffick, must be shunned in oblations both to the deities and to pro'genitors.

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153. A public servant of the whole town, or of the prince, a man with whitlows on his nails, or with 'black-yellow teeth, an opposer of his preceptor, a deserter of the sacred fire, and an usurer,

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154. A phthisical man, a feeder of cattle, one omitting the five great sacraments, a contemner of 'Bráhmens, a younger brother married before the elder, an elder brother not married before the younger, and a man who subsists by the wealth of many relations,

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155. A dancer, one who has violated the rule of chastity in the first or fourth order, the husband of a Súdrà,

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CHAP.

III.

Súdrà, the son of a twice-married woman, a man who ' has lost one eye, and a husband in whose house an 'adulterer dwells,

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156. One who teaches the Veda for wages, and one 'who gives wages to such a teacher, the pupil of a Súdra, and the Súdra preceptor, a rude speaker, and the son of an adulteress, born either before or after the ' death of the husband,

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157. A forsaker, without just cause, of his mother, 'father or preceptor, and a man who forms a connexion, either by scriptural or connubial affinity, with great 'sinners,

158. A house-burner, a giver of poison, an eater of 'food offered by the son of an adulteress, a seller of 'the moon-plant (a species of mountain-rue), a navigator

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of the ocean, a poetical encomiast, an oilman, and a suborner of perjury,

159. A wrangler with his father, an employer of 'gamesters for his own benefit, a drinker of intoxicating spirits, a man punished for sin with elephantiasis, one of evil repute, a cheat, and a seller of liquids,

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160. A maker of bows and arrows, the husband of a younger sister married before the elder of the whole

blood, an injurer of his friend, the keeper of a gaming-house, and a father instructed in the Véda by his

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161. An epileptick person, one who has the ery

sipelas

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III.

sipelas or the leprosy, a common informer, a luna- CHAP. tick, a blind man, and a despiser of scripture, must all be shunned.

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162. A tamer of elephants, bulls, horses, or camels, a man who subsists by astrology, a keeper of birds, and one who teaches the use of arms,

163.

He, who diverts watercourses, and he, who is gratified by obstructing them, he, who builds 'houses for gain, a messenger, and a planter of trees 'for pay,

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164. A breeder of sporting-dogs, a falconer, a seducer of damsels, a man delighting in mischief, a 'Bráhmen living as a Súdra, a sacrificer to the inferiour gods only,

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165. He, who observes not approved customs, and he, who regards not prescribed duties, a constant importunate asker of favours, he, who supports him'self by tillage, a clubfooted man, and one despised by the virtuous,

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166. A shepherd, a keeper of buffalos, the husband of a twice-married woman, and the remover of dead bodies for pay, are to be avoided with great care.

167. Those lowest of Bráhmens, whose manners are contemptible, who are not admissible into company at a repast, an exalted and learned priest must avoid at both sráddhas.

168. A Bráhmen unlearned in holy writ, is extin

guished

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