78.

I.

• But from light, a change being effected, comes CHAP.

water with the quality of taste; and from water is

deposited earth with the quality of smell: such were

they created in the beginning.

4,320,000 human years

79. The before-mentioned age of the Gods, or

twelve thousand of their years, being multiplied by
seventy-one, constitutes what is here named a Men-
wantara, or the reign of a MENU.

306,720,000.

years

80. There are numberless Menwantaras; creations

also and destructions of worlds, innumerable: the
Being supremely exalted performs all this, with as
'much ease as if in sport; again and again, for the
sake of conferring happiness.

81. In the Crita age the Genius of truth and right,

in the form of a Bull, stands firm on his four feet
nor does any advantage accrue to men from iniquity;

6

82. But in the following ages, by reason of unjust

gains, he is deprived successively of one foot; and

even just emoluments, through the prevalence of

theft, falsehood, and fraud, are gradually diminished

by a fourth part.

83. Men, free from disease, attain all sorts of

prosperity, and live four hundred years in the Crita

age; but, in the Trétà and the succeeding ages, their

life is lessened gradually by one quarter.

84. The life of mortals, which is mentioned in the

Veda, the rewards of good works, and the powers

• of

CHAP. of embodied spirits, are fruits proportioned among

men to the order of the four ages.

I.

85. 6
Some duties are performed by good men in the

'Crita age; others, in the Trétà; some, in the Dwá-
para; others, in the Cali; in proportion as those
ages decrease in length.

6

86. In the Crita the prevailing virtue is declared

'to be in devotion; in the Trétà, divine knowledge; in

6

the Dwápara, holy sages call sacrifice the duty
chiefly performed; in the Cali, liberality alone.

87. For the sake of preserving this universe, the

Being, supremely glorious, allotted separate duties to
'those who sprang respectively from his mouth, his
arm, his thigh, and his foot.

6

6

88. To Bráhmens he assigned the duties of read-

ing the Veda, of teaching it, of sacrificing, of as-
sisting others to sacrifice, of giving alms, if they be
rich, and, if indigent, of receiving gifts:

89. To defend the people, to give alms, to sacri-
fice, to read the Veda, to shun the allurements of
'sensual gratification, are, in a few words, the duties
of a Cshatriya:

90. To keep herds of cattle, to bestow largesses,

to sacrifice, to read the scripture, to carry on trade,

to lend at interest, and 'to cultivate land are pre-

scribed or permitted to a Vaisya:

91. One

6

91. 'One principal duty the supreme Ruler assigns CHAP.

to a Súdra; namely, to serve the before-mentioned

' classes, without depreciating their worth.

92. Man is declared purer above the navel; but

'the self-creating Power declared the purest part of
him to be his mouth.

93. Since the Brahmen sprang from the most ex-

'cellent part, since he was the first born, and since
'he possesses the Veda, he is by right the chief of
'this whole creation.

94. Him, the Being, who exists of himself, pro-

duced in the beginning from his own mouth, that,
having performed holy rites, he might present cla-
'rified butter to the Gods, and cakes of rice to the
progenitors of mankind, for the preservation of this
' world :

95. What created being then can surpass Him,

' with whose mouth the Gods of the firmament con-
tinually feast on clarified butter, and the manes of
ancestors, on hallowed cakes?

96. Of created things, the most excellent are

'those which are animated; of the animated, those
' which subsist by intelligence; of the intelligent,
'mankind; and of men, the sacerdotal class;

97. Of priests, those eminent in learning; of the

'learned, those who know their duty; of those who

'know it, such as perform it virtuously; and of the

'virtuous,

I.

CHAP.

I.

virtuous, those who seek beatitude from a perfect 'acquaintance with scriptural doctrine.

98. The very birth of Bráhmens is a constant incarnation of DHERMA, God of Justice; for the Bráhmen is born to promote justice, and to procure ultimate happiness.

99. When a Bráhmen springs to light, he is born above the world, the chief of all creatures, assigned to guard the treasury of duties, religious and civil.

100. Whatever exists in the universe, is all in ' effect, though not in form, the wealth of the Bráhmen; since the Bráhmen is entitled to it all by his primogeniture and eminence of birth:

6

101. The Bráhmen eats but his own food; wears but his own apparel: and bestows but his own in 'alms through the benevolence of the Bráhmen, indeed, other mortals enjoy life.

102. To declare the sacerdotal duties, and those of the other classes in due order, the sage MENU, 6 sprung from the self-existing, promulged this code of laws:

103. A code which must be studied with extreme care by every learned Bráhmen, and fully explained to his disciples, but must be taught by no other man of an inferior class.

104. The Brahmen who studies this book, having

6

performed sacred rites, is perpetually free from of- CHAP. 'fence in thought, in word, and in deed;

105. He confers purity on his living family, on 'his ancestors, and on his descendants, as far as the seventh person; and He alone deserves to possess

6

this whole earth.

106. This most excellent code produces every thing auspicious; this code increases understanding; this • code procures fame and long life; this code leads

to supreme bliss.

107. In this book appears the system of law in ' its full extent, with the good and bad properties of human actions, and the immemorial customs of the four classes.

6

108. Immemorial custom is transcendent law, approved in the sacred scripture, and in the codes of divine legislators: let every man, therefore, of the three principal classes, who has a due reverence for the supreme spirit which dwells in him, diligently

' and constantly observe immemorial custom :

6

109. A man of the priestly, military, or commercial class, who deviates from immemorial usage,

tastes not the fruit of the Veda; but, by an exact 'observance of it, he gathers that fruit in perfection.

110. Thus have holy sages, well knowing that law is grounded on immemorial custom, embraced, as the root of all piety, good usages long established. 111. THE

D

I.