II.

CHAP. 245. LET not a student, who knows his duty, present any gift to his preceptor before his return 'home; but when, by his tutor's permission, he is going to perform the ceremony on his return, let, him give the venerable man some valuable thing to the best of his power;

246. A field, or gold, a jewel, a cow, or a horse, an umbrella, a pair of sandals, a stool, corn, cloths, or even any very excellent vegetable: thus will he gain the affectionate remembrance of his instructor. 247. The student for life must, if his teacher die, 'attend on his virtuous son, or his widow, or on one of his paternal kinsmen, with the same respect which he showed to the living:

248. Should none of those be alive, he must oc

cupy the station of his preceptor, the seat, and the place of religious exercises; must continually pay due 'attention to the fires, which he had consecrated; and must prepare his own soul for heaven.

249. The twice-born man, who shall thus without 'intermission have passed the time of his studentship, shall ascend, after death, to the most exalted ' of regions, and no more again spring to birth in this lower world.

CHAP.

CHAP. III.

On Marriage; or on the Second Order.·

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1. THE discipline of a student in the three Védas CHAP.

may be continued for thirty-six years, in the house

of his preceptor; or for half that time, or for a quar

ter of it, or until he perfectly comprehend them :

2. A student, whose rules have not been violated, may assume the order of a married man, after he has read in succession a sác'há, or branch from each of the three, or from two, or from any one of them. 3. Being justly applauded for the strict performance of his duty, and having received from his natural or spiritual father the sacred gift of the Véda, let him • sit on an elegant bed, decked with a garland of flowers, and let his father honour him, before his nuptials, with a present of a cow.

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4. Let the twice-born man, having obtained the 'consent of his venerable guide, and having performed his ablution with stated ceremonies, on his return home, as the law directs, espouse a wife of the same class with himself and endued with the marks of 'excellence.

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5.

She, who is not descended from his paternal or maternal ancestors, within the sixth degree, and who is not known by her family name to be of the same ⚫ primitive

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III.

primitive stock with his father or mother, is eligible by a twice-born man for nuptials and holy union:

6. In connecting himself with a wife, let him stu'diously avoid the ten following families, be they ever so great, or ever so rich in kine, goats, sheep, gold ⚫ and grain:

7. The family which has omitted prescribed acts of ' religion; that which has produced no male children; that, in which the Véda has not been read; that, which

' has thick hair on the body; and those, which have 'been subject to hemorrhoids, to phthisis, to dyspepsia, to epilepsy, to leprosy, and to elephantiasis.

8. Let him not marry a girl with reddish hair, nor 6 with any deformed limb; nor one troubled with habi'tual sickness; nor one either with no hair or with too 'much; nor one immoderately talkative; nor one with inflamed eyes;

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9. Nor one with the name of a constellation, or of a tree, or of a river, of a barbarous nation, or of a mountain, of a winged creature, a snake, or a slave; nor with any name raising an image of terrour.

who

10. 'Let him chuse for his wife a girl, whose form has no defect; who has an agreeable name; 'walks gracefully like a phenicopteros, or like a young elephant; whose hair and teeth are moderate respectively in quantity and in size; whose body has exquisite softness.

11. Her, who has no brother, or whose father is

not well known, let no sensible man espouse, through CHAP.

fear lest, in the former case, her father should take

III.

‹ her first son as his own to perform his obsequies; or,

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in the second case, lest an illicit marriage should be contracted.

12. For the first marriage of the twice-born classes, a woman of the same class is recommended; but for such as are impelled by inclination to marry again,

women in the direct order of the classes are to be preferred:

13. A Súdrà woman only must be the wife of a Súdra; she and a Vaisyà, of a Vaisya; they two and a Cshatriyà, of a Cshatriya; those two and a • Bráhmenì of a Bráhmen.

14 A woman of the servile class is not mentioned, even in the recital of any ancient story, as the first ' wife of a Bráhmen or of a Cshatriya, though in the 'greatest difficulty to find a suitable match.

15. Men of the twice-born classes, who through < weakness of intellect, irregularly marry women of the lowest class, very soon degrade their families and progeny to the state of Súdras:

16. According to ATRI and to (GO'TAMA) the son of UTAT'HYA, he who thus marries a woman of the servile class, if he be a priest, is degraded instantly; according to SAUNACA, on the birth of a son, if he be a warriour; and, if he be a merchant, on the 'birth of a son's son, according to (me) BHRIGU.

17. A Bráhmen,

CHAP. 17. A Bráhmen, if he take a Súdrà to his bed, as

his first wife, sinks to the regions of torment; if he

beget a child by her, he loses even his priestly rank:

18. His sacrifices to the Gods, his oblations to the Manes, and his hospitable attentions to strangers, must be supplied principally by her; but the Gods and Manes will not eat such offerings; offerings; nor can heaven be attained by such hospitality.

19. For the crime of him, who thus illegally drinks 'the moisture of a Súdra's lips, who is tainted by her breath, and who even begets a child on her body, the law declares no expiation.

20. Now learn compendiously the eight forms of the nuptial ceremony, used by the four classes, some good and some bad in this world, and in the next :

21. The ceremony of BRAHMA', of the Dévas, of the Rishis, of the Prajapatis, of the Asuras, of the Gandharvas, and of the Racshases; the eighth and basest is that of the Pisáchas.

22. Which of them is permitted by law to each class and what are the good and bad properties of ' each ceremony, all this I will fully declare to you, together with the qualities, good and bad, of the offspring.

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23. Let mankind know, that the six first in direct order are by some held valid in the case of a priest; the four last, in that of a warriour; and the same 'four,