had confecrated; and must prepare his own

foul for heaven,

249.

'The twice born man, who fhall thus ' without intermiffion have paffed the time of his ftudentship, fhall afcend after death to the most exalted of regions, and no more again spring 6 to birth in this lower world.

CHAPTER THE THIRD.

On Marriage; or, on the Second Order.

1. THE discipline of a student in the three Védas be continued for thirty-fix years,

may

in the house of his preceptor; or for half that time, or for a quarter of it, or until he perfectly comprehend them:

2. A ftudent, whofe rules have not been

violated, may affume the order of a married

man, after he has read in fucceffion a sáchá, or branch, from each of the three, or from two, or from any one of them.

3. Being juftly applauded for the strict per⚫formance of his duty, and having received from ⚫ his natural or Spiritual father the facred gift of the Véda, let him fit 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.

4. Let the twice born man, having obtained the confent of his venerable guide, and having performed his ablution with ftated ceremo' nies on his return home, as the law directs,

efpoufe a wife of the fame class with himself • and endued with the marks of excellence..

5. She, who is not defcended from his paternal or maternal ancestors within the fixth degree, and who is not known by the family name "to be of the fame primitive flock 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 ftudiously avoid the ten following families, be they ever fo great, or ever fo rich in kine, goats, fheep, 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 thofe, which have been fubject to hemorrhoids, to phthifis, to dyspepfia, to epilepfy, to leprofy, and to elephantiafis.

8. Let him not marry a girl with reddish hair, nor with any deformed limb; nor one troubled withhabitual ficknefs; nor one either with no hair or with too much; nor one immoderately talkative; nor one with inflamed * eyes ;

9.

• Nor one with the name of a conftellation, * of a tree, or of a river, of a barbarous nation, or of a mountain, of a winged creature, a fnake, or a flave; nor one with any name raising and image of terrour.

10. Let him chufe for his wife a girl, whofe form has no defect; who has an agree• able name; who walks gracefully like a pheni

copteros or like a young elephant;/ whose hair and teeth are moderate respectively in quantity and in fize; whofe body has exquifite • foftness. ·

II. 'Her, who has no brother, or whose fa'ther is not well known, let no fenfible man

6

efpouse, through fear left, in the former cafe, < her father fhould take her firft fon as his own to perform his obfequies; or, in the fecond cafe, left an illicit marriage fhould be con'tracted.

12. For the first marriage of the twice born claffes a woman of the fame clafs is recom· mended; but for fuch, as are impelled by • inclination to marry again, women in the direct order of the claffes are to be preferred:

13. 'A Súdra woman only must be the wife of a Súdra; fhe and a Vaifyà, of a Vaifya; they two and a Chatriyá, of a Cshatriya; those two and a Brahmani, of a Bráhmen.

14 'A woman of the fervile clafs is not mentioned, even in the recital of any ancient

story, as the first wife of a Bráhmen or of a Csha

triya, though in the greatest difficulty to find a fuitable match.

15. Men of the twice born claffes, who,

through weakness of intellect, irregularly marry 'women of the lowest class, very foon degrade ⚫ their families and progeny to the state of Súdras? 16. According to ATRI and to (GO'TAMA) 'the fon of UTAT'HYA, he, who thus marries a ' woman of the fervile clafs, if he be a prieft, is degraded inftantly; according to SAUNACA, on the birth of a fon, if he be a warriour; and, if he be a merchant, on the birth of a fon's fon, according to (me) BHRIGU.

t

17. 'A Bráhmen, if he take a Súdra to his bed, as his first wife, finks to the regions of torment; if he beget a child by her, he loses even his priestly rank :

18. His facrifices to the Gods, his oblations 'to the Manes, and his hospitable attentions to ftrangers, must be supplied principally by her; but the Gods and Manes will not eat fuch offerings; nor can heaven be attained by fuch ' hofpitality.

19. For the crime of him, who thus illegally "drinks the moisture of a Sudra'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 claffes, fome good and fome bad in this world and in the next :