sages to be performed each day by such as keep

' house.

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70. Teaching and studying the scripture is the sa'crament of the Veda; offering cakes and water, the sacrament of the Manes; an oblation to fire, the sacrament of the Deities; giving rice or other food to living creatures, the sacrament of spirits; receiving guests with honour, the sacrament of men : 71. Whoever omits not those five great ceremonies, if he have ability to perform them, is untainted by the sins of the five slaughtering-places, even though he constantly reside at home;

72. But whoever cherishes not five orders of beings, namely, the deities; those, who demand hospitality; 'those, whom he ought by law to maintain; his departed forefathers; and himself; that man lives not even though he breathe.

73. Some call the five sacraments ahuta and huta, prahuta, bráhmya-huta and prásita :

74.

Ahuta, or unoffered, is divine study; huta, or offered, is the oblation to fire; prahuta, or well offered, is the food given to spirits; bráhmya-huta,

is respect shewn to twice-born guests; and prásita,

or well eaten, is the offering of rice or water to the manes of ancestors.

75. Let every man in this second order employ himself daily in reading the scripture, and in per

III.

'forming the sacrament of the Gods; for, being em- CHAP. ployed in the sacrament of deities, he supports this 'whole animal and vegetable world;

76. Since his oblation of clarified butter, duly cast into the flame, ascends in smoke to the sun; from the sun it falls in rain; from rain comes vegetable food; and from such food animals derive their subsistence.

77. As all creatures subsist by receiving support from air, thus all orders of men exist by receiving support from house-keepers;

78. And since men of the three other orders are each day nourished by them with divine learning and ' with food, a house-keeper is for this reason of the 'most eminent order:

79. That order, therefore, must be constantly sustained with great care by the man who seeks unperishable bliss in heaven, and in this world pleasurable sensations; an order which cannot be sustained by men with uncontrolled organs.

80. The divine sages, the manes, the gods, the spirits, and guests, pray for benefits to masters of 'families; let these honours, therefore, be done to 'them by the house-keeper who knows his duty:

81. Let him honour the Sages by studying the Veda: the Gods, by oblations to fire ordained by law; the Manes, by pious obsequies; men by supplying them with food; and spirits, by gifts to all animated creatures.

CHAP.

III.

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82. Each day let him perform a sráddha with boiled rice and the like, or with water, or with milk, roots, and fruit; for thus he obtains favour from departed progenitors.

83. He may entertain one Bráhmen in that sacrament among the five, which is performed for the Pitris; but, at the oblation to all the Gods, let him not invite even a single priest.

84. In his domestick fire for dressing the food of all the Gods, after the prescribed ceremony, let a · Bráhmen make an oblation each day to these following divinities;

85.

First to AGNI, god of fire, and to the lunar god, severally; then, to both of them at once; next to the assembled gods; and afterwards, to DHANWANTARI, god of medicine;

86. TO CUнU', goddess of the day, when the new moon is discernible; to ANUMATI, goddess of the day, after the opposition; to PRAJAPATI, or the Lord of Creatures; to DYA'VA' and PRITHIVI', goddesses of sky and earth; and lastly, to the fire of the good sacri'fice.

87. Having thus, with fixed attention, offered clarified butter in all quarters, proceeding from the east in a southern direction, to INDRA, YAMA, VARUNA, and the god SO'MA, let him offer his gift to animated

creatures:

88.

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Saying,

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88.

Saying,

"I salute the Maruts," or Winds, CHAP. let him throw dressed rice near the door; saying,

"I salute the water-gods," in water; and on his 'pestle and mortar, saying, "I salute the gods of large trees."

89. Let him do the like in the north-east, or near his pillow, to SRI', the goddess of abundance; in the south-west, or at the foot of his bed, to the propitious goddess BHADRACA'LI'; in the centre of his mansion, to BRAHMA' and his household god;

90. To all the Gods assembled, let him throw up ' his oblation in the open air; by day, to the spirits 'who walk in light; and by night, to those who walk in darkness:

91. In the building on his house-top, or behind his back, let him cast his oblation for the welfare ' of all creatures; and what remains let him give to the Pitris with his face toward the south:

92. The share of dogs, of outcasts, of dog-feeders, ' of sinful men, punished with elephantiasis or con'sumption, of crows, and of reptiles, let him drop on the ground by little and little.

93. A Bráhmen, who thus each day shall honour 'all beings, will go to the highest region in a straight path, in an irradiated form.

94.

When he has performed his duty of making ' oblations, let him cause his guest to take food be• fore

L

III.

CHAP.
III.

'fore himself; and let him give a portion of rice, as the law ordains, to the mendicant who studies the • Véda :

95.

Whatever fruit shall be obtained by that student, as the reward of his virtue, when he shall have given a cow to his preceptor, according to law, the like reward to virtue shall be obtained by the twiceborn house-keeper, when he has given a mouthful of rice to the religious mendicant.

96. To a Bráhmen who knows the true principle of the Veda, let him present a portion of rice, or a 'pot of water, garnished with fruit and flowers, due ceremonies having preceded :

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97. Shares of oblations to the Gods, or to the Manes, utterly perish, when presented, through de'lusion of mind, by men regardless of duty, to such ignorant Brahmens as are mere ashes;

98. But
But an

offering in the fire of a sacerdotal mouth, which richly blazes with true knowledge and 'piety, will release the giver from distress, and even from deadly sin.

99. To the guest who comes of his own accord, let him offer a seat and water, with such food as he is able to prepare, after the due rites of courtesy.

100. A Bráhmen coming as a guest, and not re 'ceived with just honour, takes to himself all the ' reward of the house-keeper's former virtue, even though he had been so temperate as to live on the • gleanings

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