III.

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

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,

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,

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

CHAP.

III.

guished in an instant like a fire of dry grass: to him 'the oblation must not be given; for the clarified but'ter must not be poured on ashes.

169. WHAT retribution is prepared in the next life for the giver of food to men inadmissible into company, at the sráddha to the gods and to ancestors, 'I will now declare without omission.

170. On that food, which has been given to Bráhmens who have violated the rules of their order, to the younger brother married before the elder, and to the rest who are not admissible into company, 'the Racshases eagerly feast.

171.. He, who makes a marriage-contract with the 'connubial fire, while his elder brother continues un'married, is called a perivéttri; and the elder brother a perivitti:

172. The perivéttrì, the perivitti, the damsel thus wedded, the giver of her in wedlock, and, fifthly, the performer of the nuptial sacrifice, all sink to ' a region of torment.

173.

He, who lasciviously dallies with the widow of his deceased brother, though she be legally married to him, is denominated the husband of a didhishú.

174.

Two sons, named a cunda and a gólaca, are 'born in adultery; the cunda, while the husband is

alive, and the gólaca, when the husband is dead:

" 175. Those

175. Those animals begotten by adulterers, destroy, CHAP. ⚫ both in this world and in the next, the food pre- III.

'sented to them by such as make oblations to the

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gods or to the manes.

176. The foolish giver of a sráddha loses, in a future life, the fruit of as many admissible guests, as

a thief or the like person, inadmissible into company, might be able to see.

177. A blind man placed where one with eyes might have seen, destroys the reward of ninety; he, who has lost one eye, of sixty; a leper, of an hundred; one punished with elephantiasis, of a thou• sand.

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178. Of the gift at a sráddha, to as many Bráhmens, as a sacrificer for a Súdra might be able to touch on the body, the fruit is lost to the giver, if he invite such a wretch;

179. And if a Bráhmen who knows the

Véda,

' receive through covetousness a present from such a 'sacrificer, he speedily sinks to perdition, like a figure of unburnt clay in water.

180. Food given to a seller of the moon-plant, becomes ordure in another world; to a physician pu'rulent blood; and the giver will be a reptile bred in them; if offered to an image-worshipper, it is 'thrown away; if to an usurer, infamous.

181. That which is given to a trader, endures

'neither

III.

CHAP. neither in this life nor in the next, and that bestow'ed on a Bráhmen, who has married a widow, resem'bles clarified butter poured on ashes as an oblation 'to fire.

182. That food, which is given to other base, ' inadmissible men, before mentioned, the wise have pronounced to be no more than animal oil, blood, flesh, skin, and bones.

183. Now learn comprehensively, by what Bráhmens a company may be purified, when it has been • defiled by inadmissible persons; Bráhmens, the chief of their class, the purifiers of every assembly.

184. Those priests must be considered as the puri'fiers of a company who are most learned in all the Védas and in all their Angas, together with their 'descendants who have read the whole scripture:

185. A priest learned in a principal part of the Yajurveda; one who keeps the five fires constantly burning; one skilled in a principal part of the Rigvéda; one who explains the six Védángas; the son ' of a Bráhmì, or woman married by the Bráhma ceremony; and one who chants the principal Sáman ;

186. One who propounds the sense of the Védas, 'which he learnt from his preceptor, a student who has given a thousand cows for pious uses, and a 'Bráhmen a hundred years old, must all be considered as the purifiers of a party at a sráddha.

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187. On the day before the sacred obsequies, or on CHAP. 'the very day when they are prepared, let the performer of them invite, with due honour, such Bráhmens as have been mentioned; usually one superiour, 'who has three inferiour to him.

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188. The Bráhmen, who has been invited to a sráddha for departed ancestors, must be continually abstemious; he must not even read the Védas; and he, who performs the ceremony, must act in the

same manner.

189.

Departed ancestors, no doubt, are attendant on such invited Bráhmens; hovering around them like pure spirits, and sitting by them, when they are seated. 190. The priest, who having been duly invited to a

· sráddha, breaks the appointment, commits a grievous 'offence, and, in his next birth, becomes a hog.

191. He, who caresses a Súdrà woman, after he has ⚫ been invited to sacred obsequies, takes on himself all the sin, that has been committed by the giver of the repast.

192. The Pitris or great progenitors, are free from wrath, intent on purity, ever exempt from sensual passions, endued with exalted qualities: they are pri'meval divinities, who have laid arms aside.

193. Hear now completely, from whom they sprang; who they are; by whom, and by what ceremonies they are to be honoured.

194. The sons of MARICHI and of all the other Rishis

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