CHAP. from his table; nor clarified butter, of which part IV. has been offered to the gods; not let him in person give spiritual counsel to such a man, nor person ally inform him of the legal expiation for his sin: 81. Surely he, who declares the law to a servile man, and he, who instructs him in the mode of expiating sin, except by the intervention of a priest, 'sinks with that very man into the hell named Asamvrita. 82. Let him not stroke his head with both hands; nor let him even touch it, while food remains in his mouth; nor without bathing it, let him bathe • his body. 83. Let him not in anger lay hold of hair, or smite any one on the head; nor let him, after his head has been rubbed with oil, touch with oil any ' of his limbs. 84. From a king, not born in the military class, 'let him accept no gift, nor from such as keep a slaughter-house, or an oil-press, or put out a vintner's flag, or subsist by the gain of prostitutes : 6 6 85. One oil-press is as bad as ten slaughter-houses; one vintner's flag, as ten oil-presses; one prostitute, as ten vintner's flags; one such king, as ten pros⚫titutes; 86. With a slaughterer, therefore, who employs ten thousand slaughter-houses, a king, not a soldier 6 by birth, is declared to be on a level; and a gift CHAP. 6 from him is tremendous. 87. He, who receives a present from an avaricious king and a transgressor of the sacred ordinances, goes in succession to the following twenty-one hells: 88. 6 Támisra, Andhatámisra, Maháraurava, Raurava, Naraca, Cálasútra, and Mahánaraca; 89. Sanjivana, Mahavichi, Tapana, Sampratápana, 'Sanháta, Sacácóla, Cudmala, Pútimrittica; 6 90. Lóhasancu, or iron-spiked, and Rijisha, Pant'hána, the river Sálmali, Asipatravana, or the swordleaved forest, and Lóhángáraca, or the pit of red-hot charcoal, 91. Bráhmens, who know this law, who speak the ' words of the Veda, and who seek bliss after death, accept no gifts from a king. 92. LET the house-keeper wake in the time sacred 'to BRAHMI, the goddess of speech, that is, in the last watch of the night: let him then reflect on virtue 6 ' and virtuous emoluments, on the bodily labour, which they require, and on the whole meaning and very essence of the Véda. 93. Having risen, having done what nature makes necessary, having then purified himself and fixed his attention, let him stand a long time repeating the gayatri for the first or morning twilight; as he must, for the last or evening twilight in its proper time. IV. CHAP. IV. 6 6 94. By continued repetition of the gáyatrì, at the twilights, the holy sages acquire length of days, per'fect knowledge, reputation during life, fame after death, and celestial glory. 95. Having duly performed the upácarma, or do'mestick ceremony with sacred fire, at the full moon ' of Srávana, or of Bhádra, let the Bráhmen, fully exerting his intellectual powers, read the Védas during four months and one fortnight : 96. Under the lunar asterism Pushya, or on the 'first day of the bright half of Mágha, and in the 'first part of the day, let him perform, out of the town, the ceremony called the utserga of the Védas. 97. Having performed that ceremony out of town, as the law directs, let him desist from reading 'for one intermediate night winged with two days, or for that day and that following night only; 98. But after that intermission, let him attentively read the Védas in the bright fortnights; and in the ' dark fortnights let him constantly read all the Védángas. 99. He must never read the Véda without accents and letters well pronounced; nor ever in the pre sence of Súdras; nor, having bun to read it in the last watch of the night, must he, though fatigued, 'sleep again. IV. or holy texts, composed in regular measures; and, CHAP. ' when he is under no restraint, let him read both the Mantras and the Bráhmenas, or chapters on the 'attributes of God. 101. LET a reader of the Veda, and a teacher of it to his pupils, in the form prescribed, always avoid reading on the following prohibited days. 102. By night, when the wind meets his ear, and by day when the dust is collected, he must not read ' in the season of rain; since both those times are ' declared unfit for reading, by such as know when 'the Veda ought to be read. 103. ́ In lightning, thunder, and rain, or during the 'fall of large fireballs on all sides, at such times MENU has ordained the reading of scripture to be deferred till the same time next day. 104. When the priest perceives those accidents occurring at once, while his fires are kindled for morning and evening sacrifices, then let him know, that the Véda must not be read; and when clouds are seen gathered out of season. 105. On the occasion of a preternatural sound from 'the sky, of an earthquake, or an obscuration of the heavenly bodies, even in due season, let him know, 'that his reading must be postponed till the proper 'time: 106. But if, while his fires are blazing, the sound of lightning and thunder is heard without rain, his reading CHAP. IV. 6 reading must be discontinued, only while the phenomenon lasts; the remaining event, or rain also, happening, it must cease for a night and a day. 107. The reading of such, as wish to attain the 'excellent reward of virtue, must continually be suspended in towns and in cities, and always where an 'offensive smell prevails. 108. In a district, through which a corpse is carried, and in the presence of an unjust person, the reading of scripture must cease; and while the sound of weeping is heard; and in a promiscuous assembly of men. 109. In water, near midnight, and while the two 'natural excretions are made, or with a remuant of food in the mouth, or when the sráddha has recently 'been eaten, let no man even meditate in his heart on the holy texts. 110. A learned Bráhmen, having received an invi'tation to the obsequies of a single ancestor, must not read the Véda for three days; nor when the king has a son born; nor when the dragon's head causes an eclipse. 111. As long as the scent and unctuosity of per'fumes remain on the body of a learned priest, who has partaken of an entertainment, so long he must abstain from pronouncing the texts of the Véda. 112. 6 |