CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.

On Penance and Expiation.

1. HIM, who intends to marry for the fake of having iffue; him, who wishes to make a facrifice; him, who travels; him, who has given all his wealth at a facred rite; him, who defires to maintain his preceptor, his father, or his mother; him, who needs a maintenance for himfelf, when he first reads the Véda; and him, who is afflicted with illness;

2.Thefe nine Bráhmens let mankind confider as virtuous mendicants, called fnátacas; and, to relieve their wants, let gifts of cattle or gold be prefented to them, in proportion to their learning:

3. To thefe most excellent Brábmens must ' rice alfo be given, with holy prefents at oblations to fire, and within the confecrated circle; but the dreffed rice, which others are to receive, must be delivered on the outfide of the facred hearth: gold and the like may be given any where.

4.

On fuch Bráhmens as well know the Véda, let the king bestow, as it becomes him, jewels ⚫ of all forts, and the folemn reward for officiating at the facrifice.

HE, who has a wife, and, having begged money to defray his nuptial expences, marries another woman, fhall have no advantage but fenfual enjoyment: the offspring belongs to the bestower of the gift.

6. LET every man, according to his ability, give wealth to Bráhmens detached from the world and learned in fcripture: fuch a giver 'fhall attain heaven after this life.

7. He alone is worthy to drink the juice of the moon-plant, who keeps a provifion of grain fufficient to fupply thofe, whom the law commands him to nourish, for the term of three. years or more ;

8. But a twice-born man, who keeps a lefs provifion of grain, yet prefumes to tafte the juice of the moon-plant, fhall gather no fruit from that facrament, even though he taste it at the firft, or folemn, much less at any occafional

ceremony.

9. HE, who beftows gifts on ftrangers, with a • view to worldly fame, while he fuffers his family to live in diftrefs, though he has power to fupport them, touches his lips with honey, but fwallows poifon; fuch virtue is counterfeit :

10. Even what he does for the fake of his future fpiritual body, to the injury of those whom he is bound to maintain, fhall bring him ultimate mifery both in this life and in the next. 11. SHOULD a facrifice, performed by any twice born facrificer, and by a Bráhmen efpecially, be imperfect from the want of fome ingredient, during the reign of a prince who knows the law,'

12. Let him take that article, for the completion

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pletion of the facrifice, from the houfe of any Vaifya, who poffeffes confiderable herds, but neither facrifices, nor drinks the juice of the • moon-plant:

13. If fuch a Vaifya be not near, he may take two or three fuch neceffary articles, at pleasure, from the houfe of a Sudra; fince a Sudia has no bufinefs with folemn rites.

14. Even from the houfe of a Brahmen or a Chatriya, who poffeffes a hundred cows, but has no confecrated fire, or a thousand cows, but performs no facrifice with the moon-plant, let a prieft, without fcruple, take the articles wanted. 15. From another Brahmen, who continually receives prefents but never gives, let him take 'fuch ingredients of the facrifice, if not beftowed on request: fo fhall his fame be fpread abroad, and his habits of virtue increase.

16. Thus, likewise, may a Brábmen, who has not eaten at the time of fix meals, or has fafted three whole days, take at the time of the feventh meal, or on the fourth morning, from the man who behaves bafely by not offering him food enough to fupply him till the morrow!

17. He may take it from the floor, where the grain is trodden out of the hufk, or from the field, or from the houfe, or from any place ‹ whatever; but, if the owner ask why he takes it, the caufe of the taking must be declared.

18. The wealth of a virtuous Brahmen must at no time be feized by a Chatriya; but, having no other means to complete a facrifice, he may take the goods of any man who acts wickedly, • and of any who performs not his religious duties: 19. He who takes property from the bad, for the purpose before-mentioned, and beftows it on the

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good,

good, transforms himself into a boat, and car ries both the good and the bad over a fea of ca

•lamities.

20. Wealth, poffeffed by men for the per formance of facrifices, the wife call the property of the gods; but the wealth of men, who perform no facrifice, they confider as the pro6 perty of demons.

21.

Let no pious king fine the man who takes by ftealth, or by force, what he wants to make a facrifice perfect; fince it is the king's folly, that caufes the hunger or wants of a Brahmen: 22. Having reckoned up the perfons, whom the Brákmen is obliged to fupport, having afcertained his divine knowledge and moral conduct, let the king allow him a fuitable maintenance from his own household;

23. And, having appointed him a mainte nance, let the king protect him on all fides; for he gains from the Brahmen whom he protects, a fixth part of the reward for his virtue.

24. LET no Brahmen ever beg a gift from a Súdra; for, if he perform a facrifice after such begging, he fhall, in the next life, be born a Chandala.

25. The Brahmen who begs any articles for a facrifice, and difpofes not of them all for that purpose, fhall become a kite or a crow for a • hundred years.

26. Any evil-hearted wretch, who, through covetoufnefs, fhall feize the property of the gods or of Brahmens, fhall feed in another world on the orts of vultures.'

27. THE facrifice Vaifwánari must be conftantly performed on the firft day of the new year, or on the new moon of Chaitra, as an

expiation

expiation for having omitted, through mere forgetfulness, the appointed facrifices of cattle and, the rites of the moon-plant:

28. But a twice born man, who, without neceffity, does an act allowed only in a cafe of neceffity, reaps no fruit from it hereafter: thus. has it been decided.

29. By the Vifwédévas, by the Sadhyas, and by eminent Rishis of the facerdotal clafs, the fubftitute was adopted for the principal act, when they were apprehenfive of dying in times of imminent peril;

30. But no reward is prepared in a future ftate for that ill-minded man, who, when able. to perform the principal facrifice, has recourfe " to the fubftitute.

31. A PRIEST, who well knows the law, needs not complain to the king of any grievous injury; fince, even by his own power, he may chaftife those who injure him:

32. His own power, which depends on himself alone, is mightier than the royal power, which depends on other men: by his own might, therefore, may a Brákmen coerce his foes.

33. He may ufe, without hefitation, the powerful charms revealed to AT'HARVAN, and by him to ANGIRAS; for fpeech is the weapon of a Brahmen: with that he may deftroy his oppreffors.

34. A foldier may avert danger from himself by the strength of his arm; a merchant and a mechanick, by their property; but the chief of the twice born, by holy texts and oblations to fire.

35. A prieft, who performs his duties, who justly corrects his children and pupils, who advises X 4 • expiations