152.

The recitation of holy texts, and the • facrifice ordained by the lord of creatures, are used in marriages for the fake of procuring good fortune to brides; but the first gift, or troth plighted, by the husband is the primary cause and origin of marital do• minion.

153. When the husband has performed the nuptial rites with texts of the Véda, he gives blifs continually to his wife here below, both • in season and out of season; and he will give her happiness in the next world.

154. Though inobfervant of approved ufages, or enamoured of another woman, or • devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must conftantly be revered as a god by a virtuous • wife.

155. 'No facrifice is allowed to women apart from their hufbands, no religious rite, no fasting as far only as a wife honours her lord, fo far fhe is exalted in heaven.

156. A faithful wife, who wishes to attain in heaven the manfion of her husband, muft 'do nothing unkind to him, be he living or • dead:

157.

Let her emaciate her body, by living voluntarily on pure flowers, roots, and fruit; but let her not, when her lord is de

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'ceafed, even pronounce the name of another

man.

158. Let her continue till death forgiving all injuries, performing harsh duties, avoiding every fenfual pleasure, and cheerfully practising 'the incomparable rules of virtue, which have 'been followed by such women, as were devoted 'to one only husband.

159. Many thousands of Brákmens, having • avoided sensuality from their early youth, and having left no iffue in their families, have af'cended, nevertheless, to heaven;

160. And, like thofe abftemious men, a vir'tuous wife ascends to heaven, though the have no child, if, after the decease of her lord, fhe ⚫ devote herself to pious aufterity:

161. But a widow, who, from a wish to 'bear children, flights her deceased husband by marrying again, brings difgrace on herself here ' below, and shall be excluded from the feat of her lord.

162. Iffue, begotten on a woman by any other than her bufband, is here declared to be ' no progeny of hers; no more than a child, begotten on the wife of another man, belongs to

the begetter: nor is a fecond husband allowed,

in any part of this code, to a virtuous woman.

163. She, who neglects her former (púrva)

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lord, though of a lower class, and takes another (para) of a higher, becomes defpicable in this ' world, and is called parapúrva, or one who had a different bufband before.

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164. A married woman, who violates the duty, which fhe owes to her lord, brings infamy on herself in this life, and, in the next, 'fhall enter the womb of a shakal, or be af'flicted with elephantiafis, and other diseases which punish crimes;

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165.

While fhe, who flights not her lord,

but keeps her mind, fpeech, and body, devoted

to him, attains his heavenly mansion, and by ' good men is called fádhvi, or virtuous.

166. Yes; by this course of life it is, that a 'woman, whofe mind, fpeech, and body are kept in fubjection, acquires high renown in this world, and, in the next, the fame abode • with her husband.

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167. A twiceborn man, verfed in facred ordinances, muft burn, with hallowed fire and fit implements of facrifice, his wife dying before, him, if she was of his own clafs, and lived by thefe rules:

168.

Having thus kindled facred fires, and performed funeral rites to his wife, who died 'before him, he may again marry, and again light the nuptial fire.

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169. Let him not cease to perform day by day according to the preceding rules, the five

great facraments; and, having taken a lawful

confort, let him dwell in his house during the fecond period of his life.

CHAPTER THE SIXTH.

On Devotion; or on the Third and Fourth Orders.

I.

HAVING thus remained in the order

' of a housekeeper, as the law ordains, let the twiceborn man, who had before completed his studentship, dwell in a foreft, his faith being 'firm and his organs wholly fubdued.

2. • When the father of a family perceives his muscles become flaccid and his hair gray, and fees the child of his child, let him then ⚫ seek refuge in a forest:

3. ' Abandoning all food eaten in towns, and all his household utenfils, let him repair to the lonely wood, committing the care of his wife 'to her fons, or accompanied by her, if fhe chufe 'to attend him.

4. 'Let him take up his confecrated fire, and ⚫ all his domestick implements of making obla'tions to it, and, departing from the town to 'the foreft, let him dwell in it with complete power over his organs of fenfe and of action.