70. "Teaching and studying the scripture is the sacrament of the Véda; offering cakes and water, the sacrament of the Manes; an oblation to fire the sacrament of the Deities; 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."

Very full and definite rules are declared for the various sacraments and oblations to be performed by householders and hospitality is strictly enjoined.

105. "No guest must be dismissed in the evening by a house-keeper, he is sent by the retiring sun; and, whether he came in fit season or unseasonably, he must not sojourn in the house without entertainment.

106. "Let not himself eat any delicate food, without asking his guest to partake of it: the satisfaction of a guest will assuredly bring the house-keeper wealth, reputation, long life, and a place in heaven."

The performance of oblations to deceased ancestors is treated as a matter of great importance, and rules are given as to the guests to be invited and excluded and places and manner in which the sráddha is to be performed. The kinds of food to be provided, the manner of serving and the precedence to be accorded to the different guests are stated in detail, and the salutations to be made to the guests at the conclusion are given.

278. "As the latter or dark half of the month surpasses, for the celebration of obsequies, the former or bright half, so the latter half of the day surpasses for the same purpose, the former half of it.

279. "The oblation to ancestors must be duly made, even to the conclusion of it with the distribution to the servants, (or even to the close of life), in the form prescribed, by a Brahman wearing his thread on his right shoulder, proceeding from left to right, without remissness, and with cusa-grass in his hand.

280. "Obsequies must not be performed by night; since the night is called ráchasì, or infested by demons; nor while the sun is rising or setting, nor when it has just arisen.

281. "A house-keeper unable to give a monthly repast, may perform obsequies here below, according to the sacred ordinance, only thrice a year, in the seasons of hémanta, grishma, and vershà; but the five sacramenta he must perform daily.

282. "The sacrificial oblation at obsequies to ancestors, is ordained to be made in no vulgar fire; nor should the monthly sráddha of that

Brahman, who keeps a perpetual fire, be made on any day, except on that of the conjunction.

283. When a twice-born man, having performed his ablution, offers

a satisfaction to the Manes with water only, being unable to give a

repast, he gains by that offering all the fruit of a sráddha.

Chapter four is entitled, "On Economics; and Private Morals."

1. "Let a Brahman, having dwelt with a preceptor during the first quarter of a man's life, pass the second quarter of human life in his own house, when he has contracted a legal marriage.

2. "He must live with no injury, or with the least possible injury to animated beings, by pursuing those means of gaining subsistence, which are strictly prescribed by law, except in times of distress.

3. "For the sole purpose of supporting life, let him acquire property by those irreproachable occupations, which are peculiar to his class, and unattended with bodily pain.

4. "He may live by rita and amrita, or, if necessary, by mrita, or pramrita, or even by satyánrita; but never let him subsist by swavritti: 5. "By rita must be understood lawful gleaning and gathering by amrita, what is given unasked; by mrita, what is asked as alms; tillage is called pramrita;

6. "Traffic and money-lending are satyánrita; even by them when he is deeply distressed, may he support life; but service for hire is named swavritti, or dog-living, and of course he must by all means avoid it.

II. "Let him never for the sake of a subsistence, have recourse to popular conversation; let him live by the conduct of a priest, neither crooked, nor artful, nor blended with the manners of the mercantile class. 12. “Let him, if he seek hapiness, be firm in perfect content, and check all desire of acquiring more than he possesses; for hapiness has its root in content, and discontent is the root of misery."

He is enjoined to perform his daily duties without sloth, avoiding sensual gratification, and reading the holy books.

29. "Let him take care, to the utmost of his power, that no guest sojourn in his house unhonoured with a seat, with food, with a bed, with water, with esculent roots, and with fruit:

30. "But, let him not honour with his conversation such as do forbidden acts; such as subsist like cats, by interested craft; such as believe not the scripture; such as oppugn it by sophisms or such as live like rapacious water-birds.

33. A priest who is master of a family, and pines with hunger, may seek wealth from a king of the military class, from a sacrificer, or his own pupil, but from no person else, unless all other helps fail: thus will he show his respect for the law.

34. "Let no priest, who keeps house, and is able to procure food,

ever waste himself with hunger; nor, when he has any substance, let him wear old or sordid clothes.

35. "His hair, nails, and beard being clipped; his passions subdued; his mantle, white, his body pure; let him diligently occupy himself in reading the Véda, and be constantly intent on such acts, as may be salutary to him.

37. "He must not gaze on the sun, whether rising or setting, or eclipsed, or reflected in water, or advanced to the middle of the sky. 38. "Over a string, to which a calf is tied, let him not step; nor let him run while it rains; nor let him look on his own image in water: this is a settled rule.

39. "By a mound of earth, by a cow, by an idol, by a Brahman, by a pot of clarified butter, or of honey, by a place where four ways meet, and by large trees well known in the district, let him pass with his right hand toward them.

43. Let him neither eat with his wife nor look at her eating, or sneezing, or yawning, or sitting carelessly at her ease."

Many other rules of personal conduct are given which appear quite whimsical.

66. "Let him not use either slippers or clothes, or a sacerdotal string, or an ornament, or a garland, or a waterpot, which before have been used by another.

76. "Let him take his food, having sprinkled his feet with water, but never let him sleep with his feet wet: he, who takes his food with his feet so sprinkled, will attain long life.

77. Let him never advance into a place undistinguishable by his eye, or not easily passable: never let him look at urine or ordure; nor let him pass a river swimming with his arms.

78. "Let not a man, who desires to enjoy long life, stand upon hair, nor upon ashes, bones, nor potsherds, nor upon seeds of cotton, nor upon husks of grain.

79. "Nor let him tarry even under the shade of the same tree with outcasts for great crimes, nor with Chandálas, nor with Puccasas, nor with idiots, nor with men proud of wealth, nor with washermen and other vile persons, nor with Antyavasayins.

80. "Let him not give even temporal advice to a Súdra; nor, except to his own servant, what remains from his table; nor clarified butter, of which part has been offered to the gods; nor let him in person give spiritual counsel to such a man, nor personally inform him of the legal expiation for his sin:

84. "From a king, not born in the military class, let him accept no gift, nor from such as keep a slaughterhouse, or an oil press, or put out a vintner's flag, or subsist by the gain of prostitutes:

85. "One oil-press is as bad as ten slaughter-houses; one vintners flag,

as ten oil-presses; one prostitute as ten vintners flags; one such king as ten prostitutes;

86. "With a slaughterer, therefore, who employs ten thousand slaughterhouses, a king, not a soldier by birth, is declared to be on a level; and a gift 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:

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 Véda ought to be read.

103. "In lightning, thunder and rain, or during the fall of large fireballs on all sides, at such times Manu 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.

III. "As long as the scent and unctuosity of perfumes 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. "Let him not read lolling on a couch, nor with his feet raised on a bench, nor with his thighs crossed, nor having lately swallowed meat, or the rice and other food on the birth or death of a relation;

113. "Nor in a cloud of dust, nor while arrows whiz, or a lute sounds, nor in either of the twilights, nor at the conjunction, nor on the fourteenth day, nor at the opposition, nor on the eighth day, of the moon:

117. "Be it an animal, or a thing inanimate, or whatever be the gift at a sráddha, let him not, having lately accepted it, read the Véda; for such a Brahman is said to have his mouth in his hand.

118. "When the town is beset by robbers, or an alarm has been raised by fire, and in all terrors from strange phenomena, let him know that his lecture must be suspended till the due time after the cause of terror be ceased."

Other times and circumstances are mentioned which render it incumbent on the Brahman to abstain from or suspend reading the Véda.

135. "Never let him who desires an increase of wealth, despise a warrior, a serpent, or a priest versed in scripture, how mean soever they may appear;

136. "Since those three when contemmed, may destroy a man; let a wise man therefore always beware of treating those three with contempt, 137. "Nor should he despise even himself on account of previous mis

carriages: let him pursue fortune till death, nor ever think her hard to be attained.

138. "Let him say what is true, but let him say what is pleasing; let him speak no disagreeable truth, nor let him speak agreeable falsehood: this is a primeval rule.

139. "Let him say, "well and good," or let him say, "well," only; but let him not maintain fruitless enmity and altercation with any man.

140. "Let him not journey too early in the morning or too late in the evening, nor too near the mid-day, nor with an unknown companion, nor alone, nor with men of the servile class.

141. "Let him not insult those, who want a limb, or have a limb redundant, who are unlearned, who are advanced in age, who have no beauty, who have no wealth, or who are of an ignoble race.

142. "Let no priest, unwashed after food, touch with his hand a cow, a Brahman, or fire; nor being in good health and unpurified, let him even look at the luminaries in the firmament:

143. "But, having accidentally touched them before his purification, let him ever sprinkle with water, in the palm of his hand, his organs of sensation, all his limbs, and his navel.

159. "Whatever act depends on another man, that act let him carefully shun; but whatever depends on himself, to that let him studiously attend: 160. "All, that depends on another, gives pain; and all, that depends on himself, gives pleasure; let him know this to be in few words the definition of pleasure and pain.

161. "When an act, neither prescribed nor prohibited, gratifies the mind of him who performs it, let him perform it with diligence; but let him avoid its opposite.

162. "Him, by whom he was invested with the sacrificial thread, him, who explained the Véda or even a part of it, his mother, and his father, natural or spiritual, let him never oppose; nor priests nor cows, nor persons truly devout."

The following rules of conduct may well be learned and observed by all men.

171. "Though oppressed by penury, in consequence of his righteous dealings, let him never give his mind to unrighteousness; for he may observe the speedy overthrow of iniquitous and sinful men.

172. "Iniquity, committed in this world, produces not fruit immediately, but, like the earth, in due season; and, advancing by little and little, it eradicates the man who committed it.

173. "Yes, iniquity, once committed, fails not of producing fruit to him, who wrought it; if not in his own person, yet in his sons; or, if not in his sons, yet in his grandsons.

174. "He grows rich for a while through unrighteousness; then he