prescribed for certain occasions, is no injury at all; for the sacred law shone forth from the Veda.

45. He who injures innoxious beings from a wish to (give) himself pleasure, never finds happiness, neither living nor dead.

46. He who does not seek to cause the sufferings of bonds and death to living creatures, (but) desires the good of all (beings), obtains endless bliss.

47. He who does not injure any (creature), attains without an effort what he thinks of, what he undertakes, and what he fixes his mind on.

48. Meat can never be obtained without injury to living creatures, and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to (the attainment of) heavenly bliss; let him therefore shun (the use of) meat.

49. Having well considered the (disgusting) origin of flesh and the (cruelty of) fettering and slaying corporeal beings, let him entirely abstain from eating flesh.

50. He who, disregarding the rule (given above), does not eat meat like a Pisâka, becomes dear to men, and will not be tormented by diseases.

51. He who permits (the slaughter of an animal), he who cuts it up, he who kills it, he who buys or sells (meat), he who cooks it, he who serves it up, and he who eats it, (must all be considered as) the slayers (of the animal).

52. There is no greater sinner than that (man) who, though not worshipping the gods or the manes, seeks to increase (the bulk of) his own flesh by the flesh of other (beings).

46. The latter part of the verse may also be translated 'will obtain endless bliss, because he is a man who desires the good of all creatures' (Gov.).

53. He who during a hundred years annually offers a horse-sacrifice, and he who entirely abstains from meat, obtain the same reward for their meritorious (conduct).

54. By subsisting on pure fruit and roots, and by eating food fit for ascetics (in the forest), one does not gain (so great) a reward as by entirely avoiding (the use of) flesh.

55. Me he (mâm sah)' will devour in the next (world), whose flesh I eat in this (life); the wise declare this (to be) the real meaning of the word 'flesh' (mâmsah).

56. There is no sin in eating meat, in (drinking) spirituous liquor, and in carnal intercourse, for that is the natural way of created beings, but abstention brings great rewards.

57. I will now in due order explain the purification for the dead and the purification of things as they are prescribed for the four castes (varna).

58. When (a child) dies that has teethed, or that before teething has received (the sacrament of) the tonsure (Kûdâkarana) or (of the initiation), all relatives (become) impure, and on the birth (of a child) the same (rule) is prescribed.

54. Munyannâni, 'food fit for ascetics (in the forest),' i.e. wild rice and other produce of the forest.'

56. There is no sin,' i. e. in doing these things when they are permitted by law.

58–1o4. Âp. I, 15, 18; II, 15, 2–II; Gaut. XIV; Vas.IV, 16–37; Baudh. I, 11, 1-8, 17-23, 27-32; Vi. XXII; Yâgn. III, 1–30.

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58. Medh. and Gov. explain anugâte, translated freely by before teething,' as the conventional designation of a child that is younger than one that has teethed' (gâtadantâd bâlatara iti smaranti), and Nâr. and Râgh. agree to this interpretation. Kull., however, seems to take it in the sense of after teething,' and Nand. explains it as 'one who has been born again, i.e. has been initiated.' Gov.,

59. It is ordained (that) among Sapindas the impurity on account of a death (shall last) ten days, (or) until the bones have been collected, (or) three days or one day only.

60. But the Sapinda-relationship ceases with the seventh person (in the ascending and descending lines), the Samânodaka-relationship when the (common) origin and the (existence of a common family)name are no (longer) known.

61. As this impurity on account of a death is prescribed for (all) Sapindas, even so it shall be (held) on a birth by those who desire to be absolutely pure.

62. (Or while) the impurity on account of a death is common to all (Sapindas), that caused by a birth (falls) on the parents alone; (or) it shall fall on the mother alone, and the father shall become pure by bathing;

Nâr., Kull., and Râgh. think that on account of the second ka, ‘or,' the words of the initiation' must be understood.

59. The bones of a Brâhmana are collected on the fourth day; see Vi. XIX, 10. The commentators are of opinion that the length of the period of impurity depends, in accordance with the express teaching of other Smritis, on the status of the mourner, and that a man who knows the Mantras only of one Sâkhâ shall be impure during four days, one who knows a whole Sâkhâ (or two Vedas) during three days, one who knows the Veda (or three Vedas) and keeps three or five sacred fires, during one day. Medh., however, mentions another interpretation, according to which the four periods correspond to the four ages of the deceased, which have been mentioned in the preceding verse. According to this view the Sapindas shall mourn for an initiated person ten days, for one who had received the tonsure four days, &c. But see verse 67.

61-62. Medh. and Gov. have only one verse instead of the two ganane 'py evam syân mâtâpitros tu sûtakam sûtakam mâtur eva syâd upasprisya pitâ sukih Even thus it shall be (held) on a birth, or the impurity shall fall on the parents alone

63. But a man, having spent his strength, is purified merely by bathing; after begetting a child (on a remarried female), he shall retain the impurity during three days.

64. Those who have touched a corpse are purified after one day and night (added to) three periods of three days; those who give libations of water, after three days.

65. A pupil who performs the Pitrimedha for his deceased teacher, becomes also pure after ten days, just like those who carry the corpse out (to the burial-ground).

66. (A woman) is purified on a miscarriage in as many (days and) nights as months (elapsed after conception), and a menstruating female becomes pure by bathing after the menstrual secretion has ceased (to flow).

or it shall fall on the mother alone, and the father (shall become) pure by bathing.' Nand. leaves out the first half of verse 61, and combines the second half of 61 with the first half of 62. He continues in this manner down to 65, the second half of which he takes by itself. Hence his interpretation of the following verses is perfectly useless.

63. The translation given above follows Gov., Kull., Nâr., and Râgh. Medh. differs.

64. According to Gov. and Nâr. the rule refers to such Brahmanas who for money carry a dead body to the cemetery; according to Kull. and Râgh. to Sapindas who in any way touch a corpse out of affection. Medh. thinks that it applies to all who touch or carry out a dead body, be it for love or for money. Râgh. thinks that the text mentions three alternative periods of impurity, one day, three days, and ten days.

65. The Pitrimedha, i.e. the Antyeshi (Medh., Gov., Kull., Râgh.), or the whole of the obsequies' ('others,' Medh.).

66. Thus according to Kull.; Nâr. and Râgh. think that this rule refers to miscarriages which happen during the first six months of pregnancy; and that from the seventh month, whether the child

67. (On the death) of children whose tonsure (Kûdâkarman) has not been performed, the (Sapindas) are declared to become pure in one (day and) night; (on the death) of those who have received the tonsure (but not the initiation, the law) ordains (that) the purification (takes place) after three days.

68. A child that has died before the completion of its second year, the relatives shall carry out (of the village), decked (with flowers, and bury it) in pure ground, without collecting the bones (afterwards).

69. Such (a child) shall not be burnt with fire, and no libations of water shall be offered to it; leaving it like a (log of) wood in the forest, (the relatives) shall remain impure during three days only.

70. The relatives shall not offer libations to (a child) that has not reached the third year; but if it had teeth, or the ceremony of naming it (Nâmakarman) had been performed, (the offering of water is) optional.

71. If a fellow-student has died, the Smriti prescribes an impurity of one day; on a birth the purification of the Samânodakas is declared (to take place) after three (days and) nights.

72. (On the death) of females (betrothed but) not married (the bridegroom and his) relatives are purified after three days, and the paternal relatives become pure according to the same rule.

lives or not, the full period of impurity must be kept. Nâr., moreover, asserts that in the first and second months the impurity shall last three days. Sâdhvî, 'becomes pure,' i.e. 'fit to perform sacred rites' (Gov.). Nâr. takes the word in the sense of 'chaste.'

67. Nand. inserts verse 78 immediately after verse 66.

72. According to the same rule,' i. e. 'according to that given in verse 67 (Medh., Gov., Nand.), or just as the husband's relatives, i. e. after three days' (Kull., Nâr., Râgh.).