СНАР. • reading must be discontinued, only while the phe

IV.

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nomenon 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 remnant 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

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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. Let him not read lolling on a couch, nor with his feet raised on a bench, nor with his thighs crossed,

crossed, nor having lately swallowed meat, or the CHAP.

' rice and other food given on the birth or death of 6 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 :

114. The dark lunar day destroys the spiritual 'teacher; the fourteenth destroys the learner; the eighth and the day of the full moon destroy all remembrance of scripture; for which reasons he must avoid reading on those lunar days.

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115. Let no Bráhmen read, while dust falls like a shower, nor while the quarters of the firmament are inflamed, nor while shakals yell, nor while dogs 'bark or yelp, nor while asses or camels bray, nor while men in company chatter.

116. He must not read near a cemetery, near a

town, or in a pasture for kine; nor in a mantle

worn before at a time of dalliance; nor having just received the present usual at obsequies:

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 Veda; for such a Bráhmen 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 terrours

IV.

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CHAP. 'from strange phenomena, let him know, that his lecture must be suspended till the due time after the cause of terrour be ceased.

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119. The suspension of reading scripture, after a performance of the upácarma and utserga, must be 'for three whole nights, by the man who seeks virtue more than knowledge; also for one day and night, on the eighth lunar days which follow those ceremonies, and on the nights at the close of the seasons. 120. Never let him read on horseback, nor on a tree, nor on an elephant, nor in a boat, nor on an ass, nor on a camel, nor standing on barren ground, nor borne in a carriage;

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121. Nor during a verbal altercation, nor during a mutual assault, nor with an army, nor in battle, nor after food, while his hand is moist from washing, nor with an indigestion, nor after vomiting, nor with 6 sour eructations;

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122.

Nor without notice to a guest just arrived, nor while the wind vehemently blows, nor when blood gushes from his body, nor when it is wounded by

a weapon.

123. While the strain of the Sáman meets his ear, he shall not read the Rich, or the Yajush; nor any part of the Veda, when he has just concluded the 'whole; nor any other part, when he has just finished the book entitled A'ranyaca :

124. · The Rigvéda is held sacred to the gods; the

Yajurvéda

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Yajurvéda relates to mankind; the Sámavéda con- CHAP. cerns the manes of ancestors, and the sound of it, when chanted, raises therefore a notion of something impure.

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125. Knowing this collection of rules, let the learned read the Véda on every lawful day, having first repeated in order the pure essence of the three Vedas, namely, the pranava, the vyáhritis, and the gáyatri.

126. If a beast used in agriculture, a frog, a cat, a dog, a snake, an ichneumon, or a rat, pass between the lecturer and his pupil, let him know, that the lecture must be intermitted for a day and a night.

127. Two occasions,

when the Veda must not be 'read, let a Bráhmen constantly observe with great care; namely, when the place for reading it is impure, and when he is himself unpurified.

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128. ON the dark night of the moon, and on the eighth, on the night of the full moon, and on the fourteenth, let let a Bráhmen, who keeps house, be continually chaste as a student in theology, even in 'the season of nuptial embraces.

129. Let him not bath e, having just eaten; nor while he is afflicted with disease; nor in the middle ' of the night; nor with many clothes; nor in a pool ' of water imperfectly known.

130.

Let him not intentionally pass over the shadow ' of sacred images, of a natural or spiritual father, of R 2 ' a king,

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CHAP. a king, of a Bráhmen, who keeps house, or of any reverend personage ; nor of a red-haired or coppercoloured man; nor of one who has just performed a 'sacrifice.

131. At noon or at midnight, or having eaten flesh at a sráddha, or in either of the twilights, let him

not long tarry, where four ways meet.

132. He must not stand knowingly near oil and ' other things, with which a man has rubbed his body,

or water, in which he has washed himself, or feces

' and urine, or blood, or mucus, or any thing chewed ' and spitten out, or any thing vomited.

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133. Let him show no particular attention to his enemy, or his enemy's friend, to an unjust person, to a thief, or to the wife of another man;

134. Since nothing is known in this world so ob'structive to length of days, as the culpable attention of a man to the wife of another.

135. Never let him, who desires an increase of

wealth, despise a warriour, a serpent, or a priest versed in scripture, how mean soever they may ap

pear;

136.

Since those three, when contemned, may destroy a man; let a wise man therefore always beware of treating those three with contempt: