CHAP. III. birds to eat what remains, or cast it into water or 'fire. 262. Let a lawful wife, ever dutiful to her lord, ' and constantly honouring his ancestors, eat the mid'dlemost of the three cakes, or that offered to his · paternal grandfather, with due ceremonies, praying 'for offspring : 263. So may she bring forth a son, who will be long-lived, famed, and strong-minded, wealthy, having numerous descendants, endued with the best of qualities, and performing all duties religious and civil. 264. THEN, THEN, having washed both his hands and sipped water, let him prepare some rice for his paternal kinsmen; and, having given it them with due reverence, let him prepare food also for his maternal relations. 265. Let the residue continue in its place, until the Bráhmens have been dismissed; and then let him perform the remaining domestick sacraments. 266. WHAT sort of oblations, given duly to the manes, are capable of satisfying them, for a long time or for eternity, I will now declare without. omis'sion. 6 267. The ancestors of men are satisfied a whole ' month with tila, rice, barley, black lentils or vetches, water, roots, and fruit, given with prescribed cere'monies; 268.. Two III. 268. Two months, with fish; three months, with CHAP. venison; four, with mutton; five, with the flesh of 'such birds, as the twice-born may eat; 269. 'Six months, with the flesh of kids; seven, with that of spotted deer; eight, with that of the deer, or antelope, called éna; nine with that of the ruru : 270. Ten months are they satisfied with the flesh of wild boars and wild buffalos; eleven, with that "of rabbits or hares, and of tortoises; 271. A whole year with the milk of cows, and food made of that milk; from the flesh of the long-eared white goat, their satisfaction endures twelve years. 272. The potherb cálasáca, the fish mahásalca, or the diodon, the flesh of a rhinoceros, or of an iron'coloured kid, honey, and all such forest grains as are eaten by hermits, are formed for their satisfac-. tion without end. 6 273. Whatever pure food, mixed with honey, a man offers on the thirteenth day of the moon, in the 'season of rain, and under the lunar asterism Maghà, has likewise a ceaseless duration. 274. "Oh! may that man, say the manes, be born in our line, who may give us milky food, with honey and pure butter, both on the thirteenth of the moon, and when the shadow of an elephant falls to the east!" 275. Whatever a man, endued with strong faith, piously III. CHAP. piously offers, as the law has directed, becomes a perpetual unperishable gratification to his ancestors in 'the other world: 276. The tenth and so forth, except the fourteenth, in the dark half of the month, are the lunar days most approved for sacred obsequies: as they are, so are not the others. 277. He, who does honour to the manes, on even lunar days, and under even lunar stations, enjoys all 'his desires; on odd lunar days, and under odd lunar asterisms, he procures an illustrious race. 6 6 6 278. 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 distribu'tion to the servants (or even to the close of life), in the form prescribed, by a Bráhmen 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 rácshasì, or infested by demons; nor while the sun is rising or setting, nor when it has just risen. 281. A house-keeper, unable to give a monthly repast, may perform obsequies here below, according to to the sacred ordinance, only thrice a year, in the CHAP. seasons of hémanta, grishma, and vershà; but the III. 'five sacraments he must perform daily. 6 282. The sacrificial oblation at obsequies to ances tors, is ordained to be made in no vulgar fire; nor 'should the monthly sráddha of that Bráhmen, who keeps a perpetual fire, be made on any day, except on that of the conjunction. 6 6 283. 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. 284. The wise call our fathers, Vasus; our paternal grandfathers, Rudras; our paternal great grandfathers, Adityas (that is, all are to be revered as deities); and to this effect there is a primeval text in the • Véda. 6 6 6 285. Let a man, who is able, continually feed on vighasa, and continually feed on amrita: by vighasa is meant the residue of a repast at obsequies; and by amrita, the residue of a sacrifice to the gods. 286. THIS Complete system of rules, for the five sacraments and the like, has been declared to you: now hear the law for those means of subsistence, which the chief of the twice-born may seek. CHAP. CHAP. IV. On Economicks; and Private Morals. СНАР. IV. 6 6 6 1. LET a Bráhmen, 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: 6 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. Traffick and money-lending are satyánrita; even living, and of course he must by all means avoid it. |