Chapter 4: On Economics and Private Morals

1. LET a Brahmen, 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, tp 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 rlta and amrlta , or, if necessary, by mrlta, or pramrita , or even by satydnrlta ; but never let him subsist by swavrltti :

5. ‘ By rlta , must be understood lawful gleaning and gathering; by amrlta , what is given unasked ; by mrlta , what is asked as alms ; tillage is called pramrita ;

6. * Traffic and moneylending are satyanrlta ; 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.

7. ‘ He may either store up grain for thifce years ; or garner up enough for one yeat ; or collect what may last three days ; or make no provision for the morrow.

8. * Of the four Brdhmens keeping house, who follow those four different modes, a preference is given to the last in order successively; as to him, who most completely by virtue has vanquished the world:

9. ‘ One of them subsists tty all the six means of livelihood ; another by three of them ; a* third, by two only ^ and a fourth lives barely on continually teaching the Veda , AND PRIVATE MORALS. 73

10. * He, who sustain® himself by picking up grains and ears, must attach himself to some altar of consecrated fire, but constantly gerform those rites only, which end with the dark and bright fortnights and with the solstices. 1 1. * 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 happiness, be firm in perfect content, and check all desire of acquiring mor t than he possesses ; for happiness has its root in content, and discontent is the root of misery,

13. * A Brdhmen keeping house, and supporting himself by any of the legal means before mentioned, must discharge these following duties, which conduce to fame, length of life, ancf beatitude.

14. ‘ Let him daily without sloth perform his peculiar duty, which the Veda prescribes ; for he, who performs that duty , as w£ll as he is able, attains the highest path to supreme bliss.

15. ‘ He must not gain wealth by music or dancingf or by any art that pleases the sense ; nor by any prohibited art ; nor, whether he be rich or poor, must he receive gifts indiscriminately.

16. ‘ Let him not, from a selfish appetite, be strongly addicted to any sensual gratification ; let him, by improving his intellect, studiously preclude an excessive attachment to such pleasures, even though lawful ’

17. ‘All kinds of wealth, that may impede his reading the V/da , let him wholly abandon, persisting by all means in the study of scripture ; for that will be found his most beneficial attainment.

18. ‘ Let him pass through this life, bringing his apparel, his discourse, and his 'frame of mind, to a conformity with his age, his occupations, his property, his divine knowledge, and his family. %ig . ‘Each day let him examine those holy books, which soon give increase of wisdom ; and these, which teach the means of acquiring wealth ; those, which are salutary to life ; and those nigamasy which are explanatory of the Vtda ;

20. * Since, as far as a man studies completely the system ON ECONOMICS; of sacred literature, so far only carl he become eminently learned, and so far may his learning shine brightly.

21. ‘The sacramental oblations to sages, to the gods, spirits, to men, and to his ancestors, let him constantly perform to the best of his power.

22. 4 Some, who well know the ordinances for those oblations, perform not always externally the five great sacraments, but continually make offerings in their own organs of sensation and intellect :

23. 4 Some constantly sacrifice their breath in their speech, when they instruct others, or praise Go D aloud , and their speech in their breath, when they meditate in silence ; perceiving in their speech and breath thus employed the unperishable fruit of a sacrificial offering :

24. * Other Brdhmens incessantly perform those sacrifices with scriptural knowledge only ; seeing with the eye of divine learning, that scriptural knowledge is the root of every ceremonial observance.

25. ‘Let a Brdhmen perpetually make oblations to consecrated fire, at the. beginning and end of day and night, and at the close of each fortnight, or at the conjunction and opposition :

26. 4 At the season, when old grain is usually consumed* let him offer new grain for a plentiful harvest ; and at the close of the season, let him perform the rites called adbvara ; at the solstices let him sacrifice cattle ; at the end of the year, let his oblations be made with the juice of the moonplant :

27. 4 Not having offered grain for the harvest, nor cattle at the time of the solstice, let no Brdhmen, whof keeps hallowed fire, and wishes for long life, taste rice or flesh ; T 2&. ‘ Since the holy fires, nbt being honored with new grain and with a sacrifice of cattle, are greedy for rice and flesh, and seek to devour his vital spirits* ,

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

30. 4 But, let him not honor with his conversation such as do AND PRIVATE MORALS. forbidden acts ; $uch as subsist, like eats, by interested craft ; such, as believe not the scripture ; $uch as oppugn it by sophisms ; or ^uch as live like rapacious waterbirds.

31. * With oblations to the gods and to ancestors, let him do reverence to Brdhmens of the second order, who are learned in theology, who have returned home frpm their preceptors, after having performed their religious duties and fully studied the Vida ; but men of an opposite description let him avoid.

32. ‘ Gifts must be made by each house-keeper, as far as he has ability, to religious mendicants, though heterodox ; and a just portion must be reserved, without inconvenience to his family, for all sentient beings, animal and vegetable .

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 sacrifice^ or his own pupil, but from no person else, unless all other helps fail: thus will he shew 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 VMa, and be constantly intent on such acts, as may be salutary to him. 3& ‘ Let him carry a staff of Vhiu , an ewer with water in it, a handful of cusa-gr ass, or a copy of the VMa ; with a pair of bright golden rings in his ears.

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 witter : this is a settled rule.

39. ‘ By a mound of earth, by a cow, by an idol, by a Brdhmen , by a pot of clarified butter, or of honey, by a place where four ways meet, and by large trees well known 1A the district, let him pass with his right hand toward them, 7 6 ON ECONOMICS ;

40. * Let him not, though mad with desire, approach his wife, when her courses appear ; nor let him then sleep with her in the same bed ; '

41. * Since the knowledge, the manhood, the strength, the eyesight, even the vital spirit, of him, who approaches his wife thus defiled, utterly perish ;

42. ‘But the knowledge, the manhood, the strength, the sight, and the life of him, who avoids her in that state of defilement, are greatly increased.

43. 4 Let him neither eat with his wife, nor look at her eating, or sneezing, or yawning, or sitting carelessly at her ease ;

44. 4 Nor let a Brdhmen , who desires manly strength, behold her setting off her eyes with black powder, or scenting herself with essences, or baring her bosom, or bringing forth a child.

45. 4 Let him not cat his food, wearing only a single cloth ; nor let him bathe quite naked ; nor let him eject urine or feces in the highway, nor on ashes, nor where kine are grazing.

46. 4 Nor on tilled ground, nor in water, nor on wood raised for burning, nor, unless he he in great need> on a mountain, nor on the ruins of a temple, nor at any time on a nest of white ants.

47. 4 Nor in ditches with living creatures in them, nor walking, nor standing, nor on the bank of a river, nor on the summit of a mountain :

48. 4 Nor let him ever eject them, looking at things moved by the wind, or at fire, or at a priest, or at the sun, or at water, or at cattle ;

49. 4 But let him void his excrements, having covered the earth with wood, potherbs, dry leaves and grass, or the like, carefully suppressing his utterance, wrapping upt his breast and his head :

50. 4 By day let him void them with his face to the north ; by night, with his face to the south ; at sunrise and sunset, in the same manner as by day ;

51. 4 In the shade or in darkness, whether by day or by night, let a Brdhmen ease nature with his face turned as he pleases ; and in places whether he fears* injury to life from wild beasts or from reptiles . AND PRIVATE MORALS.

52. ‘Of him, who should urine against fire, against the sun or the moon, against a twice-born man, a cow, or the wind, all the ^Stored knowledge would perish.

53. ‘Let him not blow the fire with his mouth ; let him not see his wife naked ; let him not throw any foul thing into fire ; nor let him warm his feet ii>it ;

54. ‘ Nor let him place it in a chasing dish under his bed ; nor let him stride over it ; nor let him keep it, while he sleeps , at his feet : let him do nothing, that may be injurious to life.

55. ‘At the time of sunrise or sunset, let him not eat, nor travel, nor lie down to rest; let him not idly draw lines on the ground ; nor let him take off his own chaplet of flowers.

56. ‘ Let him not cast into water cither urine of ordure, nor saliva, nor cloth, or any other thing, soiled with impurity, nor blood, nor any kinds of poison.

57. ‘Let him not sleep alone in an empty house; nor let him wake a sleeping man superior to himself in wealth and in learning ; nor let him speak to a woman at the time of her courses ; nor let him go to perform a sacrifice, unattended by an officiating priest,

58. ‘In a temple of consecrated jire> in the pasture of kine, in the presence of Brdhmens , in reading the VMay and in eating his food, let him hold out his right arm uncovered.

59. ‘ Let him not interrupt a cow while she is drinking, nor give notice to any, whose milk or water she drinks ; nor let him, who knows right from wrong , and sees in the sky the bow of Indra, show it to any man.

60. ‘ Let him n(*t inhabit a town, in which civil and religious duties are neglected ; nor, for a long time, one in which diseases are frequent : let him not begin a journey alone : let him not reside long on a mountain.

61. ‘ Let him not dwell in a city governed by a Sudra king, nor in one surrounded with men unobservant of their duties, nor in one abounding with professed heretics, nor in one swarming with lowborn outcasts.

62. ‘Let him ’eat no vegetable, from which the oil has been ON ECONOMICS ; extracted; nor indulge his appetite to satiety ; nor eat either too early or too late ; nor take any food in the evening, if he have eaten to fulness in the morning. *

63. * Let him make no vain corporeal exertion : let him not sip water taken up with his closed fingers : let him cat nothing placed in his lap: let him never take gleasure in asking idle questions.

64. ‘ Let him neither dance nor sing, nor play on musical instruments, except in religious rites ; nor let him strike his arm, or gnash his teeth, or make a braying noise, though agitated by passion.

65. ‘ Let him not wash his feet in a pan of mixed yellow metal : nor let him eat from a broken dish, nor where his mind is disturbed with anxious apprehensions.

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.

67. * With untrained beasts of burden let him not travel ; nor with such, as are oppressed by hunger or by disease ; nor with such as have imperfect horns, eyes, or hoofs ; nor with such as have ragged tails :

68. * But let him constantly travel with beasts well trained, whose pace is quick, who bear all the marks of a good breed, who have an agreeable colour, and a beautiful form ; giving them very little pain with his whip.

69. * The sun in the sign of Canyh, the smoke of a burning corpse, and a broken seat, must be shunned : he must never cut his own hair and nails, nor ever tear his nails with his teeth.

70. 'Let him not break mould or cli.y without cause : let him not cut grass with his nails ; let him neither indulge any vain fancy, nor do any act, that can bring no future advantage :

71. * He, who thus idly breaks clay, or cuts grass, or bites his nails, will speedily sink to ruin ; and so shall a detractor, and an unclean person.

72. 1 Let him use no contumelious phrase : let him wear no garland except on his, hair : to ride on the back of a bull or cow, is in all modes culpable. AND PRIVATE MORALS . 73- 4 Let Him not pads ; otherwise than by the gate, Into a walled town, or an inclosed house ; and by night let him keep of from the roots of trees. 74* 4 Never let him play with dic,e : let him not put off his sandals with his hand : let him not eat, while he reclines on a bed, nor what is placed in his hand, or on a bench ;

75. 4 Nor, when the sun is set, let him eat any thing mixed with tila ; nor let him ever in this world sleep quite naked ; nor let him go any whither with a remnant of food in his mouth.

76. 4 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. 4 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. 4 Let not a man, who desires to enjoy long life, stand upon hair, nor upon ashes, bones, or potsherds, nor upon feeds of cotton, nor upon husks of grain.

79. 4 Nor let him tarry even under the shade of the same tree with outcasts for great crimes, nor with Chanddlps, nor with Puccasas, nor with idiots, nor with men proud of wealth, nor with •Washermen and other vile persons, nor with A ntyavasdyins.

80. 4 Let him not give even temporal advice to a Sudra ; 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 :

81. 4 Surely he, who declares the law to a servile man, and he, who instructs him ini the mode of expiating sin except by the intervention of a priest , sinks with that very man into the hell named Asamvrlta . 8^. 4 Let him not stroke his head with both hands ; nor let him even touch it, while food remains in his mouth ; nor without but king it, let him bathe his body.

83. 4 Let him not in anger lay'hold of hair, or smite any one on the head ; nor tet him, after his head has been rubbed with oil, touoh with oil any of his limbs. So ON ECONOMICS; 84 ‘ From a king, not born in' the military class, let him accept no gift, nor from such as keep a slaughterhouse or an oilpress, or put out a vintner’s flag, or subsist by the gain of prostitutes.:

85. ‘One oilpress is as bad as ten slaughterhouses; one vintner’s flag, as ten oppresses ; one prostitute, as ten vintners flag , one such king, as ten prostitutes ;

86. ‘ With a slaughterer, therefore, who employs ten thousand slaughterhouse, a king, not a soldier by birth, is declared to be on a level \ 'and 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 :

88. f 4 Tdmisra, Andhatdmisra , Mahdraurava, Raurava, , Na+ raca , Cdlasutra, and Mahdnarca ;

89. ‘ Sanjivana , Mahavlchi , Tapa7ici , Sampratdpana , Sanhata , Sacacola , Cudmala, , Putimrtttica .

90. ‘ Ldhasancu , or iron spiked, and Rijisha , Panthana , the river Sdlmali , Asipatravana , or the swordleaved forest, and LdKangdraca , or pit of redhot charcoal.

91. * Brdhmens , who know this who speak the words of the F/afo, and who seek bliss after death, accept no gifts from a king.

92. * Let the housekeeper wake in the time, sacred to Brahmi', the goddess of speech , that is , zVz the last watch of the night : let him then reflect on virtue and virtuous emoluments, on the bodily labour, which they require, and on the whole meaning and very essence of the V£da%

93. ‘ Having risen, having done what nature makes necessary, having then purified himself and fixed his attention, let him stand a long time repeating the gdyatri for the first or morning twilight ; as he must, for the last or evening twilight in its proper time.

94. ‘By continued repetition of the gdyatri at the twhights, the holy sages acquire length of days, perfect knowledge, reputation during life, fame after death, celestial glory.

95. ‘ Having duly performed the updcarma} or domestic ceremony with sacred fire% at the full moon of Srdvana or of Bhddra , AND PRIVATE MORALS. Si let the Brdhmen , fully exerting his intellectual powers, read the VMas during four months and one fortnight :

96. ‘Under the lunar asterism Pushy ay or on the first day of the bright half of Mhgha and in the first part of the day, let him perform, out of the town, the ceremony called the utserga of the Vddas .

97. ‘ Having performed that ceremony out of town, as the law directs, let him desist from reading for one intermediate night winged with two days , or for that day and that following night only ;

98. * But after that intermission, let him attentively read the Vc'das in the bright fortnights ; and in the dark fortnights let him constantly read all the Vedangas .

99. ‘ He must never read the VJda without accents and letters well pronounced ; nor ever in the presence of Sudras ; nor, having begun to read it in the last watch of the night, must he, though fatigued, sleep again.

100. ‘ By the rule just mentioned let him continually, with his faculties exerted, read the Mantras , or holy texts, composed in regular measures ; and, when he is under no restraint, let him read both the Mantras and the Brdhmenas, or chapters on the attributes of GOD. ioi. ‘ Let a reader of the Vdda, and teacher of it to his pupils, in the form prescribed, always aviod reading on the following prohibited days.

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 Vdda dught to be read.

103. ‘ In lightning, thunder, and rain, or during the fall of large fireballs on all sides, at such time Menu 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 piorning and evening sacrifices, then let him know, that the Vdda must* nqt be read ; and when clouds are seen gatli^red out of season. ON ECONOMICS;

105. * On the occasion of a preternatural sound from the sky, of an earthquake, or an obscuration of the heavenly bodies, even in due season, let him know, that his reading must be postponed till the proper time.

106. ‘ But if, while his fires are blazing, the sound of lightning and thunder is heard without rain , his reading must be discontinued, only while the phenomenon lasts ; the remaining event, or ram also, happening, it must cease for a night and a day.

107. 4 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. ^ 4 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. 4 In water, near midnight, and while the two natural excretion are made, or with a remnant of food in the mouth, or when the sraddha has recently been eaten, let no man even meditate in his heart on the holy texts.

110. 4 A learned Brahmen, having received an invitation to the obsequies of a single ancestor, must not read the Vdda for three days ; nor when the king has a son born ; nor when the dragon’s head causes an eclipse.

111. ‘4 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 Veda .

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 given on the birth or death of a relation ;

113. 4 Nor in a cloud of dust, nor while arrows whizt, or a lute sounds, nor in either of the twilights> nor at the conjunction, nor on the fourteenth day, nor the opposition, nor on the eighth day, of the moon : •

114. 4 The dark lunar day destroys the spiritual teacher ; the* AND PRIVATE MORALS. S3 fourteenth destroys the teaYner ■ the eighth and the day of the full moon destroy ail remembrance of scripture ; for which reasons he avoid reading on those lunar days. 1 1 5- ‘ Let no Brdhmen , 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 srdddha , let him not, having lately accepted it, read the Vtda : for such a Brdhmen ; is said to have his mouth injiis 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 has ceased.

119. 1 The suspension of reading scripture, after a performance of the updearhia 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 ;

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 fyur eructations ;

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

123. ‘While the strain of the Sdman meets his ear, he shall not read the Rick, or the Yajusk ; nor any part of the Vtfda, when he has just concluded the whole ; nor, any other part, when he has just finished the 600k entitled A'mnyaca : ON ECONOMICS ;

124. ‘The Rigvdda is held sacred tc the gods ; the Yajurvcda relates to mankind ; the Sdmav^da concerns the manes of ancestors, and the sound of it, when chanted , raises therefore a notion of. something impure.

125. ‘ Knowing this collection of rules> let the learned read the V£da on every lawful day, having first repeated in order the pure essence of the three Vifdasf namely, the pranava , the vydhrltis , and the gdyatri.

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 Vida must not be read, let a Brdhmen , constantly observe with great care ; 7iamclyy when the plaice for reading it is impure, and when he is himself unpurified.

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

129. ‘Let him not bathe, having just eaten ; nor while he is afflicted with descase ; 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 a king, of a Brdhmcny who keeps house, or of any reverend personage ; nor of a redhaired or coppcrcoloitred man ; nor of one, who has just performed a sacrifice.

131. ‘At noon or at midnight, or having daten flesh at a srdd - dhay 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 tilings, with which a man has rubbed his body, or water, in which he has washed himself, or feces and urine, or blood,, mucus, or any thing chewed and spitten out, or any thing vomited.

133. ‘Let him show no particular attentioh to his enemy, or AND PRIVATE MORALS. 85 his enemy’s friend, to an uftjust person, to a thief, or to the wife of another man;

134. * Since nothing is known in this world so obstructive 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 warrior, a serpent, or a priest versed in scripture, how mean soever they may appear ;

136. * Since those three, when contemned, 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 miscarriages : 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. 1 Let him not journey too early in the morning or too late in the evening, nor too near the midday, 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 Brdhmen , br 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 purificc|jtion, let him ever sprinkle, with water in the palm of his hand, his organs of sensation, all his limbs, and his navel.

144. ‘ Not being in pain from disease, let him never without cause touch the cavities of his body ;and carefully let him avoid his concealed hair. * ON ECONOMICS;

145. 4 Let him be intent on those propitious observances which lead to good fortune, and on the discharge of his customary duties, his body and mind being pure, and his members kept in subjection ;:- let him constantly without remissness repeat the gdyatrl , and present his oblation to fire :

146. 1 To those, who are intent on good fortune and* on the discharge of their duties, who are always pure, who repeat the holy text and make oblations to fire, no calamity happens.

147. * In due season let him ever study the scripture without negligence ; for the sages call that his principal duty : every other duty is declared to be subordinate.

148. * By reading the V/da continually, by purity of body and mind, by rigorous devotion, and by doing no injury to animated creatures, he brings to remembrance his former birth :

149. ‘A Brdhmen , remembering his former birth, again reads the VJda, and, by reading it constantly, attains bliss without end.

150. ‘On the days of the conjunction and opposition, let him constantly make those oblations, which are hallowed by the gdyatrl , and those, which avert misfortune ; but on the eighth and ninth lunar days of the three dark fortnights after the end of Agrahdya?i> let him always do reverence to the manes of ancestors. 1 5 1- ‘Far from the mansion of holy fire, let him remove all ordure ; far let him remove water, in which feet have been washed ; far let him remove all remnants of food, and all seminal impurity.

152. ‘ At the beginning of each day' let him discharge his feces, bathe, rub his teeth, apply a collyrium to his eyes, adjust his dress, and adore the gods.

153. ‘ On the dark lunar day, and on Jhe other monthly parvans , let him visit the images of deities, and Brdhmens eminent in virtue, and the ruler of the land, for the sake of protection, and those whom he is bound to revere. c

154. ‘ Let him humbly greet venerable men, who visit him , and give them his own seat ; let him sit near them, closing the palms of his hands ; and when thfty depart, let him walk some way behind them. AND PRIVATE MORALS. *7

155. c Let him practice without intermission that system of approved usages, which is the root of all duty religious and civil, Declared, at large in the scripture and sacred lawtracts, together with the ceremonies peculiar to each act ;

156. ‘ Since by such practice long life is attained; by such practice is gained wealth unperishable ; such practice baffles every mark of ill fortune :

157. ‘ But, by an opposite practice, a man surely sinks to contempt in this world, has always a large portion of misery, is afflicted with disease and shortlived ;

158. 1 While the man, who is observant of approved usages, endued with faith in scripture, and free from a spirit of detraction, lives a hundred years, even though he bear no bodily mark of a prosperous life.

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. 1 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 Vida 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.

163. 1 Denial of a future state, neglect of the scripture, and contempt of the deities, envy and hatred, vanity and pride, wrath and|Severity, Let him at all times avoid.

164. ‘ Let him not, when angry, throw a stick at another man, nor smite him with any thing ; unless he be a son or a pupil : those two he may chastise for thdir improvement in learning.

165. ‘A t^ice-born man,, who barely assualts a Brdmhen ON ECONOMICS ; with intention to hurt him, shall be whirled about for a century in the hell named Tdmisra ;

166. 4 But , having smitten him in anger and by design, even with a blade of grass, he shall be born, in one and twenty transmigrations, from the wombs of impure quadrupeds.

167. * He, who, through ignorance of the law, sheds blood from the body of a Brdhmen , not engaged in battle, shall feel excessive pain in his future life :

168. * As many particles of dust as the blood shall roll up from the ground, for so many years shall the shedder of that blood be mangled by other animals in his next birth.

169. 4 Let not him then, who knows this law , even assault a Brdhmen at any time, nor strike him even with grass, nor cause blood to gush from his body.

170. 4 Even here below an unjust man attains no felicity; nor he, whose wealth proceeds from giving false evidence ; nor he, who constantly takes delight in mischief.

171. 4 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. 4 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. 4 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. 4 He grows rich for a while through unrighteousness ; then he beholds good things ; then it is, that he vanqishes his foes ; but he perishes at length from his whole root upwards.

175. ‘Let a man continually take pleasure in truth, in justice, in laudable practices, and in purity ; let him chastise those, whom he may chastise, in a legal mode ; let him keep in subjection his speech', his arm, and his appetite : *

176. 4 Wealth and pleasures, repugnant tb law, let him AMD PRIVATE MORALS. 89 shun ; and even lawful acts, which may cause future pain, or be offensive to mankind.

177. * Let him not have nimble hands, restless feet, or voluble eyes ; let him not be crooked in his ways ; let him not be flippant in his speech, nor intelligent in doing mischief.

178. ‘Let him walk in the path of good men ; the path, in which his parents and forefathers walked : while he moves in that path, he can give no offence.

179. 1 With an attendant on consecrated fire, a performer of holy rites, and a teacher of the Vdda> with his maternal uncle, with his guest or a dependant, with a child, with a man either aged or sick, with a physician, with his paternal kindred, with his relations by marriage, and with cousins on the side of his mother.

180. ‘ With his mother herself, or with his father, with his kinswomen, with his brother, with his son, his wife, or his daughter, and with his whole set of servants, let him have no strife.

181. ‘A house-keeper, who shuns altercation with those just mentioned \ is released from all secret faults ; and, by suppressing all such disputes, he obtains a victory aver the following worlds :

182. * The teacher of the Vida secures him the world of BRAHMA,' ; his father, the world of the Sun , or of the Prajdpetis ; his guest, the world of Indra ; his attendance on holy fire, the world of Dev as ;

183. * His female relations, the world of celestial nymphs ; his maternal cousins, the worlds of the Visvadtvas ; his relations by affinity, the world of waters ; his mother and maternal uncle give him power on e^rth ;

184. ‘ Children, old men, poor dependants, and sick persons, must be considered as rulers of the pure ether ; his elder brother, as ecynal to his father ; his wife and son, as his own body ;

185. * His assemblage of servants, as his own shadow ; his daughter, as the highest object of tenderness : let him, therefore, when offended by any of those, beaV the offence without indignation.

186. ‘Though permitted to receive* presents, let him avoid ON ECONOMICS ; 9° a habit of taking them ; since, by taking many gifts, his divine light soon fades.

187. ‘ Let no man of sense, who has not fully informed himself of the law concerning gifts of particular things, accept a present, even though he pine with hunger.

188. ‘The man, who knows not that law, yet accepts gol d or gems, land, a horse, a cow, food, raiment, oils or clarified butter, becomes mere ashes, like wood consumed by fire :

189. ‘Gold and gems burn up his nourishment and life; land and a cow, his body ; a horse, his eyes ; raiment, his skin ; clarified butter, his manly strength ; oils, his progeny.

190. ‘A twice-born man, void of true devotion, and not having read the Vfda, yet eager to take a gift, sinks down together with it, as with a boat of stone in deep water. . ,91 • Let him then, who knows not the law, be fearful of presents from this or that giver ; since an ignorant man, even by a small gift, may become helpless as a cow in a bog.

192. -Let no man, apprized of this law, present even water to a priest, who acts like a cat, not to him, who acts like a bittern, nor to him, who is unlearned in the Vida ; 193- ‘ Since property, though legally gained, if it be given to either of those three, becomes prejudicial in the next world both to the giver and receiver :

194. ‘As he, who tries to pass over deep water in a boat of stone, sinks to the bottom, so those two ignorant men, the receiver and the giver, sink to a region of torment.

195. ‘ A covetous wretch, who continually displays the flag of virtue a pretender, a dcluder of the people, is declared to be the man, who acts like a cat: he is an injurious hypocrite, a detractor from the merits of all men.

196. ‘A twice-born man, with his eyes dejected, morose, intent on his own advantage, fly, and falsely demure, is he,. who acts like a bittern. 197 ‘ Such priests, as live like bitterns, and such as demean themselves like cats, fall by .that sinful conduct into the hell called A ndhatdmisra. AND PRIVATE MORALS. 9 1

198. 4 Lkt no man, ’having committed sin, perform a penance, under the pretext of austere devotion, disguising his crime under fictitious religion and deceiving both women and low men :

199. * Such impostors, though Brdbnens, are despised, in the next life arid in this, by all who pronounce holy texts ; and every religious act fraudulently performed goes to evil beings.

200. * He, who has no right to distinguishing marks, yet gains a subsistence by wearing false marks of distinction, takes to himself the sin committed by those who are entitled to such marks, and shall again be born from the womb of a brute animal.

201. ‘ Never let him bathe in the pool of another man ; for he, who bathes in it without licence , takes to himself a small portion of the sins, which the maker of the pool has committed.,

202. 1 He, Who appropriates to his own use the carriage,” the bed, the scat, the well, the garden, or the house of another man, who has not delivered them to him, assumes a fourth part of the guilt of their owner.

203. ‘ In rivers, in ponds dug by holy persons, and in lakes, let him always bathe ; in rivulets also, and in torrents.

204. 4 A WISE man should constantly discharge all the moral duties, though he perform not constantly the ceremonies of religion ; since he falls low, if, while he performs ceremonial acts only, he discharge not his moral duties.

205. * Never let a priest cat part of a sacrifice not begun with texts of the VSda, nor of one performed by a common sacrificer, by a woman, or by an eunuch :

206. 4 When those persons offer the clarified butter, it brings misfortune to good men, and raises aversion in the deities ; such oblations , therefore, he must carefully shun.

207. 4 Let him never eat the food of the insane, the wrathful, or the sick ; nor that, on which lice have fallen ; nor that, which has designedly been touched by a foot ;

208. 4 Nor that, which has been looked at by the slayer of a priest, or by any other deadly sinner, or has even been touched by a woman in her courses, or pecked by a bird, or approached by a dog; ON ECONOMICS ;

209. ‘ Nor food which has been smelled by a cow ; nor particularly that, which has been proclaimed^ all comers; nor the food of associated knaves, or of harlots ; nor that, which is contemned by the learned in scripture ;

210. ‘Nor that of a thief or a public singer, of a carpenter, of an usurer, of one who has recently come from a sacrifice, of a niggardly churl, or of one bound with fetters ;

211. ‘A giver of land obtains landed property; a giver of gems or gold, long life ; a giver of a house, the most exalted mansion ; a giver of silver, enquisite beauty ;

212. ‘ A giver of clothes, the same station with CHANDRA; a giver of a horse, the same station with Aswi ; a giver of a bull, eminent fortune ; a giver of a cow, the mansion of Su'RYA ;

213. ‘A giver of a carriage or a bed, an excellent consort ; a giver of safety, supreme dominion ; a giver of grain, perpetual delight ; a giver of scriptural knowledge, union with God :

214. ‘Among all those gifts, of water, food, kine, land, clothes, tila , gold, clarified butter, and the rest, a gift of spiritual knowledge is consequently the most important ;

215. ‘And fof whatever purpose a man bestows any gift, for a similar purpose he shall receive, with due honor, a similar reward.

216. ‘ Both he, who respectfully bestows a present, and he who respectfully accepts it, shall go to a seat of bliss ; but, if they act otherwise, to a region of horror.

217. ‘ Let not a man be proud of his rigorous devotion ; let him not, having sacrificed, utter a falsehood ; let him not, though injured, insult a priest; having made a donation, let him never proclaim it :

218. ‘By falsehood, the sacrifice becomes vain ; by pride, the merit of devotion is lost ; by insulting priests, life is diminished ; and by proclaiming a largess, its fruit is destroyed.

219. ‘Giving no pain to any creature, let him collect virtue by degrees, for the sake of acquiring a companion to the next world, as the white ant by degrees builds his nest ; AND PRIVATE MORALS.

220. 'For, in his passage to the next world, neither his father, nor his mother, nor his wife, nor his son, nor his kinsmen, •:ill remain in his company : his virtue alone will adhere to him.

221. ‘Single is each man bom; single he dies; single he receives the reward of his good, and single the punishment of his evil, deeds:

222. 4 When he leaves his corpse, like a log or a lump of clay, on the ground, his kindred retire with averted faces ; but his virtue accompanies his soul.

223. ‘Continually, therefore, by degrees let him collect virtue, for the sake of securing an inseparable companion ; since with virtue for his guide, he will traverse a gloom, how hard to be traversed ! ,

224. ‘ A man, habitually virtuous, whose offences have been expiated by devotion, is instantly conveyed after death to the higher world, with a radiant form and a body of ethereal substance.

225. ‘ He, who seeks to preserve an exalted rank, must constantly form connexions with the highest and best families, but avoid the worst and the meanest ;

226. * Since a priest, who connects himself with the best and highest of men, avoiding the lowest and worst, attains eminence ; but sinks, by an opposite conduct, to the class of the servile.

227. ‘ He, who perseveres in good actions, in subduing his passions, in bestowing largesses, in gentleness of manners, who bears hardships patiently, who associates not with the malignant, who gives pain to no sentient being, obtains final beatitude.

228. ‘ Wood, water, roots, fruit, and food placed before him without his request, he may accept from all men ; honey also, and protection from danger.

229. ‘ Gold, or other alms, voluntarily brought and presented, but ljnasked and unpromised, Brahma' considered as receivable even from a sinner :

230. ‘ Of him, who shall disdain to accept such alms, neither will the manes eat the funeral oblations for fifteen years, nor will the fire convey the burnt sacrifice to the gods. ON ECONOMICS ;

231. * A bed, houses, blades of cusay perfumes, water, flowers, jewels, buttermilk, ground rice, fish, new milk, fleshmeat, and green vegetables, let him not proudly reject ' *

232. ‘ When he wishes to relieve his natural parents or spiritual father, his wife or others, whom he is bound to maintain, or when he is preparing to honor deities or guests, he may receive gifts from any person, but must not gratify himself with such presents :

233. * If his parents, however, be dead, or if he live without them in his own house, let him, when he seeks nourishment for himself, receive presents invariably from good men alone.

234. ‘A labourer in tillage, a familyfriend, a herdsman, a slave, a barber, a poor stranger offering his humble duty, are men of the servile class, who may eat the food of their superiors :

235. ‘As the nature of the poor stranger is, as the work is, which he desires to perform, and as he may show most respect to the master of the house , even thus let him offer his service ;

236. ‘ For he, who describes himself to worthy men in a manner contrary to truth, is the most sinful wretch in this world : he is the worst of thieves, a stealer of minds.

237. ‘All things have their sense ascertained by speech ; in speech they have 'their basis ; and from speech they proceed : consequently, a falsifier of speech falsifies every thing.

238. ‘WHEN he has paid, as the law directs, his debts to the sages, to the manes, and to the gods, by reading the scripture , begetting a son , and performing regular sacrifices , he may resign all to his son of mature age , and reside in his family house, with no employment, but that of an umpire.

239. ‘ Alone, in some solitary place, let him constantly meditate on the divine nature of the soul, for by such meditation he will attain happiness.

240. ‘ Thus has been declared the mode, by which a Brdhmen , who keeps house, must continually subsist, together with the rule of devotion ordained for a pupil returned from his preccpta r ; a laudable rule, which increases the best of the three qualities.

241. ‘A priest, who lives always by these rules, who knows the ordinances of the Veda , who*is freed from the bondage of sin, shall be absorbed in the diyinc essence. 1