127. Let a learned man ask a priest, when he meets him, if his devotion prospers; a warriour, if he is unhurt; a merchant, if his wealth is secure; and one of the servile class, if he enjoys good health; using respectively the words, cusalam, anámayam, cshémam, and árógyam.

128. He, who has just performed a solemn sacrifice and ablution, must not be addressed by his name, even though he be a younger man; but he, who knows the law, should accost him with the vocative particle, or with bhavat, the pronoun of respect.

129. To the wife of another, and to any woman not related by blood, he must say, " bhavati, and amiable sister."

130. To his uncles paternal and maternal, to his wife's father, to performers of the sacrifice, and to spiritual teachers; he must say, "I am such an one"-rising up to salute them, even though younger than himself.

131. The sister of his mother, the wife of his maternal uncle, his own wife's mother, and the sister of his father, must be saluted like the wife of his father or preceptor: they are equal to his father's or his preceptor's wife.

132. The wife of his brother, if she be of the same class, must be saluted every day; but his paternal and maternal kinswomen need only be greeted on his return from a journey.

133. With the sister of his father and of his mother, and with his own elder sister, let him demean himself as with his mother; though his mother be more venerable than they.

134. Fellow citizens are equal for ten years; dancers and singers, for five; learned theologians, for less than three; but persons related by blood, for a short time: that is, a greater difference of age destroys their equality.

135. The Student must consider a Bráhmen, though but ten years old, and a Cshatriya, though aged a hundred years, as father and son; as between those two, the young Bráhmen is to be respected as the father.

136. Wealth, kindred, age, moral conduct, and, fifthly, divine knowledge, entitle men to respect; but that which is last mentioned in order, is the most respectable.

137. Whatever man of the three highest classes possesses the most of those five, both in number and degree, that man is entitled to most respect; even a Súdra, if he have entered the tenth decad of his age.

138. Way must be made for a man in a wheeled carriage, or above ninety years old, or afflicted with disease, or carrying a burthen; for a woman; for a priest just returned from the mansion of his preceptor; for a prince, and for a bridegroom.

139. Among all those, if they be met at one time, the priest just returned home and the prince are most to be honoured; and of those two, the priest just returned, should be treated with more respect than the prince.

140. That priest who girds his pupil with the sacrificial cord, and afterwards instructs him in the whole Véda, with the law of sacrifice and the sacred Upanishads, holy sages call an áchárya:

141. But, he, who for his livelihood, gives instruction in a part only of the Véda, or in grammar, and in other Védángas, is called an upádhyáya, or sub-lecturer.

*

142. The father, who performs the ceremonies on conception and the like, according to law, and who nourishes. the child with his first rice, has the epithet of guru, or venerable.

143. He, who receives a stipend for preparing the holy fire, for conducting the páca and agnishtóma, and for performing other sacrifices, is called in this code the ritwij of his employer.

144. He, who truly and faithfully fills both ears with the Véda, must be considered as equal to a mother; he must be revered as a father; him the pupil must never grieve.

145. A mere áchárya, or a teacher of the gáyatrì only, surpasses ten upádhyáyas; a father, a hundred such ácháryas; and a mother, a thousand natural fathers.

146. Of him, who gives natural birth, and him, who gives knowledge of the whole Véda, the giver of sacred knowledge is the more venerable father; since the second or divine birth

* Instead of "father" the text reads "brahmen," but the comment favours Sir W. Jones's translation; yet v. 144 inclines to the latter interpretation.

ensures life to the twice born both in this world and hereafter eternally.

147. Let a man consider that as a mere human birth, which his parents gave him for their mutual gratification, and which he receives after lying in the womb;

148. But that birth which his principal áchárya, who knows the whole Véda, procures for him by his divine mother the gayatri, is a true birth: that birth is exempt from age and from death.

149. Him, who confers on a man the benefit of sacred learning, whether it be little or much, let him know to be here named guru, or venerable father, in consequence of that heavenly benefit.

150. A Bráhmen, who is the giver of spiritual birth, the teacher of prescribed duty, is by right called the father of an old man, though himself be a child.

151. CAVI, or the learned, child of ANGIRAS, taught his paternal uncles and cousins to read the Véda, and, excelling them in divine knowledge, said to them, "little sons :

152. They, moved with resentment, asked the Gods the meaning of that expression; and the Gods, being assembled, answered them: "The child has addressed you properly;

153. For an unlearned man is in truth a child; and he who teaches him the Véda, is his father. Holy sages have always said child to an ignorant man, and father to a teacher of scripture."

154. Greatness is not conferred by years, not by gray hairs, not by wealth, not by powerful kindred: the divine sages have established this rule; "Whoever has read the Védas and their Angas, he among us is great."

155. The seniority of priests is from sacred learning; of warriours from valour; of merchants from abundance of grain; of the servile class only from priority of birth.

156. A man is not therefore aged, because his head is gray him, surely, the Gods considered as aged, who, though young in years, has read and understands the Véda.*

*The word viduh, which the translator has rendered in the past, is most commonly employed in a present sense, which is required in this See Mr. Wilkins' grammar, page 174, Rule 196.

verse.

157. As an elephant made of wood, as an antelope made of leather, such is an unlearned Bráhmen: those three have nothing but names.

158. As an eunuch is unproductive with women, as a cow with a cow is unprolifick, as liberality to a fool is fruitless, so is a Bráhmen useless, if he read not the holy texts..

159. Good instruction must be given without pain to the instructed; and sweet gentle speech must be used by a preceptor, who cherishes virtue.

160. He, whose discourse and heart are pure, and ever perfectly guarded, attains all the fruit arising from his complete course of studying the Véda.

161. Let not a man be querulous even though in pain; let him not injure another in deed or in thought; let him not even utter a word, by which his fellow creature may suffer uneasiness; since that will obstruct his own progress to future beatitude.

162. A Bráhmen should constantly shun worldly honour, as he would shun poison; and rather constantly seek disrespect, as he would seek nectar;

163. For though scorned, he may sleep with pleasure; with pleasure may he awake; with pleasure may he pass through this life: but the scorner utterly perishes.

164. Let the twice-born youth, whose soul has been formed by this regular succession of prescribed acts, collect by degrees, while he dwells with his preceptor, the devout habits proceeding from the study of scripture.

165. With various modes of devotion, and with austerities ordained by law, must the whole Véda be read, and above all the sacred Upanishads, by him, who has received a new birth.

166. Let the best of the twice-born classes, intending to practise devotion, continually repeat the reading of scripture; since a repetition of reading the scripture is here styled the highest devotion of a Bráhmen.

167. Yes verily; that student in theology performs the highest act of devotion with his whole body, to the extremities of his nails, even though he be so far sensual as to wear a chaplet of sweet flowers, who to the utmost of his ability daily reads the Véda.

168. A twice-born man, who not having studied the Véda, applies diligent attention to a different and worldly study, soon falls, even when living, to the condition of a Súdra; and his descendants after him.

169. The first birth is from a natural mother; the second, from the ligation of the zone; the third from the due performance of the sacrifice; such are the births of him who is usually called twice-born, according to a text of the Véda:

170. Among them his divine birth is that, which is distinguished by the ligation of the zone, and sacrificial cord; and in that birth the Gayatrì is his mother, and the A'charya, his father.

171. Sages call the A'chárya father, from his giving instruction in the Véda: nor can any holy rite be performed by a young man, before his investiture.

172. Till he be invested with the signs of his class, he must not pronounce any sacred text, except what ought to be used in obsequies to an ancestor; since he is on a level with a Súdra before his new birth from the revealed scripture:

173. From him, who has been duly invested, are required both the performance of devout acts and the study of the Véda in order, preceded by stated ceremonies.

174. Whatever sort of leathern mantle, sacrificial thread, and zone, whatever staff, and whatever under apparel are ordained, as before-mentioned, for a youth of each class, the like must also be used in his religious acts.

175. These following rules must a Brahmachári, or student in theology, observe, while he dwells with his preceptor; keeping all his members under control, for the sake of increasing his habitual devotion.

176. Day by day, having bathed and being purified, let him offer fresh water to the Gods, the Sages, and the Manes; let him show respect to the images of the deities, and bring wood for the oblation to fire.

177. Let him abstain from honey, from flesh meat, from perfumes, from chaplets of flowers, from sweet vegetable juices, from women, from all sweet substances turned acid, and from injury to animated beings;