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 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.

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 distribution 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 the sacred ordinance, only thrice a year, in the seasons of hémánta, grishma, and vershà; but the five sacraments he must perform daily.

282. The sacrificial oblation at obsequies to ancestors, is ordained to be made in no vulgar fire; nor should the monthly sráddha of that Brahmen, who keeps a perpetual fire, be made on any day, except on that of the conjunction.

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.

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.

CHAPTER IV.

ON ECONOMICKS; 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, 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 swavrĭtti :

5. By rita, must be understood lawful gleaning and gathering; by amrita, what is given unasked; by mrěta, what is asked as alms; tillage is called pramrita;

6. Traffick and money-lending are satyánrita ;* 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 three years; or garner up enough for one year or collect what may last three days; or make no provision for the morrow.

8. Of the four Bráhmens keeping house, who follow those four different modes, a preference is given to the last in order

The meaning of “satyánrita,” is "truth and falsehood," by which commercial dealings are not unaptly designated; there being necessarily a mixture of both in such transactions.

successively; as to him, who most completely by virtue has vanquished the world :

9. One of them subsists by 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 Véda.

10. He, who sustains himself by picking up grains and ears, must attach himself to some altar of consecrated fire, but constantly perform those rites only, which end with the dark and bright fortnights and with the solstices.

11. 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 more than he possesses; for happiness has its root in content, and discontent is the root of misery.

13. A Bráhmen 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, and beatitude.

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

15. He must not gain wealth by musick or dancing, 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 Véda, 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.

19. Each day let him examine those holy books, which soon give increase of wisdom; and those, which teach the means of acquiring wealth; those, which are salutary to life; and those nigamas, which are explanatory of the Véda;

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

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

22. 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. Some constantly sacrifice their breath in their speech, when they instruct others, or praise GOD 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 Bráhmens 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 Bráhmen 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. 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 adhwara; 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. Not having offered grain for the harvest, nor cattle at the time of the solstice, let no Bráhmen, who keeps hallowed fire, and wishes for long life, taste rice or flesh;

28. Since the holy fires, not being honoured with new