Reading section 18

"Having recited this prayer he should rub his stomach with his hand, and renouncing idleness should engage in such action as can easily he performed. He should spend the day in the reading of sacred writings and in such amusements as are authorized by the righteous and when the Sandhya sets in he must engage in devotion. O king, he must perform the morning rites before the stars have disappeared and perform the evening rites before the sun has quite set. The morning and evening rites should never be neglected except at seasons of impurity, anxiety, sickness or alarm. He, who but for illness lies on bed at the hours of sunrise and sunset, is guilty of iniquity. Therefore a man should rise before the sun in the morning and sleep not until after he has set. Those, who sinfully neglect the performance of both the morning and evening rites, go to the hell of darkness after death. And having prepared food in the evening, the wife, of the householder with a view to obtain the fruit of the Viçwadeva rite, should give food, without offering any prayers, to outcasts or unclean persons. The householder, as his means allow, should again show hospitality to any guest who may come receiving him with the salutation of evening and offering him water to wash his feet, a seat, a supper and a bed. The sin, consequent upon not receiving hospitably a guest who comes after sunset, is eight times greater than that of turning away one who comes during the day. A person should therefore particularly show respect to him who seeks refuge after sunset, for the respect, given to his satisfaction, will afford pleasure to all the celestials. The householder should, therefore, as his means permit him, give a guest food, potherbs, water, a bed, a mat, or if he cannot give any thing more, ground only on which to lie.

"Having taken his evening meal and washed his feet a householder should take rest. His bed must be complete and made of wood, it must have ample space, must not be cracked nor uneven, nor dirty nor infested by insects and must have a bedding. The householder must sleep with his head either to the east or to the south; any other position is unhealthy. In proper time, under the influence of an auspicious planet and in an auspicious moment he should go to his wife if she is not unbathed, sick, unwell, unwilling, angry, pregnant, hungry or over-fed. He should also be free from all these imperfections and should be neatly dressed and adorned and excited by tenderness and affection. Having bathed, wearing garlands, using perfumes, delighted and animated by desire he should go to his wife—not being hungry and excited with anxiety. There are certain days on which the use of unguents, flesh and women is prohibited as the eighth and fourteenth lunar days, new-moon and full-moon and the entrance of the sun into a new sign. On these occasions the wise should control their appetites and engage in the worship of the celestials as laid down in scripture, in meditation and prayer. And he, who acts otherwise, will be doomed to a hell where he will be constrained to live upon ordure. A man should not excite his desires by medicines nor satisfy them with unnatural objects or in public or holy places. A man should not go to a woman under a huge tree, in the courtyard, in a place of pilgrimage, in pasturage, where four streets meet, in a cremation ground, in a garden or in the waters. On all these occasions mentioned before in the morning or in the evening or being unclean the wise should not cohabit with women. If a man goes to a woman during the Parva he loses wealth, if during the day he is visited with sin, if he cohabits with a woman on ground he loses his fame. A man should not think voluptuously of another's wife, nor should, he speak to her for that purpose; for such a wight will be born in his next life as a creeping insect. The cohabitation with another's wife is a source of fear to him both in this life and in the next—for in this he loses his longevity and in the next he is doomed to hell. Considering all these things a man should approach his own wife in proper season or even at other times".

SECTION XII.

Alurva said:—"The householder should venerate gods, king, Brāhmanas, saints, aged persons and holy preceptors. He should also observe duly the two Sandhyas and offer oblations to fire. He should use untorn garments, delicate herbs and flowers, wear emeralds and other precious stones, keep his hair neat and clean, perfume his body with delicious unguents and should always go out handsomely dressed and decorated with garlands and white flowers. He should not misappropriate another's property nor should treat him unkindly. He should always speak amiably and the truth and should not speak out publicly another's faults. O foremost of men, he should not envy another's prosperity—nor should he create enmity with another; he should not use a broken conveyance, nor should he sit under the shadow of a tree on the banks of a river. The wise should not make friends with, nor should they wend the same way with, one who is hated, who is a sinner or a drunkard, who has many enemies, or who is lousy, with a harlot or her gallant, with a pauper or a with a prodigal, a slanderer or a knave. A man should not bathe in river when it is ebb-tide, should not enter a house when it is on fire nor climb to the top of a tree; nor (when in the company of others) clean his teeth, nor blow his nose nor grape without covering his mouth, nor clean his throat, nor cough, nor laugh loudly, nor emit wind with noise, nor bite his nails, nor cut grass, nor scratch ground, nor put his beard into his mouth, nor crumble a clod of clay, nor look upon the planets when he is unclean. He should not see another's wife when she is naked nor see the sun at the time of its rising or setting. He should not express disgust at a dead body for the odour of it is the produce of the moon. He should avoid, during the night, the place where four roads meet, the village tree, the forest adjacent to a cremation ground and a loose woman. The wise should not pass across the shadow of a venerable person, of an image of a deity, of a flag and of a heavenly luminary. He should not travel alone in a forest nor sleep alone in an empty house. He should live at a distance from hair, bones, thorn, filth, remnants of offerings, ashes, chaff and earth wet with water in which another has bathed. He should not seek the shelter of a degraded wight and should renounce the company of wily persons. He should not approach voracious animals and should not lie down on bed long after sleep is broken. He should not, for a too long time, lie down on bed, sleep, keep up nights, sit and take exercise. The wise should avoid, even at a distance, animals with tusks and horns and exposure to frost, wind and sunshine. A man should neither bathe, nor sleep nor rinse his mouth when he is naked; he should not wash his mouth nor perform any sacred rite with his waistband loosened. Nor he should, with one piece of cloth on, offer oblations to fire, sacrifice to the celestials, wash his mouth, salute a Brāhman or utter a prayer. He should not associate with evil companions—the intercourse for half an instant, the pious is desirable. The wise should not quarrel men inferior or superior to them; dispute and marriage with equals are always desirable. The wise should never enter into dispute and should always avoid useless enmity. It is better to suffer a trifling loss but he should not acquire wealth by hostility.

"When bathed he should not wipe his limbs with the cloth he has put on nor with his hands; he should not shake his hair nor rinse his mouth before he has risen. He should not put one foot upon another nor spread out his foot before his elders but should modestly sit in a posture called Verāsana i.e., on his knees. He should not go round a temple upon his left hand nor circumambulate any venerable object in the reverse direction. The wise should not spit nor void impurities before the moon, fire, the sun, water, wind, or any respectable person. Nor should he pass urine standing or upon a public way; he should not pass over phlegm, ordure, urine or blood; nor should he spit forth the mucus of the throat at the time of eating, offering sacrifices or oblations or reciting prayers or before a respectable person.

"A man should not treat women disrespectfully nor should he place too much confidence in them. He should not deal with them impatiently nor should he give them supremacy in important matters. O king, wise persons, ever treading the path of morality, should not issue out of his house without saluting the chaplets, flowers, jewels, clarified butter and venerable persons. He should salute the places where four roads meet, perform sacrifices at proper seasons, relieve the poor and venerate the learned and good-natured. He who worships the celestials and saints, gives cakes and water to the manes, and performs hospitality, attains to exalted stations after death. He who speaks wisely, moderately and compassionately proceeds to the regions which are the perpetual sources of bliss. He who is intelligent, bashful, forgiving, god-fearing and humble, proceeds to the region which is attainable by the learned and those born in a pious race.

"The wise should not read the Vedas on the Parva days, on impure seasons, upon untimetely thunder and the occurrence of eclipses. The attainment of heaven is a trifling thing to him who allays the anger of the angry, who is friend to all and freed from malice, and who removes the fear of the pious. A man should use an umbrella to protect him against the sun and rain; he should carry a rod when he goes by night or through a forest and he should use shoes if he wishes to save his body from being hurt. As he proceeds he should not look up nor about him, nor afar off but keep his eyes upon the ground to the extent of a couple of yards.

"He, who, having controlled himself, puts a stop to the sources of all these imperfections, meets with no obstacle in the acquisition of piety, wealth and desire. Final emancipation is in his grasp, who is sinless towards them who commit mischief by him, who speaks amicably to them who use harsh words and whose soul melts with the benevolence. The earth is upheld by the truthfulness of those who have controlled their passions, and who, always following pious observances, are not sullied by desire, covetousness and anger. A man should therefore speak truth when it is agreeable and he should be silent when that truth would give pain. He should avoid agreeable words when they are detrimental and unreasonable, for it is always better to speak those disagreeable words which would produce salutary effect, although it would give offence. A prudent man should always cultivate that, in act, thought and speech, which conduces to the well-being of all living creatures both in this world and the next".

SECTION XIII.

Alurva said:—"A father, without changing his cloth, should bathe when a son is born; he should then go through the ceremonies consequent upon the birth and perform the Srāddha which should always be celebrated upon occasions of prosperity. With a composed mind and thinking on nothing else, he should worship both the celestials and the manes and reverentially go round keeping Brāhmans on his left hand and offer them food. And standing with his face directed to the east, he should, with the portions of the hand sacred to the celestials and Prajāpati, offer balls of food with curds, unbruised grain and jujubes. He should perform on every accession of prosperity the Srāddha ceremony, by which the manes called Nāndimukhas are propitiated. On the occasion of the marriage of a son or daughter, on entering a new house, on giving a name to a child on performing his tonsure and other purificatory rites, at the binding of the mother's hair during gestation, on first seeing the face of a son and on similar other occasions a householder should diligently worship the manes so named. I have described to you, O king, the mode of worshipping the manes, as laid down by ancient sages; hear, I shall now describe the rules for the performance of obsequial rites.

"Having washed the dead body with sacred water, adorned it with garlands and reduced it to ashes outside the village, the relatives having bathed with their clothes on, should stand with their faces to the south and offer libations to the dead, addressing him by name and saying, 'Whatever thou mayst be.' (And if it is burnt during the day,) they should return to the village along with the cattle coming from pasture, and when stars appear, should go to rest, sleeping on mats spread upon the earth. (And as long as the mourning lasts) every day a ball of food should be placed on the ground as an offering to the dead and they should take rice without flesh. And as long as the mourner wishes he should feed the Brāhmans for the soul of the dead derives pleasure in as much as his kinsmen are satisfied with their entertainment. (After the death of a person) on the first day, or the third, or seventh or ninth, his relatives should change their clothes and bathe out of doors and offer a libation of water with sesamum-seeds. On the fourth day the bones and ashes should be collected; after which the body, of one connected with the dead by offerings of funeral cakes, should be touched without thereby incurring impurity. And those who are related by presentation of water are qualified for any business. The former class of kinsmen are allowed to use beds but still they are prohibited from using arguments and flowers and must observe continence after ashes and bones have been collected. When a child is dead, or one who is abroad, or one who is degraded, or one who is a spiritual guide, or when one commits suicide, or when one destroys himself by water, fire or by hanging, the period of uncleanliness is over as soon as the news is received. The food of a family, in which a relation is dead, should not be taken for ten days. During the period of uncleanliness, gifts, acceptance, sacrifice and the study of sacred writings should be suspended. The term of uncleanliness for a Brāhmin is ten days; for a Kshatriya twelve days; for a Vaiçya fifteen days and for a Sudra a whole month. On the first day after the period of impurity is over, the nearest relative of the dead should feed Brāhmins at his pleasure, but in uneven number and should offer to the dead a ball of rice upon holy grass placed near the remaining portion of the food that has been consumed. After the Brāhmans have been fed, the mourner, according to his caste, should touch water, a weapon of goad or a staff—for he is purified by such contact. He should then resume the duties assigned to his caste and maintain his livelihood by the acquisition of wealth.

"He should then perform the Srāddha of his deceased relative on the day of his death in each month (for a year). And then feeding the Brāhmins in an uneven number he should offer balls to the deceased. The Brāhmins should then be accosted by the sacrificer if they are satisfied and after they have declared their satisfaction he should relate the prayer, 'May this ever satisfy such a one.'

"The Srāddha, which is called Ekoddistha, should be performed monthly for one year after the death of a person. And at the expiry of one year the ceremony called Sapindana should be observed, Hear, O king (I shall describe) how shall that be celebrated. This ceremony should be celebrated in the same way as monthly obsequies—only four vessels should be placed with water perfumes and sesamum. O king, (of these four) one should be dedicated to the deceased and three to the manes, and the contents of the former should be transferred to the latter three. After the deceased has been included in the list of manes, O king of earth, the ancestors should be again worshipped with all the ceremonies of the Srāddha. The persons connected by the offering of cake, who are competent to celebrate the obsequial ceremonies, are the son, grandson, great grandson, a kinsman of the dead, the descendants of a brother or the prosperity of one connected by funeral offerings. And when all these relations are wanting, the ceremony may be performed by those allied by the offerings of water only or those allied by offerings of cakes or water to maternal ancestors. When males, both in the maternal and paternal families, are extinct, the funeral obsequies may be performed by women or by those who are connected with the deceased in social and religious institutions or by him who inherits his property.

"And even when friends and those who will inherit his property are wanting the king may have his obsequia rites, initiative intermediate and subsequent, celebrated. Hear, I shall now describe the difference of these three classes of rites. The first are those which are performed after the burning of the dead body until the touching of water, weapons &c. The Srāddhas, called Ekoddistha which are performed every month, are called intermediate rites; and the ceremonies, which follow Sapindakarana when the deceased becomes one of his ancestors, are called subsequent rites—from this time the ceremonies become general and ancestral. The initiative ceremonies should be performed by the relative of the father or mother whether allied by the offering of the cake or of water by the companions of the dead man or by the king who inherits his property. Both the intermediate and subsequent rites should be celebrated by sons and other relations, and by daughter's sons and their sons. In every year, O king, the obsequial ceremonies should be performed either by males or females, in the same way as the ceremonies of month by obsequies are enjoined. Hear O king, I shall now describe, at what seasons and in what manner those ceremonies are to be performed".

SECTION XIV.

Aurva said:—"When a man celebrates reverentially the Srāddha of his ancestors, Brahmā, Indra, Rudra, two Aswinis, the sun, fire, Vasus, Maruts, Viçwadevas, Rishis, birds, men, beasts, reptiles, manes and all other creatures, become propitiated. This should be performed, O king, every month, on the fifteenth day of the dark fortnight, or the eighth day of the same period in some months or at particular seasons. Hear, I shall now explain them. A householder should celebrate it when he will find all requisites ready, when a learned Brāhmin has come to the house for which ancestral ceremonies are appropriate. He should voluntarily offer sacrifice upon any atmospheric portent, at the equinoctial and solstitial periods, at eclipses of the sun and moon, on the sun's entrance into a Zodiacal sign, upon unpropitious aspects of the planets and asterisms, on dreaming unlucky dreams and on eating the grain of the year's harvest. The manes obtain satisfaction for eight years from ancestral offerings upon the day of the new moon when the star of the conjunction is Anurādhā, Visakhā or Swāti and for twelve years when it is Pushya, Ardrā or Punarvasu. He, who desires to satisfy the celestials or the manes, very seldom gets an opportunity on a day of new moon when the stars are those of Dhanistha, Purvabhādrapāda or Satabhisā. Hear also the description of another class of Srāddhas which give special delight to the manes as explained by Sanatkumāra the son of Brahmā, to the noble Pururavas when brimful with faith and devotion to the manes he asked how he might please them. The third lunar day of the month of Vaisakha (April, May) and the ninth of Kārtika (October, November) in the light fortnight; the thirteenth of Nabha (July, August) and the fifteenth of Magha (January, February) in the dark fortnight are called by the sages of yore the anniversaries of the first day of Yuga and are regarded as most sacred. On these days water mixed with sesamum-seed should be duly offered to the progenitors as well as on every lunar and solar eclipse; on the eighth lunations of the dark fortnights of Agrahāyana, Māgha and Fālguna on the two days beginning the solstices when the nights and days alternately begin to diminish; on the days which are the anniversaries of the beginning of Manwantaras; when the sun is in the path of the goat and on all these occasions when meteors appear. A Srāddha, performed on these occasions, gives pleasure to the manes for a thousand years; and this is the secret which they have given. The fifteenth day, of the dark fortnight in the month of Māgha when united with the conjunction of the asterism over which Varuna rules, is also a sacred season when offerings particularly afford delight to the manes. When the asterism Dhanishthā is united with the day of new moon, food and water, offered by members of respectable families, satisfy the manes for ten thousand years. And on the day of new moon when Ardra is in the ascendant they rest satisfied by offerings for a whole age.

"He, who after having offered food and libations to the manes bathes in the Ganges, Satlaj, Vipasa, Saraswati or the Gomati at Naimisha, is freed from all sins. The manes also sing—'After having obtained gratification for a twelve month we shall derive further satisfaction by libations offered by our descendants at some place of pilgrimage at the end of the dark fortnight of Māgha'. (The songs of Pitris) confer upon men purity of mind, prosperity, prosperous seasons, perfect rites and firm faith and all other things which they desire. Hear, O king, I shall repeat some verses as sung by the manes, hearing which, you will follow them with a controlled mind. 'That wise man who does not shrink from spending his wealth and presents us with cakes shall be born in an illustrious family. He should, if he is rich, give to Brāhmans in our honour, jewels, cloths, land, conveyances, wealth and various other eatables. If he not got so much wealth he should feed with faith and humility excellent Brāhmans according to his means. If he cannot afford to give them food even he should according his might, present them with unboiled grain or with some gifts however trifling they may be. Should he be utterly unable even to do this, O king, he must give to some excellent Brahmin, bowing before him sesamum-seeds, adhering to the tips of his fingers. Or he should sprinkle water mixed with seven or eight sesamum seeds to us upon the ground; or he should gather, as he may, fodder for a day and give it to a cow, by which he will, if firm in faith, give us satisfaction. And if it is impossible for him to go through any of these he should go to a forest raise up his arms to the sun and other planets and say aloud—'I have no money, nor property nor grain nor any thing whatever which I may give as an offering to my ancestors. So I reverentially bow unto my ancestors; may they be propitiated with my devotion only—I throw up my arms in the air.' These are the words of the progenitors. O king, he who endeavours to satisfy their desires, performs the ancestral rite called Srāddha".

SECTION XV.

Aurva said:—"Hear, O king, what description of Brahman should be fed at ancestral ceremonies. He must be Trinachiketa, Trimadhu and Trisuparna;[246] or one who is versed in the six supplementary sciences of the Vedas; one who is well acquainted with the Vedas; one who practises the duties laid down in the Vedas,[247] one who is yogi,[248] one who is Jestha Sāmaga;[249] an officiating priest, a sister's son, a daughter's son, a son-in-law, a father-in-law, a maternal uncle, an ascetic, a Brāhman who keeps up the five fires, a pupil, a kinsman; one who respects his parents. O king, a man should employ the Brāhmans first mentioned in the performance of the Srāddha ceremony of his ancestors; and in the subsidiary rites performed to please his manes he should engage the others. He should not invite at a Srāddha ceremony a false friend, one who has got ugly nails, one who is eunuch, one who has got black teeth, a ravisher, a Brāhman who neglects the service of fire and sacred duty, a vender of Soma plant, a man accused of any crime, a thief, a calumniator, a Brāhman who performs the religious ceremonies for degraded persons, one who gives instructions to his servants in sacred writings; or one who is instructed in it by his servant, the husband of a woman who has been formerly betrothed to another, a man who has neglected his parents, the protector of a Sudra, the husband of a Sudra woman, and a Brāhman who worships idols. On the first day of the Srāddha a wise man should invite eminent teachers of Vedas and other Brahmins, and according to their instructions he must settle what is to be dedicated to the celestials and what to the manes. And in the company of the Brahmins he should abstain from anger, continence and hard work. He, who having eaten himself in a Srāddha and fed Brahmans and appointed them to their sacred offices, is guilty of incontinence, thereby dooms his progenitors to shameful suffering. Therefore on the day before the Srāddha, eminent Brāhmans should be invited. If a Brāhman, who has controlled his senses, comes to the house uninvited he should also be entertained with food. The Brahmins are to be respectfully received with water for their feet and after they have rinsed their mouths and washed their hands they should be offered seats. An uneven number of Brāhmins for the manes and an even number for the gods, as many as he can, should be employed; or one only on each occasion.