CHAPTER THE SECOND.
On Education; or on the Sacerdotal Class, and The First Order. 1. 'Know that system of duties, which is revered by such as are learned in the Vedas, and impressed, as the means of attaining
beatitude, on the hearts of
the just, who are ever exempt from hatred and inordinate affection.
2. 'Self-love is no laudable motive, yet an exemption from self-love is not to be found in this world: on self-love is grounded the study of scripture, and the practice of actions recommended in it.
3. ‘Eager desire to act has its root in expectation of some advantage; and with such expectation are sacrifices performed; the rules of religious austerity and
abstinence from sins are all known to arise from hope of remuneration,
4. 'Not a single act here below appears ever to be done by a man free from self-love; whatever he performed, it is wrought from his desire of a reward.
5. ‘He, indeed, who should persist in discharging these duties without any view to their fruit, would attain hereafter the state of
the immortals, and even in this life, would enjoy all the
virtuous gratifications, that his fancy could suggest.
6.
'The roots of law are the whole Veda, the ordinances and moral practices of such as perfectly understand it, the immemorial customs of good men, and, in cases quite indifferent, self-satisfaction.
7.
'Whatever law has been ordained for any person by Menu, that law is fully declared in the Veda: for He was perfect in divine knowledge:
8. 'A man of true learning, who has viewed
this complete system with the eye of sacred wisdom, cannot fail to perform all those duties, which
are ordained on the authority of the Veda.9. 'No doubt, that man who shall follow the rules prescribed in the Sruti and in the Smriti, will acquire fame in this life, and, in the next, inexpressible happiness:
10. 'By Sruti, or what was heard from above, is meant the Veda; and by Smriti, or what was remembered from the beginning, the body of law: those two must not be oppugned by heterodox arguments; since from those two, proceeds the whole system of duties.
11. 'Whatever man of the three highest classes, having addicted himself to heretical books, shall treat with contempt those two roots of law, he must be driven, as an Atheist and a scorner of revelation, from the company of the virtuous.
12. 'The Scripture, the codes of law, approved usage, and, in all indifferent cases, self- satisfaction, the wise have openly declared to be the quadruple description of the juridical system.
13 'A knowledge of right is a sufficient incentive for men unattached to wealth or to sensuality; and to those who seek a knowledge of right, the supreme authority is divine revelation;
14. 'But, when there are two sacred texts, apparently inconsistent, both are held to be law; for both are pronounced by the wise to be valid and reconcileable;
15. 'Thus in the Vida are these texts: "let the sacrifice be when the sun has arisen,” and, before it has risen,” and, "when neither sun nor stars can be seen:" the sacrifice, therefore, may be performed at any or all of those times.
16. 'He, whose life is regulated by holy texts, from his conception even to his funeral pile, has a decided right to study this code; but no other man whatsoever.
17. 'Between the two divine rivers Saraswati and Drishadwati, lies the tract of land, which the sages have named Brahmaverta, because it was frequented by Gods:
18. 'The custom preserved by immemorial tradition in that country among the four pure classes, and among those which are mixed, is called approved usage.
19. 'Curushetra, Matsya, Panchala, or Canyacubja, and Suratena, or Mathura, form the region called Brahmarshi, distinguished from Brahmaverta:
20. 'From a Bahmen who was born in that country, let all men on earth learn their several usages.
21. 'That country which lies between Himawat and Vinshya, to the east of Vinasana, and to the west of Prayaga, is celebrated by the title of Medhya-disa, or the central region.
22. 'As far as the eastern, and as far as the western oceans, between the two mountains just mentioned, lies the tract which the wise have named Ariaverta, or inhabited by respectable men.
23. 'That land, on which the black antelope naturally grazes, is held fit for the performance of sacrifices; but the land of Mlech’has, or those who speak barbarously, differs widely from it.
24. ‘Let the three first classes invariably dwell in those before-mentioned countries; but a Sudra, distressed for subsistence, may sojourn wherever he chuses.
25. 'Thus has the origin of law been succinctly declared to you, together with the formation of this universe: now learn the laws of the several classes.
26. 'With auspicious acts prescribed by the Veda, must ceremonies on conception, and so forth, be duly performed, which purify the bodies of the three classes in this life, and qualify them for the next.
27. 'By oblations to fire during the mother’s pregnancy, by holy rites on the birth of the child, by the tonsure of his head with a lock of hair left on it, by the ligation of the sacrificial cord, are the seminal and uterine taints of the three classes wholly removed:
28. 'By studying the Veda, by religious observances, by oblations to fire, by the ceremony of Traividia, by offering to the Gods and Manes, by the procreation of children, by the five great sacraments, and by solemn sacrifices, this human body is rendered fit for a divine state.
29. 'Before the section of the navel string, a ceremony is ordained on the birth of a male; he must be made, while sacred texts are pronounced, to taste a little honey and clarified butter from a golden spoon.
30. ‘Let the father perform or, if absent, cause to be performed, on the tenth or twelfth day after the birth, the ceremony of giving a name; or on some fortunate day of the moon, at a lucky hour, and under the influence of a star with good qualities.
31. 'The first part of a Brahmen's compound name should indicate holiness; of a Cshatriya's, power; of a Vaisya's, wealth; and of a Sudra's contempt:
32. ‘Let the Second part of the priest's name imply prosperity; of the soldier’s, preservation; of the merchant’s, nourishment; of the servant's, humble attendance.
33. ‘The names of women should be agreeable, soft, clear, captivating the fancy, auspicious, ending in long vowels, resembling words of benediction.
34. 'In the fourth month the child should be carried out of the house to see the sun: in the sixth month, he should be fed with rice; or that may be done, which, by the custom of the family, is thought most propitious.
33. ‘By the command of the Veda, the ceremony of tonsure should be legally performed by the three first classes in the first or third year after birth.
36. ‘In the eighth year from the conception of a Brahmen, in the eleventh from that of a Cshatriya, and in the twelfth from that of a Vaisya, let the father invest the child with the mark of his class:
37. ‘Should a Brahmen, or his father for him, be desirous of his advancement in sacred knowledge; a Cshatriya, of extending his power; or a Vaisya of engaging in mercantile business; the investiture may be made in the fifth, sixth, or eighth years respectively.
38. 'The ceremony of investiture hallowed by the gayatri must not be delayed, in the case of a priest, beyond the fifteenth year; nor in that of a soldier, beyond the twenty-second; nor in that of a merchant, beyond the twenty-fourth.
39. 'After that all youths of these three classes, who have not been invested at the proper time, become vratyas, or outcasts, degraded from the gayatri, and contemned by the virtuous:
40. 'With such impure men, let no Brahmen, even in distress for subsistence, ever form a connexion in law, either by the study of the Veda, or by affinity.
41. ‘Let students in theology wear for their mantles, the hides of black antelopes, of common deer, or of goats, with lower vests of woven sana, of cshuma, and of wool, in the direct order of their classes.
42. 'The girdle of a priest must be made of munja, in a triple cord, smooth and soft; that of a warrior must be a bow string of murva; that of a merchant, a triple thread of sana.
43 ‘If the munja be not procurable, their zones must be formed respectively of the grasses cusa asmantaca, valvaja, in triple strings with one, three, or five knots, according to the family custom.
44. 'The sacrificial thread of a Brahmen must be made of cotton, so as to be put on over his head, in three strings; that of a Cshatriya, of sana thread only; that of a Vaisya of woollen thread.
43. 'A priest ought by law to carry a staff of Bilva or Palasa; a soldier, of Bata or Chadira; a merchant of Venu of Udumbara:
46 'The staff of a priest must be of such length as to reach his hair; that of a soldier, to reach his forehead; and that of a merchant, to reach his nose.
47. ‘Let all the staves be straight, without fracture, of a handsome appearance, not likely to terrify men, with their bark perfect, unhurt by fire.
48. 'Having taken a legal staff to his liking, and standing opposite to the sun, let the student thrice walk round the fire from left to right, and perform, according to law, the ceremony of asking food:
49. 'The most excellent of the three classes, being girt with the sacrificial thread, must ask food with the respectful word bhavati, at the beginning of the phrase; those of the second class, with that word in the middle; and those of the third, with that word at the end.
50. 'Let him first beg food of his mother, or of his sister, or of his mother’s whole sister; then of some other female who will not disgrace him.
51. 'Having collected as much of the desired food as he has occasion for, and having presented it without guile to his preceptor, let him eat some of it, being duly purified, with his face to the east:
52. 'If he seek long life, he should eat with his face to the east, if exalted fame to the south; if prosperity to the west; if truth and its reward to the north.
53. 'Let the student, having performed his ablution, always eat his food without distraction of mind; and, having eaten, let him thrice wash his mouth completely, sprinkling with water the six hollow parts of his head, or his eyes, ears, and nostrils.
54. 'Let him honour all his food, and eat it without contempt; when he sees it, let him rejoice and be calm, and pray, that he may always obtain it.
55. ‘Food, eaten constantly with respect, gives muscular force and generative power; but, eaten irreverently, destroys them both.
56. 'He must beware of giving any man what he leaves; and of eating any thing between morning and evening: he must also beware of eating too much, and of going any whither with a remnant of his food unswallowed.
57. ‘Excessive eating is prejudicial to health, to fame, and to future bliss in Heaven; it is injurious to virtue, and odious among men: he must, for these reasons, by all means avoid it.
58. ‘Let a Brahmen at all times perform the ablution with the pure part of his hand denominated from the Veda, or with the part sacred to the Lord of creatures, or with that dedicated to the Gods; but never with the part named from the Pitris:
59. ‘The pure part under the root of the thumb is called Brahma, that at the root of the little finger, Caya; that at the tips of the fingers, Daiva; and the part between the thumb and index Pitrya.
60. 'Let him first sip water thrice; then twice wipe his mouth; and lastly touch with water the six before mentioned cavities, his breast and his head.
61. 'He who knows the law and seeks purity will ever perform his ablution with the pure part of his hand, and with water neither hot nor frothy, standing in a lonely place, and turning to the east or the north.
62. ‘A Brahmen is purified by water that reaches his bosom; a Catriya, by water descending to his throat; a Vaisya, by water barely taken into his mouth; a Sudra by water touched with the extremity of his lips.
63. ‘A youth of the three highest classes is named upaviti, when his right hand is extended for the cord to pass ever his head and be fixed on his left shoulder; when his left hand is extended, that the thread may be placed on his right shoulder, he is called prachinaviti; and niviti, when it is fastened on his neck.
64. ‘His girdle, his leathern mantle, his staff, his sacrificial cord, and his ewer, he must throw into the water, when they are worn out or broken, and receive others hallowed by mystical texts.
65. 'The ceremony of cesanta, or cutting off the hair, is ordained for a priest in the sixteenth year from conception; for a soldier, in the twenty-second; for a merchant, two years later than that.
66. ‘The same ceremonies, except that of the sacrificial thread, must be duly performed for women at the same age and in the same order, that the body may be made perfect; but without any text from the Veda:
67. ‘The nuptial ceremony is considered as the complete institution of women, ordained for them in the Veda, together with reverence to their husbands, dwelling first in their fathers family, the business of the house, and attention to sacred fire.
68. 'Such is the real law of institution for the twice born; an institution in which their second birth clearly consists, and which causes their advancement in holiness: now learn to what duties they must afterwards apply themselves.
69. 'The venerable preceptor, having girt his pupil with the thread, must first instruct him in purification, in good customs, in the management of the consecrated fire, and in the holy rites of morning, noon, and evening.
70. 'When the student is going to read the Veda, he must perform an ablution, as the law ordains, with his face to the north and, having paid scriptural homage, he must receive instruction, wearing a clean vest, his members being duly composed:
71. 'At the beginning and end of the lecture, he must always clasp both the feet of his preceptor; and he must read with both his hands closed: (this is called scripture homage.)
72. 'With crossed hands let him clasp the feet of his tutor, touching the left foot with his left, and the right, with his right hand.
73. 'When he is prepared for the lecture, the preceptor, constantly attentive, must say: "hoa! read;" and at the close,of the lesson he must say: "take rest.”
74. 'A Brahmen, beginning and ending a lecture on the Veda, must always pronounce to himself the syllable om; for, unless the syllable om precede, his learning will slip away from him; and, unless it follow, nothing will be long retained.
75. 'If he have sitten on culms of cusa with their points toward the east, and be purified by rubbing that holy grass on both his hands, and be further prepared by three suppressions of breath each equal in time to five short vowels, he then may fitly pronounce om.
76. ‘Brahma milked out, as it were, from the three Vedas, the letter A, the letter U, and the letter M, which form by their coalition the triliteral monosyllable, together with three mysterious words, bhur, bhuvah, fwer, or earth, sky, heaven:
77. ‘From the three Vedas, also, the Lord of creatures, incomprehensibly exalted, successively milked out the three measures of that ineffable text, beginning with the word tad, and entitled savitri or gayatri.
78. ‘A priest who shall know the Veda, and shall pronounce to himself, both morning and evening, that syllable, and that holy text preceded by the three words, shall attain the sanctity which the Veda confers;
79. ‘And a twice born man, who shall a thousand times repeat those three (or om, the vyahritis, and the gayatri,) apart from the multitude, shall be released in a month even from a great offence, as a snake from his slough.
80. 'The priest, the soldier, and the merchant, who shall neglect this mysterious text, and fail to perform in due season his peculiar acts of piety, shall meet with contempt among the virtuous.
81. ‘The three great immutable words, preceded by the triliteral syllable, and followed by the gayatri which consists of three measures, must be considered as the mouth, or principal part of the Veda:
82. ‘Whoever shall repeat, day by day, for three years, without negligence, that sacred text, shall hereafter approach the divine essence, move as freely as air, and assume an ethereal form.
83. 'The triliteral monosyllable is an emblem of the supreme, the suppressions of breath with a mind fixed on God are the highest devotion; but nothing is more exalted than the gayatri: a declaration of truth is more excellent than silence.
84. 'All rites ordained in the Veda, oblations to fire, and solemn sacrifices pass away; but that which passes not away, is declared to be the syllable om, thence called acshara; since it is a symbol of God, the Lord of created beings.
85. 'The act of repeating his Holy Name is ten times better than the appointed sacrifice; an hundred times better when it is heard by no man; and a thousand times better when it is purely mental:
86. 'The four domestic sacraments which are accompanied with the appointed sacrifice, are not equal, though all be united, to a sixteenth part of the sacrifice performed by a repetition of the gayatri:
87. 'By the sole repetition of the gayatri, a priest may indubitably attain beatitude, let him perform, or not perform, any other religious act; if he be Maitra, or a friend to all creatures, he is justly named Brahmena, or united to the Great One.
88. 'In restraining the organs which run wild among ravishing sensualities, a wise man will apply diligent care, like a charioteer in managing restive horses.
89. 'Those eleven organs, to which the first sages gave names, I will comprehensively enumerate as the law considers them in due order.
90. 'The nose is the fifth after the ears, the skin, the eyes, and the tongue; and the organs of speech are reckoned the tenth, after those of excretion and generation, and the hands and feet:
91. ‘Five of them, the ear and the rest in succession, learned men have called organs of sense; and the others, organs of action:
92. ‘The heart must be considered as the eleventh; which, by its natural property, comprises both sense and action; and which being subdued, the two other sets, with five in each, are also controled.
93. ‘A man, by the attachment of his organs to sensual pleasure incurs certain guilt; but, having wholly subdued them, he thence attains heavenly bliss.
94. 'Desire is never satisfied with the enjoyment of desired objects; as the fire is not appeased with clarified butter; it only blazes more vehemently.
95. ‘Whatever man may obtain all those gratifications, or whatever man may resign them completely, the resignation of all pleasures is far better than the attainment of them.
96. 'The organs being strongly attached to sensual delights cannot so effectually be restrained by avoiding incentives to pleasure, as by a constant pursuit of divine knowledge.
97. ‘To a man contaminated by sensuality neither the Vedas, nor liberality, nor sacrifices, nor strict observances, nor pious austerities, ever procure felicity.
98. ‘He must be considered as really triumphant over his organs, who, on hearing and touching, on feeing and tasting and smelling, what may please or offend the senses, neither greatly rejoices nor greatly repines:
99. 'But, when one among all his organs fails, by that single failure his knowledge of God passes away, as water flows through one hole in a leathern bottle.
100. 'Having kept all his members of sense and action under control, and obtained also command over his heart, he will enjoy every advantage, even though he reduce not his body by religious austerities.
101. ‘At the morning twilight let him stand repeating the gayatri until he see the fun; and at evening twilight, let him repeat it sitting, until the stars distinctly appear:
102. 'He who stands repeating it at the morning twilight, removes all unknown nocturnal sin; and he who repeats it sitting at evening twilight, disperses the taint, that has unknowingly been contracted in the day;
103. 'But he who stands not repeating it in the morning, and sits not repeating it in the evening, must be precluded, like a Sudra, from every sacred observance of the twice born classes.
104. 'Near pure water, with his organs holden under control, and retiring from circumspection to some unfrequented place, let him pronounce the gayatri, performing daily ceremonies.
105. 'In reading the Vedangas, or grammar, prosody, mathematics, and so forth, or even such parts of the Veda as ought constantly to be read, there is no prohibition on particular days; nor in pronouncing the texts appointed for oblations to fire:
106. 'Of that, which must constantly be read, and is therefore called Brahmasatra, there can be no such prohibition; and the oblation to fire, according to the Veda, produces good fruit, though accompanied with the text vashat, which on other occasions must be intermitted on certain days.
107. 'For him, who shall persist a whole year in reading the Veda, his organs being kept in subjection, and his body pure, there will always rise good fruit from his offerings of milk and curds, of clarified butter and honey.
108. 'Let the twice born youth, who has been girt with the sacrificial cord, collect wood for the holy fire, beg food of his relations, sleep on a low bed, and perform such offices as may please his preceptor, until his return to the house of his natural father.
109. 'Ten persons may legally be instructed in the Veda; the son of a spiritual teacher; a boy who is assiduous; one who can impart other knowledge; one who is just; one who is pure; one who is friendly; one who is powerful; one who can bestow wealth; one who is honest; and one who is related by blood.
110. 'Let not a sensible teacher tell any other what he is not asked, nor what he is asked improperly; but let him however intelligent, act in the multitude as if he were dumb:
111. 'Of the two persons, him, who illegally asks, and him, who illegally answers, one will die, or incur odium.
112. 'Where virtue, and wealth sufficient to secure it, are not found, or diligent attention, at least proportioned to the holiness of the subject, in that soil divine instruction must not be sown: it would perish like fine seed in barren land.
113. 'A teacher of the Veda should rather die with his learning, than sow it in sterile soil, even though he be in grievous distress for subsistence.
114. 'Sacred Learning, having approached a Brahmen, said to him: "I am thy precious gem; preserve me with care; deliver me not to a scorner; (so preserved I shall become supremely strong.)
115. 'But communicate me, as to a vigilent depository of thy gem, to that student, whom thou shalt know to be pure, to have subdued his passions, to perform the duties of his order.”
116. 'He who shall acquire knowledge of the Veda without the assent of his preceptor, incurs the guilt of stealing the scripture, and shall sink to the region of torment.
117. 'From whatever teacher a student has received instruction, either popular, ceremonial, or sacred, let him first salute his instructor, when they meet.
118. 'A Brahmen, who completely governs his passions, though he know the gayatri only, is more honourable than he, who governs not his passions, who eats all sorts of food, and sells all sorts of commodities, even though he know the three Vedas.
119. 'When a superior sits on a couch or bench, let not an inferior sit on it with him; and, if an inferior be sitting on a couch, let him rise to salute a superior.
120. 'The vital spirits of a young man mount upwards to depart from him, when an elder approaches; but by rising and salutation he recovers them.
121. 'A youth who habitually greets and constantly reveres the aged, obtains an increase of four things; life, knowledge, fame, strength.
122. 'After the word of salutation, a Brahmen must address an elder; saying, "I am such an one," pronouncing his own name.
123. 'If any persons, through ignorance of the Sanscrit language, understand not the import of his name, to them should a learned man say, "It is I;" and in that manner he should address all classes of women.
124. ‘In the salutation he should pronounce, after his own name, the vocative particle bhos; for the particle bhos is held by the wise to have the same property with names fully expressed.
125. 'A Brahmen should thus be saluted in return: "May’st thou live long, excellent man!” and at the end of his name, the vowel and preceding consonant should be lengthened, with an acute accent, to three syllabick moments or short vowels.
Notwithstanding the degree to which the furious passions enter into the character of the Hindu, all witnesses agree in representing him as a timid being. With more apparent capacity of supporting pain than any other race of men; and, on many occasions, a superiority to the fear of death, which cannot be surpassed, this people run from danger with more trepidation and eagerness than has been almost ever witnessed in any other part of the globe.
It is the mixture of this fearfulness, with their antisocial passions, which has given existence to that litigiousness of character which almost all witnesses have ascribed to this ancient race. As often as courage fails them in seeking a more daring gratification to their hatred or revenge, their malignity finds a vent in the channel of litigation. “That pusillanimity and sensibility of spirit,” says Mr, Orme, “which renders the Gentoos incapable of supporting the contentions of danger, disposes them as much to prosecute litigious contests. No people are of more inveterate and steady resentments in civil disputes. The only instance in which they seem to have a contempt for money, is their profusion of it in procuring the redress and revenge of injuries at the bar of justice. Although they can, with great resignation, see themselves plundered to the utmost by their superiors, they become mad with impatience, when they think themselves defrauded of any part of their property by their equals. Nothing can be more adapted to the feminine spirit of a Gentoo, than the animosities of a lawsuit.”
A modification of the same passions gives rise to another, and seemingly a strong ingredient in the Hindu character, a propensity to the war of contentious tongues. The following picture, if not finely, is at least clearly drawn. “The timidity of the Hindu may, in general, prevent his fighting, boxing, or shedding of blood; but it by no means restrains him from scolding and upbraiding his neighbours. In this respect they are the most litigious and quarrel-some of all men. Have two persons a misunderstanding? Let them meet in the street and they will upbraid each other for an hour together, with every foul epithet of abuse which their imagination can suggest, or their language supply. A few natives engaged in one of these bickerings display a furious gesticulation; a volubility of words and coarseness of expression which leave the eloquence of Billingsgate far behind.”
-- The History of British India, vol. I, by James Mill
126. 'That Brahmen, who knows not the form of returning a salutation, must not be saluted by a man of learning: as a Sudra, even so is he.
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, anamayam, cshemam, and arogyam.
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 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 Brahmen, though but ten years old, and a Cshatriya, though aged a hundred years, as father and son; as between those two, the young Brahmen 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 Sudra, 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 Veda, with the law of sacrifice and the sacred Upanishads, holy sages call an acharya:
141. 'But, he, who for his livelihood, gives instruction in a part only of the Veda, or in grammar, and in other Vedangas, is called an updahyaya, or sublecturer.
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 paca and agnishtoma, 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 Veda, must be considered as equal to a mother; he must be revered as a father; him the pupil must never grieve.
145. 'A mere acharya, or a teacher of the gayatri only, surpasses ten upadhyayas; a father, a hundred such acharyas; and a mother, a thousand natural fathers.
146. 'Of him, who gives natural birth, and him, who gives knowledge of the whole Veda, the giver of sacred knowledge is the more venerable father; since the second or divine birth 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 acharya, who knows the whole Veda, procures for him by his divine mother the gayatri, is a true birth: that birth is exempt from age and from death.
140. '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 Brahmen, 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 Veda, 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;
152. 'For an unlearned man is in truth a child; and he who teaches him the Veda, 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 Vedas 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 Veda.
157. 'As an elephant made of wood, as an antelope made of leather, such is an unlearned Brahmen: those three have nothing but names.
158. 'As an eunuch is unproductive with women, as cow with a cow is unprolifick, as liberality to a fool is fruitless, so is a Brahmen 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 Veda.
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 Brahmen should constantly shun worldly honour, as he should 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 the law, must the whole Veda 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 Brahmen.
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 Veda.
168. ‘A twice born man, who not having studied the Veda, applies diligent attention to a different and worldly study, soon falls, even when living, to the condition of a Sudra; 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 Veda:
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 Gayatri is his mother, and the Acharya, his father.
171. ' Sages call the Acharya father, from his giving instruction in the Veda: 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 Sudra 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 Veda 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 Brahmachari 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;
178. 'From unguents for his limbs, and from black powder for his eyes, from wearing sandals, and carrying an umbrella, from sensual desires, from wrath, from covetousness, from dancing, and from vocal and instrumental musick;
179. 'From gaming, from disputes, from detraction, and from falsehood, from embracing or wantonly looking at women, and from disservice to other men.
180. 'Let him constantly sleep alone: let him never waste his own manhood; for he, who voluntarily wastes his manhood, violates the rule of his order, and becomes an avacirni:
181. 'A twice born youth, who has involuntarily wasted his manly strength during sleep, must repeat with reverence, having bathed and paid homage to the sun, this text of scripture: "Again let my strength return to me.”
182. 'Let him carry water pots, flowers, cow-dung, fresh earth, and cusa-grass, as much as may be useful to his preceptor; and let him perform every day the duty of a religious mendicant.
183. 'Each day must a Brahmen student receive his food by begging, with due care, from the houses of persons renowned for discharging their duties, and not deficient in performing the sacrifices which the Veda ordains.
184. 'Let him not beg from the cousins of his preceptor; nor from his own cousins; nor from other kinsmen by the father's side, or by the mother's; but, if other houses be not accessible, let him begin with the last of those in order, avoiding the first;
185. 'Or, if none of those houses just mentioned can be found, let him go begging through the whole district, round the village, keeping his organs in subjection, and remaining silent; but let him turn away from such as have committed any deadly sin.
186. 'Having brought logs of wood from a distance, let him place them in the open air; and with them let him make an oblation to fire without remissness, both evening and morning.
187. 'He, who for seven successive days omits the ceremony of begging food, and offers not wood to the sacred fire, must perform the penance of an avacirni, unless he be afflicted with illness.
188. 'Let the student persist constantly in such begging, but let him not eat the food of one person only: the subsistence of a student by begging is held equal to fasting in religious merit.
189. 'Yet, when he is asked in a solemn act in honour of the Gods or the Manes, he may eat at his pleasure the food of a single person; observing, however, the laws of abstinence and the austerity of an anchoret: thus the rule of his order is kept inviolate.
190. 'This duty of a mendicant is ordained by the wise for a Brahmen only; but no such act is appointed for a warriour, or for a merchant.
191. 'Let the scholar, when commanded by his preceptor, and even when he has received no command, always exert himself in reading, and in all acts useful to his teacher.
192. 'Keeping in due subjection his body, his speech, his organs of sense, and his heart, let him stand, with the palms of his hands joined, looking at the face of his preceptor.
193. 'Let him always keep his right arm uncovered, be always decently apparelled, and properly composed; and when his instructor says, “be seated,” let him sit opposite to his venerable guide.
194. 'In the presence of his preceptor let him always eat less, and wear a coarser mantle with worse appendages; let him rise before, and go to rest after his tutor.
195. 'Let him not answer his teacher’s orders, or converse with him, reclining on a bed; nor sitting, nor eating, nor standing, nor with an averted face:
196. 'But let him both answer and converse. if his preceptor sit, standing up; if he stand, advancing toward him; if he advance, meeting him; if he run, hastening after him;
197. 'If his face be averted, going round to front him, from left to right; if he be at a little distance, approaching him; if reclined, bending to him; and, if he stand ever so far off, running toward him.
198. 'When his teacher is nigh, let his couch or his bench be always placed low: when his preceptor’s eye can observe him, let him not sit carelessly at ease.
199. 'Let him never pronounce the mere name of his tutor, even in his absence; nor ever mimick his gait, his speech, or his manner.
200. 'In whatever place, either true but censorious, or false and defamatory, discourse is held concerning his teacher, let him there cover his ears or remove to another place:
201. 'By censuring his preceptor, though justly, he will be born an ass; by falsely defaming him, a dog; by using his goods without leave, a small worm; by envying his merit, a larger insect or reptile.
202. 'He must not serve his tutor by the intervention of another, while himself stands aloof; nor must he attend him in a passion, nor when a woman is near; from a carriage or raised seat he must descend to salute his heavenly director.
203. 'Let him not sit with his preceptor to the leeward, or to the windward of him; nor let him say any thing which the venerable man cannot hear.
204. 'He may sit with his teacher in a carriage drawn by bulls, horses, or camels; on a terrace, on a pavement of stones, or on a mat of woven grass; on a rock, on a wooden bench, or in a boat.
205. 'When his tutor’s tutor is near, let him demean himself as if his own were present; nor let him, unless ordered by his spiritual father, prostrate himself in his presence before his natural father, or paternal uncle.
206. 'This is likewise ordained as his constant behaviour toward his other instructors in science; toward his elder paternal kinsmen; toward all who may restrain him from sin, and all who give him salutary advice.
207. 'Toward men also, who are truly virtuous, let him always behave as toward his preceptor; and, in like manner, toward the sons of his teacher, who are entitled to respect as older men, and are not students; and toward the paternal kinsmen of his venerable tutor.
208. 'The son of his preceptor, whether younger or of equal age, or a student, if he be capable of teaching the Veda, deserves the same honour with the preceptor himself, when he is present at any sacrificial act:
209. 'But he must not perform for the son of his teacher, the duty of rubbing his limbs, or of bathing him, or of eating what he leaves, or of washing his feet.
210. 'The wives of his preceptor, if they be of the same class, must receive equal honour with their venerable husband; but if they be of a different class, they must be honoured only by rising and salutation.
211. 'For no wife of his teacher must he perform the offices of pouring scented oil on them, of attending them while they bathe, of rubbing their legs and arms, or of decking their hair;
212. 'Nor must a young wife of his preceptor be greeted even by the ceremony of touching her feet, if he have completed his twentieth year, or can distinguish virtue from vice.
213. 'It is the nature of women in this world to cause the seduction of men; for which reason the wise are never unguarded in the company of females:
214. 'A female indeed, is able to draw from the right path in this life not a fool only, but even a sage, and can lead him in subjection to desire or to wrath.
215. 'Let not a man, therefore, sit in a sequestered place with his nearest female relations: the assemblage of corporeal organs is powerful enough to snatch wisdom from the wise.
216. 'A young student may, as the law directs, make prostration at his pleasure on the ground before a young wife of his tutor, saying, "I am such an one;"
217. 'And on his return from a journey, he must once touch the feet of his preceptor’s aged wife, and salute her each day by prostration, calling to mind the practice of virtuous men.
218. 'As he who digs deep with a spade comes to a spring of water, so the student, who humbly serves his teacher, attains the knowledge which lies deep in his teacher’s mind.
219. 'Whether his head be shorn, or his hair long, or one lock be bound above in a knot, let not the sun ever set or rise while he lies asleep in the village.
220. 'If the sun should rise or set, while he sleeps through sensual indulgence, and knows it not, he must fast a whole day, repeating the gayatri:
221. 'He, who has been surprised asleep by the setting or by the rising sun, and performs not that penance, incurs great guilt.
222. 'Let him adore God both at sunrise and at sunset, as the law ordains, having made his ablution and keeping his organs controled; and, with fixed attention, let him repeat the text, which he ought to repeat, in a place free from impurity.
223. 'If a woman or a Sudra perform any act leading to the chief temporal good, let the student be careful to emulate it; and he may do whatever gratifies his heart, unless it be forbidden by law:
224. 'The chief temporal good is by some declared to consist in virtue and wealth; by some, in wealth and lawful pleasure; by some, in virtue alone; by others, in wealth alone; but the chief good here below is an assemblage of all three: this is a sure decision.
225. 'A teacher of the Veda is the image of God, a natural father, the image of Brahma; a mother, the image of the earth; an elder whole brother, the image of the soul:
226. ‘Therefore a spiritual and a natural father, a mother, and an elder brother, are not to be treated with disrespect, especially by a Brahmen, though the student be grievously provoked.
227. 'That pain and care which a mother and father undergo in producing and rearing children, cannot be compensated in an hundred years.
228. 'Let every man constantly do what may please his parents; and, on all occasions, what may please his preceptor: when those three are satisfied, his whole course of devotion is accomplished.
229. 'Due reverence to those three is considered as the highest devotion; and without their approbation he must perform no other duty.
230. 'Since they alone are held equal to the three worlds; they alone, to the three principal orders; they alone, to the three Vedas; they alone, to the three fires:
231. 'The natural father is considered as the garhapatya, or nuptial fire; the mother as the dacshina, or ceremonial; the spiritual guide, as the ahavaniya or sacrificial: this triad of fires is most venerable.
232. 'He, who neglects not those three, when he becomes a house-keeper, will ultimately obtain dominion over the three worlds; and his body being irradiated like a God, he will enjoy supreme bliss in heaven.
233. By honouring his mother he gains this terrestrial world; by honouring his father, the intermediate, or etherial; and, by assiduous attention to his preceptor, even the celestial world of Brahma:
234. ‘All duties are completely performed by that man, by whom those three are completely honoured; but to him by whom they are dishonoured, all other acts of duty are fruitless.
235. 'As long as those three live, so long he must perform no other duty for his own sake; but delighting in what may conciliate their affections and gratify their wishes, he must from day to day assiduously wait on them:
236. 'Whatever duty he may perform in thought, word, or deed, with a view to the next world, without derogation from his respect to them; he must declare to them his entire performance of it.
237. 'By honouring those three, without more, a man essentially does whatever ought to be done: this is the highest duty, appearing before us like Dherma himself, and every other act is an upadherma, or subordinate duty.
238. 'A believer in scripture may receive pure knowledge even from a Sudra; a lesson of the highest virtue, even from a Chandala; and a woman, bright as a gem, even from the basest family:
239. 'Even from poison may nectar be taken; even from a child, gentleness of speech; even from a foe, prudent conduct; and even from an impure substance, gold.
240. 'From every quarter, therefore, must be selected women bright as gems, knowledge, virtue, purity, gentle speech, and various liberal arts.
241. 'In case of necessity, a student is required to learn the Veda from one who is not a Brahmen, and, as long as that instruction continues, to honour his instructor with obsequious assiduity;
242. 'But a pupil who leeks the incomparable path to heaven, should not live to the end of his days in the dwelling of a preceptor who is no Brahmen, or who has not read all the Vedas with their Angas.
243. 'If he anxiously desire to pass his whole life in the house of a sacerdotal teacher, he must serve him with assiduous care, till he be released from his mortal frame:
244. 'That Brahmen, who has dutifully attended his preceptor, till the dissolution of his body, passes directly to the eternal mansion of God.
245. 'Let not a student, who knows his duty, present any gift to his preceptor before his return home, but when, by his tutor’s permission, he is going to perform the ceremony on his return, let him give the venerable man some valuable thing to the best of his power;
246. 'A field, or gold, a jewel, a cow, or an horse, an umbrella, a pair of sandals, a stool, corn, cloths, or even any very excellent vegetable: thus will he gain the affectionate remembrance of his instructor.
247. 'The student for life must, if his teacher die, attend on his virtuous son, or his widow, or on one of his paternal kinsmen, with the same respect which he showed to the living:
248. 'Should none of those be alive, he must occupy the station of his preceptor, the seat, and the place of religious exercises; must continually pay due attention to the fires, which he had consecrated; and must prepare his own soul for heaven.
249. 'The twice born man, who shall thus without intermission have passed the time of his studentship, shall ascend, after death, to the most exalted of regions, and no more again spring to birth in this lower world.