[27] It is said to be the law of Brahmā when a man dresses his daughter and adorns her and he himself gives her as a gift to a man he has summoned, one who knows the revealed canon and is of good character. [28] They call it the law of the gods when a man adorns his daughter and, in the course of a sacrifice, gives her as a gift to the officiating priest who is properly performing the ritual. [29] It is called the sages’ law when he gives away his daughter by the rules, after receiving from the bridegroom a cow and a bull, or two cows and bulls, in accordance with the law. [30] The tradition calls it the rule of the Lord of Creatures when a man gives away his daughter after adorning her and saying ‘May the two of you together fulfil your duties.’
[31] It is called the demonic law when a man takes the girl because he wants her himself, when he has given as much wealth as he can to her relatives and to the girl herself. [32] It is to be recognized as a centaur marriage when the girl and her lover join with one another in sexual union because they want to, out of desire. [33] It is called the rule of the ogres when a man forcibly carries off a girl out of her house, screaming and weeping, after he has killed, wounded, and broken. [34] The lowest and most evil of marriages, known as that of the ghouls, takes place when a man secretly has sex with a girl who is asleep, drunk, or out of her mind. [35] For priests, the gift of a girl with (a libation of) water is the best (marriage); but for the other classes (the best is) when they desire one another.
[36] Listen, priests, while I tell you fully about all the qualities of these marriages that Manu has proclaimed. [37] If a son born to a woman who has had a Brahmā marriage does good deeds, he frees from guilt ten of the ancestors who came before him, ten later descendants, and himself as the twenty-first. [38] A son born to a woman who had a marriage of the gods (frees) seven ancestors and seven descendants, a son born to a woman who had a marriage of the sages (frees) three (of each), and a son born to a woman who had a marriage of the Lord of Creatures (frees) six (of each). [39] The sons born from these four marriages, in order beginning with the Brahmā marriage, are filled with the splendour of the Veda and are esteemed by educated men. [40] Beautiful and endowed with the quality of lucidity, rich and famous, enjoying life to the fullest, most religious, they live for a hundred years. [41] But from those (four) other remaining bad marriages are born cruel sons, liars who hate the Veda and religion. [42] Out of blameless marriages with women come blameless progeny. Blameworthy progeny come to men from blameworthy (marriages); therefore one should avoid the blameworthy ones.
[43] The transformative ritual of taking the bride by the hand is prescribed for women of the same class; know that this (following) procedure is for the marriage ritual with women of a different class. [44] When a woman marries a man of superior class, a woman of the ruler class must take hold of an arrow, a commoner girl a whip, and a servant woman must grasp the fringe of (his) garment.
[45] A man should have sex with his wife during her fertile season, and always find his satisfaction in his own wife; when he desires sexual pleasure he should go to her to whom he is vowed, except on the days at the (lunar) junctures. [46] The natural fertile season of women is traditionally said to last for sixteen nights, though these include four special days that good people despise. [47] Among these (nights), the first four, the eleventh, and the thirteenth are disapproved; the other ten nights are approved. [48] On the even nights, sons are conceived, and on the uneven nights, daughters; therefore a man who wants sons should unite with his wife during her fertile season on the even nights. [49] A male child is born when the semen of the man is greater (than that of the woman), and a female child when (the semen) of the woman is greater (than that of the man); if both are equal, a hermaphrodite is born, or a boy and a girl; and if (the semen) is weak or scanty, the opposite will occur. [50] A man who avoids women on the (six) disapproved nights and on eight other nights is regarded as chaste, no matter which of the four stages of life he is in.
[51] No learned father should take a bride-price for his daughter, no matter how small, for a man who, out of greed, exacts a bride-price would be selling his child like a pimp. [52] And those deluded relatives who live off a woman’s property – her carriages, her clothes, and so on – are evil and go to hell. [53] Some say that the cow and bull (given) during the (wedding) of the sages is a bride-price, but it is not so. No matter how great or small (the price), the sale amounts to prostitution. [54] Girls whose relatives do not take the bride-price for themselves are not prostituted; that (gift) is merely honorific and a mercy to maidens.
[55] Fathers, brothers, husbands, and brothers-in-law who wish for great good fortune should revere these women and adorn them. [56] The deities delight in places where women are revered, but where women are not revered all rites are fruitless. [57] Where the women of the family are miserable, the family is soon destroyed, but it always thrives where the women are not miserable. [58] Homes that are cursed by women of the family who have not been treated with due reverence are completely destroyed, as if struck down by witchcraft. [59] Therefore men who wish to prosper should always revere these women with ornaments, clothes, and food at celebrations and festivals.
[60] There is unwavering good fortune in a family where the husband is always satisfied by the wife, and the wife by the husband. [61] If the wife is not radiant she does not stimulate the man; and because the man is unstimulated the making of children does not happen. [62] If the woman is radiant, the whole family is radiant, but if she is not radiant the whole family is not radiant. [63] Through bad marriages, the neglect of rites, failure to study the Veda, and transgressing against priests, families cease to be families.
[64] By (making a living from) crafts or business or from cows, horses, and carts, by begetting children only with servant women, by farming the land, by serving a king, [65] by sacrificing for those who are unfit for the sacrifice, and by denying the doctrine of the effects of past actions, families who are bereft of Vedic verses quickly perish. [66] But families rich in Vedic verses join the highest rank of families and cultivate great fame even if they have little property.
[67] In the fire set at the time of marriage, the householder should perform the domestic rituals and the five (great) sacrifices in accordance with the rules, and do his everyday cooking. [68] A householder has five slaughter-houses, whose use fetters him: the fireplace, the grindstone, the broom, the mortar and pestle, and the water jar. [69] The great sages devised the five great sacrifices for the householder to do every day to redeem him from all of these (slaughter-houses) successively. [70] The study (of the Veda) is the sacrifice to ultimate reality, and the refreshing libation is the sacrifice to the ancestors; the offering into the fire is for the gods, the propitiatory offering of portions of food is for the disembodied spirits, and the revering of guests is the sacrifice to men. [71] The man who does not neglect these five great sacrifices as long as he is able to perform them is not defiled by the stains of the slaughter-houses, even while he lives as a householder. [72] But whoever scatters no propitiatory offering to the five – the gods, guests, dependants, ancestors, and the self – breathes but does not (truly) live. [73] These five sacrifices are [also] known as ‘the not-offered-in-the-fire’, ‘the offered-in-the-fire’, ‘the offered-by-scattering’, ‘the offered-to-priests’, and ‘the eaten’. [74] ‘The not-offered-in-the-fire’ is chanting (the Veda), ‘the offered-in-the-fire’ is the offering into the fire, ‘the offered-by-scattering’ is the propitiatory offering to the disembodied spirits, ‘the offered-to-priests’ is the reception of priests (as guests), and ‘the eaten’ is the refreshing libation to the ancestors.
[75] The man in this (stage of life) should be regularly engaged in the daily personal study (of the Veda), and also in rituals for the gods; for the man who is diligently engaged in rituals for the gods maintains this (whole universe), moving and unmoving. [76] An offering cast properly into the fire approaches the sun; rain is created from the sun, from rain comes food, and from that, progeny. [77] Just a
s all living creatures depend on air in order to live, so do members of the other stages of life subsist by depending on householders. [78] Since people in the other three stages of life are supported every day by the knowledge and the food of the householder, therefore the householder stage of life is the best. [79] It must be carried out with zeal by the man who wants to win an incorruptible heaven (after death) and endless happiness here on earth, but it cannot be carried out by men with feeble sensory powers.
[80] The sages, ancestors, gods, disembodied spirits, and guests expect things from householders, which the understanding man should do for them. [81] He should honour the sages with the private recitation of the Veda, the gods with offerings into the fire in accordance with the rules, the ancestors with the ceremonies for the dead, men with food, and the disembodied spirits with the ritual of the propitiatory offering. [82] Day after day at the ceremony for the dead he should offer what gives pleasure to the ancestors: food, or water, or milk, roots, or fruits. [83] He should feed a priest, even if it is only one, as a means of pleasing the ancestors during the ritual that is part of the five great sacrifices; but he should not feed any twice-born (priest) at this time for the purposes of fulfilling the ritual to the All-gods.
[84] Every day, a priest should take (a portion) of the sanctified (food) for the ritual to the All-gods prepared according to the rules and make an offering in the household fire to the following deities: [85] first to Fire, then to Soma, and then to both of them together, and then to the All-gods and Dhanvantari; [86] and then to the goddesses of the new-moon day and the full-moon day, to the Lord of Creatures, to the earth and sky together, and finally to Fire of the Perfected Offering.
[87] And when he has offered the oblations properly in this manner, he should distribute the propitiatory offering in all the cardinal directions, in clockwise order: one each to Indra, Death, the lord of the Waters, and the Moon, together with their attendants. [88] He should put down (a portion) at the door while saying ‘To the Maruts,’ and one in some water while saying ‘To the waters.’ Saying ‘To the Lord of the Trees,’ he should offer (one) on the mortar and pestle. [89] He should make a propitiatory offering at the head to the goddess of Good Fortune, and at the foot to the Benevolent Dark Goddess, and in the centre of the house to ultimate reality and the Lord of the House. [90] He should toss up into the air a propitiatory offering to the All-gods, and one to the disembodied spirits who roam in the daytime and also one to the disembodied spirits who roam at night. [91] In the upper part of the house he should make a propitiatory offering for the Spirit of All Food, and all the remainder of the propitiatory offering should be put towards the south for the ancestors. [92] And he should placidly scatter a propitiatory offering on the ground for the dogs, for those who have fallen, for ‘Dog-cookers’, for those whose evil deeds have made them ill, for birds, and for worms. [93] A priest who in this way constantly honours all the disembodied spirits takes on a physical form of brilliant energy and attains the supreme condition by the straightest route.
[94] When he has performed this ritual of the propitiatory offering, he should first feed a guest and, in accordance with the rules, give alms to a beggar and to a chaste student of the Veda. [95] By giving alms, the twice-born householder wins a reward for merit which is the same as the reward for merit won by giving a cow to the guru in accordance with the rule. [96] He should present alms, or even just a vessel of water that has first been ritually prepared, to a priest who knows the true meaning of the Veda. [97] The offerings that ignorant men make to the gods and ancestors are lost if the donors give them by mistake to priests who have become dead ashes. [98] An offering offered in the fire which is the mouth of a priest rich in learning and inner heat rescues (the sacrificer) from an unfortunate fate and a great offence.
[99] He should offer a guest, as soon as he arrives, a seat, some water, and food that has first been ritually prepared and perfectly cooked, to the best of his ability. [100] If a priest stays (as a guest) and is not honoured, (when he departs) he takes away all the (credit for) good deeds even of someone who lives by gleaning (corn) and gathering (single grains), even of someone who makes regular offerings in five fires. [101] Grass (laid down for a resting place), space (to rest), water, and pleasant conversation – these four things never run out in the house of good people. [102] A priest who stays even one night is traditionally regarded as a guest, for he stays (sthita) not all the time (anitya); thus he is called ‘a guest’ (atithi, ‘not staying’). [103] A convivial priest who lives in the same village should not be regarded as a guest, even when he comes to a house where there are a wife and (sacrificial) fires. [104] Stupid householders who live off other people’s cooked food become because of that, after death, the livestock of those who have given them food.
[105] A guest who comes with the setting sun in the evening should not be turned away by the householder who is a sacrificer; whether he arrives at a convenient time or an inconvenient time, he should not be allowed to stay in his house without eating. [106] (The householder) should not himself eat anything that he does not feed to his guest. The revering of guests wins wealth, a good reputation, long life, and heaven. [107] He should present the best seat and room, the best bed, the best farewell and the best service to guests of the highest status, inferior ones to those of inferior status, and middling ones to those whose status is the same as his. [108] And if another guest should come after the ritual to the All-gods is finished, he should give him, too, whatever food he can, but he should not distribute the propitiatory offering (again).
[109] A priest should not drop the name of his family and his lineage (of the sages) in order to get a meal, for wise men call a man who invokes them in this way to get a meal ‘an eater of regurgitated food’. [110] A ruler is not called a guest in the house of a priest, nor is a commoner, a servant, a friend, a relative, or one’s guru. [111] But if a ruler comes to the house as a guest, (the householder) may feed him, too, if he wants to, after the priests have been fed. [112] If even commoners and servants have arrived at the house as guests, in a show of his mercy he may feed them along with his dependants. [113] Others, too, such as friends who have come to the house in the spirit of good will, he may feed with natural food along with his wife, to the best of his ability. [114] He may without hesitation feed newlywed women, small girls, people who are ill, and pregnant women, right after the guests. [115] The fool who eats first, without giving anything to these people, does not know that because he is eating he himself is devoured by dogs and vultures.
[116] Now, when the priests, the members of the family, and the dependants have eaten, the husband and wife may later eat what is left over. [117] The householder should eat the leftovers only after he has revered the gods, the sages, humans, ancestors, and the household deities. [118] The person who cooks only for himself eats nothing but error, for the food left over from the sacrifice is the food intended for good men.
[119] With the honey-mixture he should honour a king, an officiating priest, a Vedic graduate, a guru, close friend, father-in-law, or maternal uncle who has come again after a year (since the last visit). [120] He should also honour with the honey-mixture a king or a priest who knows the Veda by heart if they arrive when a sacrifice is being performed, but not if there is no sacrifice – that is the fixed rule.
[121] In the evening, the wife may make the propitiatory offerings from the sanctified food, although without reciting any of the Vedic verses, for what is called the ritual of the All-gods is prescribed for both the morning and the evening.
[122] Every month on the new-moon day, when he has finished with the sacrifice to the ancestors, a priest who maintains the fire should perform the ceremony to the dead called ‘the offering after the balls’. [123] Wise men know the monthly ritual to the ancestors as the ceremony to the dead ‘offered after’ (the balls), which should be diligently performed with the recommended flesh. [124] I will explain to you, leaving nothing out, which ones and how many among the priests
are to be fed with what kinds of food, and which ones are to be excluded.
[125] Two priests should be fed at the ritual for the gods and three at the ritual for the ancestors, or one at each of the two rituals. Even a very rich man does not need a crowd to proceed. [126] A crowd is detrimental to five things: offering proper hospitality, doing so at the right time and place, purification, and concord among the priests. Therefore there should not be a crowd here. [127] This rite for the dead spirits on the new-moon day, called the ritual for the ancestors, is famous. The ritual for the dead spirits, performed by ordinary people, always benefits the man who is engaged in its performance. [128] Offerings to the gods and ancestors are to be handed over by donors only to a priest who knows the Veda by heart. A gift to such a most worthy priest bears great fruit. [129] He should feed at least one learned man at the ritual for the gods, and at least one at the ritual to the ancestors – rather than many who are ignorant of the Vedic verses. Then he reaps abundant fruit.
[130] He should carefully scrutinize even the distant (lineage of a) priest who has crossed to the far shore of the Veda; being a fording place for the giving of offerings to the gods and ancestors, he is traditionally known as a proper guest. [131] For while thousands upon thousands of men who do not know the ṛg Veda might eat there, if one man who knows the Vedic verses is pleased he is worth all of them in religious merit. [132] Offerings to the ancestors and gods should be given to a man elevated by knowledge; hands smeared with blood cannot be purified with more blood. [133] As many mouthfuls as are swallowed, at offerings to the gods and ancestors, by a man who does not know the Vedic verses, that is how many white-hot spikes, spears, and iron balls the dead spirit swallows.
[134] Some priests are grounded in knowledge, others in inner heat; some are grounded in both inner heat and the private recitation of the Veda, others in ritual acts. [135] Offerings to the ancestors are to be diligently dispatched to those grounded in knowledge, but offerings to the gods rightly (may be given) to any of the four (above). [136] Should there be a son who has crossed to the far shore of the Veda while his father does not know the Veda by heart or a father who has crossed to the far shore of the Veda while his son does not know the Veda by heart, [137] it should be understood that of them the one with the father who knows the Veda by heart is superior, but the other one deserves respect too because of the reverence due to the verses of the Veda.
The Laws of Manu Page 13