[186] Even if he is eligible to accept (gifts), he should avoid becoming addicted to that; for his brilliant energy that comes from the Veda is quickly extinguished through accepting (such gifts). [187] If he does not know the rules regarding the law for accepting material objects, a wise man should not accept (gifts), even if he is fainting with hunger. [188] An ignorant man who goes about accepting gold, land, a horse, a cow, food, clothing, sesame seeds, and clarified butter is reduced to ashes, as if he were wood. [189] Gold and food burn up his longevity, land and a cow his very body, a horse his eyesight, clothing his skin, clarified butter his brilliant energy, and sesame seeds his progeny. [190] But a twice-born man who neither generates inner heat nor recites (the Veda), and who loves to accept (gifts), sinks down together with that one (who gives), as if in water with a boat made of stone. [191] An ignorant man should therefore be afraid to accept gifts from just anyone; for an ignorant man is sunk even by a very small (gift), like a cow in mud.
[192] A man who knows the law should not offer even a little water to a twice-born man who acts like a cat, or to the evil man who acts like a heron, or to someone who does not know the Veda. [193] For wealth given to these three, even if it has been acquired through following the rules, becomes worthless in the hereafter for both the donor and the recipient. [194] Just as someone crossing over the water in a ship made of stone sinks, so the ignorant donor and the supplicant sink into the depths. [195] Anyone whose religion is just a flag, who is insatiably greedy, fraudulent, a hypocritical deceiver of people, violent, allying himself with anyone and everyone, should be recognized as a man who acts like a cat. [196] A twice-born man who behaves like a heron is one who gazes downward, an exploiter, obsessed with the pursuit of his own self-interest, a hypocrite and falsely humble. [197] Priests who act like herons or show the distinctive signs of cats fall into the hell called ‘Blind Darkness’ through the evil effects of that past action.
[198] When he has committed evil, he should not undertake a vow (as a means of restoration) under the guise of religion, covering the evil with the vow and deceiving women and servants. [199] Such priests are despised, here on earth and after death, by those who expound the Veda, and (the credit for) a vow carried out as a fraud goes to the ogres. [200] An impostor who makes a living by dressing up in clothes that are the distinctive sign of someone else takes on himself the guilt of those whose signs he takes on and is born into the womb of an animal.
[201] He should never bathe in tanks of water that belong to someone else, for by so bathing he is smeared by a portion of the bad deeds of the one who made the tank. [202] He takes on himself a quarter of the guilt (of the owner) should he use, without permission, his carriage, bed, seat, well, garden, or house. [203] He should always take his bath in rivers, natural waterholes, ponds, lakes, hollows, or springs.
[204] An intelligent man should unfailingly attend to the restrictions but not regard the restraints as obligatory. A man who prefers the exclusive pursuit of the restraints, while leaving the restrictions undone, falls.
[205] A priest should never eat at a sacrifice offered by a priest who does not know the Veda by heart, by someone who conducts sacrifices for every sort of person, or by a woman or an impotent man. [206] Where an oblation is offered by such people there is bad luck for virtuous men; it goes against the grain of the gods, and therefore one should avoid it.
[207] He should never eat (the food) of those who are drunk, angry, or ill, nor (food) in which hair or bugs have fallen, or which has been intentionally touched by the foot; [208] nor (food) which has been looked at by an abortionist, or touched by a menstruating woman, or pecked at by a bird, or touched by a dog; [209] nor food sniffed by a cow, nor, most especially, food publicly advertised, nor the food of the hordes or of whores, or food that is disgusting to a learned man, [210] nor the food of a thief, a singer, a carpenter, a usurer, a man who has been initiated for a Soma sacrifice, a miser, or a man bound in chains; [211] nor of a man indicted, an impotent man, a woman who runs after men, or a deceiver, nor (food) that has been left out too long and soured, nor the leftovers of a servant; [212] nor (the food) of a doctor, a hunter, a cruel man, one who eats leftovers, the food of a ‘Dreaded’ man or of a woman who has just given birth, the food left by someone who has got up to rinse his mouth, nor that of one still within the ten days (of pollution due to death); [213] nor food which is given disrespectfully or by a woman who has no man, meat without a sacrificial purpose, the food of an enemy or of the mayor of a town, nor the food of a man who has fallen, nor (food) which someone has sneezed on; [214] nor the food of a slanderer, a liar, or the seller of rituals, nor the food of a tumbler or a weaver, nor the food of an ingrate; [215] nor that of a blacksmith, a ‘Hunter’, a strolling actor, a goldsmith, a basket-weaver, or an arms-dealer; [216] nor that of a man who raises dogs, a bootlegger, a washerman, a dyer, a cruel man, or a man whose wife’s lover lives in his house; [217] nor that of those who put up with such lovers, or who are dominated by their wives in all things, nor the food of those within the ten days (of pollution) due to death, nor unsatisfying food.
[218] The food of a king takes away brilliant energy; the food of a servant (takes away) the splendour of the Veda; the food of a goldsmith, longevity; that of a leather-worker, fame. [219] The food of a manual labourer kills off the progeny (of the man who eats it); that of a washerman (saps his) strength; the food of the hordes or of whores cuts him off from (all desirable) worlds. [220] The food of a doctor is pus, the food of a woman who runs after men is semen, the food of a money-lender is excrement, and the food of an arms-dealer is dirt. [221] Wise men say that the food of those others whose food is not to be eaten, enumerated (above) in order, is skin, bones, and hair. [222] Should a man unknowingly eat the food of one or another of these, a three-day fast (is required); should he eat it knowingly, or (should he eat) semen, urine, or excrement, he should undertake the ‘Painful’ (vow). [223] A learned twice-born man should not eat the cooked food of a servant who offers no ceremonies for the dead; when he is without means of subsistence he may accept from him only raw food sufficient for one night.
[224] The gods considered the case of the miser who knows the Veda by heart and that of the liberal money-lender and decided that the food of both was equal. [225] The Lord of Creatures came to them and said, ‘Do not make equal what is unequal; that (food) of the liberal man is purified by his faith, while that of the other is destroyed by lack of faith.’ [226] A man should always and tirelessly make sacrificial offerings and give rewards with faith; these acts of faith, carried out with properly earned wealth, become incorruptible. [227] He should always fulfil the duty of giving gifts involving offerings and rewards, placing them in the proper receptacles with a contented disposition, to the best of his ability. [228] Whatever he may be asked for he should give without resentment; for the receptable for it that will appear will save him in all ways.
[229] A man who gives water obtains satiation; a giver of food, incorruptible happiness; a bestower of sesame seeds, desired progeny; and a giver of a lamp, excellent eyesight. [230] The giver of land himself gets land; the giver of gold, long life; one who gives a house, the finest dwellings; the giver of silver, superb beauty; [231] a man who gives clothing, the world of the moon; a man who gives a horse, the world of the Divine Horsemen; (a giver) of a draught ox (obtains) prosperous good fortune; a giver of a cow, the summit of the chestnut horse; [232] a man who bestows a carriage or a bed (obtains) a wife; the bestower of safety, sovereignty; the giver of grain, perpetual comfort; the giver of the Veda, identity with the power of ultimate reality. [233] The gift of the Veda is the best of all these gifts – water, food, cows, land, clothes, sesame seeds, gold, or melted butter.
[234] In whatever manner he presents whatever gift, he is honoured in return by obtaining that very gift in that very manner. [235] Both he who receives with honour and he who gives with honour go to heaven; in the opposite case, to hell.
[236] He should not go aroun
d astonishing people with his inner heat, and when he has offered a sacrifice he should not tell a lie. Even when he is provoked, he should not speak ill of priests; nor when he has given (something) should he brag about it. [237] By the telling of a lie, a sacrifice slips away; inner heat slips away because of astonishing (people), longevity by speaking ill of priests, and a gift because of bragging.
[238] Refraining from oppressing any living being, so that they might become his companions in the other world, he should gradually pile up religious merit just as ants pile up an ant hill. [239] For there (in that world) father, mother, wife, son, and relative do not endure as his companion; religion alone endures. [240] A living creature is born alone and alone he dies; he alone reaps the benefits of good deeds and the consequences of bad deeds. [241] Throwing off the dead body on to the ground, as if it were wood or clay, relatives avert their faces and depart; (but) religion follows after him. [242] Therefore he should constantly and gradually pile up religious merit so that it may become his companion (in the other world). For with religion as his companion he crosses over the darkness that is hard to cross. [243] Quickly (that companion) leads to the other world the man to whom religion is pre-eminent and whose offences have been annihilated by inner heat, glittering in his astral body.
[244] A man who wishes to raise up his family should always form connections with people of the most superior sort, and reject the inferior types. [245] A priest who associates with the most superior sort and avoids inferiors attains pre-eminence, but by taking the opposite course (he attains) the status of a servant. [246] A resolute, gentle, controlled, non-violent man, who does not associate with people whose ways are cruel, wins heaven through his control and generosity when he behaves in that way.
[247] He may receive from anyone and everyone fuel-sticks, water, roots, fruit, food properly presented, and honey, as well as a sacrificial gift of safety. [248] The Lord of Creatures has deemed acceptable alms brought and presented even by a man who has committed bad deeds, provided (the alms) are not requested beforehand. [249] As for the man who disregards that (kind of alms), his ancestors do not eat for fifteen years, and Fire does not carry his offering to the gods. [250] He should not reject a bed, houses, sacrificial grass, perfumes, water, flowers, jewels, yogurt, grain, fish, milk, meat, or vegetables.
[251] He may accept (gifts) from anyone and everyone if he wants to rescue his gurus and dependants or to honour the gods or guests, but not to satisfy himself. [252] If his gurus have passed away, or if he is living in a house without them, and he seeks a way to make a living for himself, he should always accept (gifts only) from virtuous men.
[253] Among servants, one may eat the food of a sharecropper, a friend of the family, a cowherd, slave, barber, or someone who offers himself in service. [254] A man who offers himself in service should be honest about what he is, what he intends to do and how he might be of service. [255] A man who tells good men that he is someone who he is not is the worst kind of evil-doer in the world – a thief, a looter of his own self.
[256] The meaning of everything is controlled by speech. Speech is the root of everything. Everything is set into motion by speech. A man who robs that speech robs everything.
[257] When, in accordance with the rules, he has become free and clear of the debt he owes to the great sages, the ancestors, and the gods, he should dwell in a state of equanimity, turning over everything to his son. [258] Alone, he should meditate constantly in solitude on what is good for his soul; for by meditating when he is alone he ascends to the supreme good.
[259] The obligatory way of life for a priestly householder has thus been declared, and also the rule for following the vow of the Vedic graduate, which is auspicious and makes lucidity grow. [260] A priest who knows the teachings of the Veda and who leads this kind of life, always free from taints, will be glorified in the world of ultimate reality.
End of Chapter 4
[4] ‘Lawful’ is ṛta, ‘immortal’ amṛta, ‘mortal’ mṛta, ‘deadly’ pramṛta, ‘good and unlawful’ satyānṛta, and ‘the dog’s way of life’ is śvavṛtti. It is not immediately obvious why begging is ‘mortal’, but farming may be ‘deadly’ because it inadvertently causes the death of worms and insects in the course of ploughing.
[9] The domestic sacrificer who lives, economically, from day to day is here said to be living solely by means of the extended sacrifice consisting of the Veda (brahmasattra). This brahmasattra may serve as a title for that economic way of life itself.
[10] The sacrificial offerings (iṣṭis) apparently do not include the four-monthly (cāturmāsya) sacrifices. The lunar junctures are the parvans (see 4.113–14), and the sacrifices at the solstices are the āgrāaṇas, or first-fruits sacrifices.
[19] The treatises mentioned here, the nigamas, are treatises, written or oral, dealing with such supplementary branches of knowledge as grammar, logic, and commentaries on the Veda.
[22] The practice of offering ‘interior sacrifices’, by meditation rather than by the actual performance of the ritual, can be traced back to the Upaniṣads. Manu’s verses on this subject are somewhat opaque, being wrenched out of their context of Upaniṣadic mysticism.
[23] This is a reference to the techniques of breath-suppression (prāṇāyāma) that are essential both to the practice of yoga and to the restraints and restorations described by Manu.
[26] The sacrifice at the end of the season is the four-monthly cāturmāsya, celebrated at the end of spring (mid-May), the rains (mid-September), and winter (mid-January), and the half-year sacrifices are the first-fruits sacrifices, (āgrāyaṇas) at the two solstices.
[30] People who act like cats and herons are particular varieties of hypocrites, described, and to some extent explained, in detail in 4.195–6.
[45] A commentator points out that when he eats he should wear more than one garment (that is, an upper garment in addition to a loincloth or dhoti), in order to cover the initiatory thread over his shoulder.
[69] The young sun is almost certainly the early morning sun, though some commentators suggest that it is the sun in the constellation of the virgin (kanyā, Virgo).
[79] The ‘Tribals’ are pulkasas, defined at 10.18 as born of a ‘Hunter’ father and servant mother; ‘Those Who End Up at the Bottom’ (antyāvasāyins) are said (at 10.39) to be born of a ‘Fierce’ Untouchable father and a ‘Hunter’ mother.
[81] The hell (asaṃvṛta) may also be ‘Unbounded’.
[88] ‘Darkness’ is tāmisra, ‘Blind Darkness’ andhatāmisra, ‘Belonging to the Great Spotted Deer’ mahāraurava, ‘Belonging to the Deer’ raurava, ‘the Thread of Time’ kālasūtra, and ‘the Great Hell’ mahānaraka.
[89] ‘Vivifying’ is saṃjīvana, ‘the Great Washing Away’ mahāvīci, ‘Burning’ tapana, ‘Excessively Burning’ sampratāpana, ‘Crushing’ saṃhāta, ‘Joined with the Raven’ sakākola, ‘Shut Up Like a Bud’ kuḍmala, ‘Stinking Earth’ pūtimṛttika.
[90] ‘Iron Spike’ is lohaśanku, ‘Dregs’ rjīṣa, ‘Impelling’ panthāna, ‘Thorny River’ śālmalīnadī, ‘Forest of Sword Leaves’ asipatravana, and ‘Tearing with Iron’ lohadāraka.
[92] The moment of Brahmā (brāhmamuhūrta) is, according to the commentators, dawn, more precisely the last of the three watches of the night.
[95] Mid-July to mid-August is the month of Śrāvaṇa, and mid-August to mid-September is the month of Prauṣṭhapada.
[96] The moon is in Puṣya in the month of Pausa (mid-December to mid-January), on the day of the full moon; next comes the month of Magha, mid-January to mid-February.
[100] The portion composed in meters (chandas) is the collection (saṃhitā) of Vedic verses (mantras). The part containing the explanation (brahman) is the brāhmaṇa.
[104] The fires are re-enlivened in the morning and evening for the daily fire sacrifice.
[110] The ceremony for one dead person is the ekoddiṣṭa, which is performed until the time of the ritual of ‘Joining with those who
share the same balls’ (see 3.247). When the planet Rāhu swallows part of the sun or the moon, he brings about an eclipse.
[113] These days (new moon, full moon, and the eighth and fourteenth day of each lunar fortnight) are known as the (lunar) junctures, or days of the change of the moon (parvans).
[115] The group (pankti) might be a group of the animals just mentioned, or a group of educated people (the ‘rows’ that some are unfit to join).
[119] ‘Eighth’ (aṣṭakā) here designates not the eighth day of the lunar fortnight (as in 4.113–14) but a special ritual for the ancestors that is performed on the eighth day after the full moon in certain months, sometimes during winter and the cool season.
[123] The Wilderness Books (Āraṇyakas) are supplements to the Vedic collections, midway between the Brāhmaṇas and the Upaniṣads.
[125] The essences of the three Vedas are the syllable ‘Om’, the three ritual exclamations, and the verse to the sun-god (see 2.76–8).
[130] One commentator suggests that the tawny creature may be a brown cow; another that it may be either a brown cow or a Soma stalk (since both of these are connected with the Veda); another suggests a tawny man.
[150] The offerings to the sun-god (sāvitras) may be offerings accompanied by the Vedic verse to the sun-god (the sāvitrī). ‘Eighth’ (aṣṭakā) designates here, as in 4.119, a ritual for the ancestors, and ‘after-eighths’ (anvaṣṭakā) the ritual performed on the day after the aṣṭakā. The days of the junctures (parvans), defined in 4.113–14, are the new moon, full moon, and the eighth and fourteenth day of each lunar fortnight.
The Laws of Manu Page 18