The Law of Manu -Part -20

 The Law of Manu -Part -20 

151. Let him not entertain at a Sraddha one who wears his hair in braids (a student), one who has not studied (the Veda), one afflicted with a skin-disease, a gambler, nor those who sacrifice for a multitude (of sacrificers).

 

152. Physicians, temple-priests, sellers of meat, and those who subsist by shop-keeping must be avoided at sacrifices offered to the gods and to the manes.

 

153. A paid servant of a village or of a king, man with deformed nails or black teeth, one who opposes his teacher, one who has forsaken the sacred fire, and a usurer;

 

154. One suffering from consumption, one who subsists by tending cattle, a younger brother who marries or kindles the sacred fire before the elder, one who neglects the five great sacrifices, an enemy of the Brahmana race, an elder brother who marries or kindles the sacred fire after the younger, and one who belongs to a company or corporation,

 

155. An actor or singer, one who has broken the vow of studentship, one whose (only or first) wife is a Sudra female, the son of a remarried woman, a one-eyed man, and he in whose house a paramour of his wife (resides);

 

156. He who teaches for a stipulated fee and he who is taught on that condition, he who instructs Sudra pupils and he whose teacher is a Sudra, he who speaks rudely, the son of an adulteress, and the son of a widow,

 

157. He who forsakes his mother, his father, or a teacher without a (sufficient) reason, he who has contracted an alliance with outcasts either through the Veda or through a marriage,

 

158. An incendiary, a prisoner, he who eats the food given by the son of an adulteress, a seller of Soma, he who undertakes voyages by sea, a bard, an oil-man, a suborner to perjury,

 

159. He who wrangles or goes to law with his father, the keeper of a gambling-house, a drunkard, he who is afflicted with a disease (in punishment of former) crimes, he who is accused of a mortal sin, a hypocrite, a seller of substances used for flavouring food,

 

160. A maker of bows and of arrows, he who lasciviously dallies with a brother's widow, the betrayer of a friend, one who subsists by gambling, he who learns (the Veda) from his son,

 

161. An epileptic man, who suffers from scrofulous swellings of the glands, one afflicted with white leprosy, an informer, a madman, a blind man, and he who cavils at the Veda must (all) be avoided.

 

162. A trainer of elephants, oxen, horses, or camels, he who subsists by astrology, a bird-fancier, and he who teaches the use of arms,

 

163. He who diverts water-courses, and he who delights in obstructing them, an architect, a messenger, and he who plants trees (for money),

 

164. A breeder of sporting-dogs, a falconer, one who defiles maidens, he who delights in injuring living creatures, he who gains his subsistence from Sudras, and he who offers sacrifices to the Ganas,

 

165. He who does not follow the rule of conduct, a (man destitute of energy like a) eunuch, one who constantly asks (for favours), he who lives by agriculture, a club-footed man, and he who is censured by virtuous men,

 

166. A shepherd, a keeper of buffaloes, the husband of a remarried woman, and a carrier of dead bodies, (all these) must be carefully avoided.

 

167. A Brahmana who knows (the sacred law) should shun at (sacrifices) both (to the gods and to the manes) these lowest of twice-born men, whose conduct is reprehensible, and who are unworthy (to sit) in the company (at a repast).

 

168. As a fire of dry grass is (unable to consume the offerings and is quickly) extinguished, even so (is it with) an unlearned Brahmana; sacrificial food must not be given to him, since it (would be) offered in ashes.

 

169. I will fully declare what result the giver obtains after death, if he gives food, destined for the gods or manes, to a man who is unworthy to sit in the company.

 

170. The Rakshasas, indeed, consume (the food) eaten by Brahmanas who have not fulfilled the vow of studentship, by a Parivettri and so forth, and by other men not admissible into the company.

 

171. He must be considered as a Parivettri who marries or begins the performance of the Agnihotra before his elder brother, but the latter as a Parivitti.

 

172. The elder brother who marries after the younger, the younger brother who marries before the elder, the female with whom such a marriage is contracted, he who gives her away, and the sacrificing priest, as the fifth, all fall into hell.

 

173. He who lasciviously dallies with the widow of a deceased brother, though she be appointed (to bear a child by him) in accordance with the sacred law, must be known to be a Didhishupati.

 

174. Two (kinds of) sons, a Kunda and a Golaka, are born by wives of other men; (he who is born) while the husband lives, will be a Kunda, and (he who is begotten) after the husband's death, a Golaka.

 

175. But those two creatures, who are born of wives of other men, cause to the giver the loss (of the rewards), both in this life and after death, for the food sacred to gods or manes which has been given (to them).

 

176. The foolish giver (of a funeral repast) does not reap the reward for as many worthy guests as a man, inadmissible into company, can look on while they are feeding.

 

177. A blind man by his presence causes to the giver (of the feast) the loss of the reward for ninety (guests), a one-eyed man for sixty, one who suffers from white leprosy for a hundred, and one punished by a (terrible) disease for a thousand.

 

178. The giver (of a Sraddha) loses the reward, due for such a non-sacrificial gift, for as many Brahmanas as a (guest) who sacrifices for Sudras may touch (during the meal) with his limbs.

 

179. And if a Brahmana, though learned in the Veda, accepts through covetousness a gift from such (a man), he will quickly perish, like a vessel of unburnt clay in water.

 

180 (Food) given to a seller of Soma becomes ordure, (that given) to a physician pus and blood, but (that presented) to a temple-priest is lost, and (that given) to a usurer finds no place (in the world of the gods).

 

181. What has been given to a Brahmana who lives by trade that is not (useful) in this world and the next, and (a present) to a Brahmana born of a remarried woman (resembles) an oblation thrown into ashes.

 

182. But the wise declare that the food which (is offered) to other unholy, inadmissible men, enumerated above, (is turned into) adipose secretions, blood, flesh, marrow, and bone.

 

183. Now hear by what chief of twice-born men a company defiled by (the presence of) unworthy (guests) is purified, and the full (description of) the Brahmanas who sanctify a company.

 

184. Those men must be considered as the sanctifiers of a company who are most learned in all the Vedas and in all the Angas, and who are the descendants of Srotriyas.

 

185. A Trinakiketa, one who keeps five sacred fires, a Trisuparna, one who is versed in the six Angas, the son of a woman married according to the Brahma rite, one who sings the Gyeshthasaman,

 

186. One who knows the meaning of the Veda, and he who expounds it, a student, one who has given a thousand (cows), and a centenarian must be considered as Brahmanas who sanctify a company.

 

187. On the day before the Sraddha-rite is performed, or on the day when it takes place, let him invite with due respect at least three Brahmanas, such as have been mentioned above.

 

188. A Brahmana who has been invited to a (rite) in honour of the manes shall always control himself and not recite the Veda, and he who performs the Sraddha (must act in the same manner).

 

189. For the manes attend the invited Brahmanas, follow them (when they walk) like the wind, and sit near them when they are seated.

 

190. But a Brahmana who, being duly invited to a rite in honour of the gods or of the manes, in any way breaks (the appointment), becomes guilty (of a crime), and (in his next birth) a hog.

 

191. But he who, being invited to a Sraddha, dallies with a Sudra woman, takes upon himself all the sins which the giver (of the feast) committed.

 

192. The manes are primeval deities, free from anger, careful of purity, ever chaste, averse from strife, and endowed with great virtues.

 

193. Now learn fully from whom all these (manes derive) their origin, and with what ceremonies they ought to be worshipped.

 

194. The (various) classes of the manes are declared to be the sons of all those sages, Mariki and the rest, who are children of Manu, the son of Hiranyagarbha.

 

195. The Somasads, the sons of Virag, are stated to be the manes of the Sadhyas, and the Agnishvattas, the children of Mariki, are famous in the world (as the manes) of the gods.

 

196. The Barhishads, born of Atri, are recorded to be (the manes) of the Daityas, Danavas, Yakshas, Gandharvas, Snake-deities,

 

Rakshasas, Suparnas, and a Kimnaras,

 

197. The Somapas those of the Brahmanas, the Havirbhugs those of the Kshatriyas, the Agyapas those of the Vaisyas, but the Sukalins those of the Sudras.

 

198. The Somapas are the sons of Kavi (Bhrigu), the Havishmats the children of Angiras, the Agyapas the offspring of Pulastya, but the Sukalins (the issue) of Vasishtha.

 

199. One should know that (other classes), the Agnidagdhas, the Anagnidagdhas, the Kavyas, the Barhishads, the Agnishvattas, and the Saumyas, are (the manes) of the Brahmanas alone.

 

200. But know also that there exist in this (world) countless sons and grandsons of those chief classes of manes which have been enumerated.