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never wear sandals or clothes that have been worn by another. One should always observe the vow of Brahmacharya, and |
should never cross one's legs. One should observe the vow of Brahmacharya on the day of the new moon, as also on that of the |
full moon, as also on the eighth lunar day of both fortnights. One should never eat the flesh of animals not slain in sacrifice. |
One should never eat the flesh of the back of an animal. One should avoid censuring and calumniating others, as also all kinds |
of deceitful behaviour.[461] One should never pierce others with wordy shafts. Indeed, one should never utter any cruel |
speech. One should never accept a gift from a person that is low and vulgar. One should never jitter such words as trouble other |
people or as are inauspicious or are as' sinful. Wordy shafts fall from the mouth. Pierced therewith, the victim grieves day and |
night. The man of wisdom should never shot them for piercing the vitals of other people. A forest, pierced with shafts or cut |
down with the axe, grows again. The man, however, that is pierced with words unwisely spoken, becomes the victim of |
wounds that fester and lead to death.[462] Barbed arrows and Nalikas and broadheaded shafts are capable of being extracted |
from the body. Wordy shafts, however, are incapable of being extracted, for they lie embedded in the very heart. One should |
not taunt a person that is defective of a limb or that has a limb in excess, or one that is destitute of learning, or one that is |
miserable, or one that is ugly or poor, or one that is destitute of strength. One should avoid atheism, calumniating the Vedas, |
censuring the deities, malice, pride, arrogance, and harshness. One should not, in wrath, take up the rod of chastisement for |
laying it upon another. Only the son or the pupil, it has been said, can be mildly chastised for purposes of instruction. One |
should not speak ill of Brahmanas; nor should he point at the stars with one's fingers. If asked, one should not say what the |
lunation is on a particular day. By telling it, one's life becomes shortened. Having answered calls of nature or having walked |
over a road, one should wash one's feet. One should also wash one's feet before sitting to recite the Vedas or to eat any food. |
These are the three things which are regarded as pure and sacred by the deities and as such fit for the Brahmana's use, viz., that |
whose impurity is unknown, that which has been washed in water, and that which has been well-spoken of. Samyava, Krisara, |
meat, Sashakuli and Payasa should never be cooked for one's own self. Whenever cooked, these should be offered to the |
deities.[463] One should attend every day to one's fire. One should every day give alms. One should, restraining speech the |
while, clean one's teeth with the tooth-stick. One should never be in bed when the sun is up. If one fails any day to be up with |
the sun, one should then perform an expiation. Rising from bed, one should first salute one's parents, and preceptors, or other |
seniors deserving of respect. By so doing one attains to long life. The tooth-stick should be cast off when done with, and a new |
one should be used every day. One should eat only such food as is not forbidden in the scriptures, abstaining from food of |
every kind on days of the new moon and the full moon. One should, with senses restrained, answer calls of nature, facing the |
north. One should not worship the deities without having first washed one's teeth, Without also worshipping the deities first, |
one should never repair to any person save one's preceptor or one that is old in years or one that is righteous or one that is |
possessed of wisdom. They that are wise should never see themselves in an unpolished or dirty mirror. One should never have |
sexual congress with a woman that is unknown or with one that is quick with child. One should never sleep with head turned |
towards the north or the west. One should not lie down upon a bed-stead that is broken or rickety. One should not sleep on a |
bed without having examined it first with the aid of a light. Nor should one sleep on a bed with another (such as wife) by one's |
side. One should never sleep in a transverse direction. One should never make a compact with atheists or do anything in |
conjunction with them.[464] One should never drag a seat with the foot and sit on it. One should never bathe in a state of |
nudity, nor at night. One possessed of intelligence should never suffer one's limbs to be rubbed or pressed after bathing. One |
should never smear unguents upon one's body without having first taken bath. Having bathed, one should never wave one's |
cloth in the air (for drying it). One should not always wear wet clothes. One should never take off one's body the garlands of |
flowers one may wear. Nor should one wear such garlands over one's outer garments. One should never even talk with a |
woman during the period of her functional change. One should not answer a call of nature on a field (where crops are grown) |
or at a place too near an inhabited village. One should never answer a call of nature on a water. One should first wash one's |
mouth thrice with water before eating any food. Having finished one's meals, one should wash one's mouth thrice with water |
and twice again. One should eat, with face turned eastwards, one's food, restraining speech the while and without censuring the |
food that is eaten. One should always leave a remnant of the food that is placed before one for eating. Having finished one's |
meals, one should mentally touch fire. If one eats with face turned eastwards, one becomes endued with longevity. By eating |
with face turned southwards, one acquires great fame. By eating with face turned westwards, one acquires great wealth. By |
eating with face turned northwards, one becomes truthful in speech. Having finished one's meals one should wash all the upper |
holes of one's body with water.[465] Similarly, all the limbs, the navel, and the palms of the hands should be washed with |
water. One should never seat oneself upon husk of corn, or upon hair, or upon ashes, or upon bones. One should, on no |
account, use the water that has been used by another for bathing. One should always perform the Homa for propitiating the |
deities, and recite the Savitri Mantra. One should always eat in a seated posture. One should never eat while walking. One |
should never answer a call of nature in a standing posture. One should never answer a call of nature on ashes or in a cow-pen. |
One should wash one's feet before sitting to one's meals. One should never sit or lie down for sleep with wet feet. One who sits |
to one's meals after having washed one's feet, lives for a hundred years. One should never touch these three things of great |
energy, while one is in an impure state, viz., fire, a cow, and a Brahmana. By observing this rule, one acquires longevity. One |
should not, while one is in an impure state, cast one's eyes on these three things of great energy, viz., the sun, the moon, and the |
stars. The life-breaths of a young man go upwards when an old and venerable person comes to his abode. He gets them back by |
standing up and properly saluting the guest. Old men should always be saluted. One should, upon seeing them, offer seats with |
one's own hand. After the old man has taken his seat, one should seat oneself and remain with hands joined in reverence. When |
an old man goes along the road, one should always follow him instead of walking ahead. One should never sit on a torn or |
broken seat. One should, without using it any longer, cast away a broken vessel of white brass. One should never eat without a |
piece of upper garment wrapping one's body. One should never bathe in a state of nudity. One should never sleep in a state of |
nudity. One should never even touch the remnants of other people's dishes and plates. One should never, while one is in an |
impure state, touch another's head, for it is said in the scriptures that the life-breaths are all concentrated in the head. One |
should never strike another on the head or seize another by the hair. One should not join one's hands together for scratching |
one's head. One should not, while bathing, repeatedly dip one's head in water. By so doing one shortens one's life. One who has |
bathed by dipping the head in water should not, afterwards, apply oil to any part of one's body. One should never take a meal |
without eating some sesame. One should never teach (the Vedas or any scriptures) at a time when one is impure. Nor should |
one study while one is impure. When a storm rises or a bad odour permeates in the atmosphere, one should never think of the |
Vedas. Persons conversant with ancient history recite a Gatha sung by Yama in days of old. He that runs while impure or |
studies the Vedas under similar circumstances, indeed, that regenerate Brahman who studies the Vedas at forbidden times, |
loses his Vedas and shortens his life. Hence, one should never study the Vedas with concentrated attention at forbidden times. |
They who answer a call of nature, with face towards the sun, or towards a blazing fire, or towards a cow, or towards a |
regenerate person, or on the road, become shortlived. At daytime both calls of nature should be answered with face turned |
towards the north. At night, those calls should be answered facing the south. By so doing one does not shorten one's life. One |
that wishes to live long should never disregard or insult any of these three, however weak or emaciated they may appear to be, |
viz., the Brahmana, the Kshatriya, and the snake. All three are endued with virulent poison. The snake, if angry, burns the |
victim with only a glance of its eyes. The Kshatriya also, if angry, burns the objects of his wrath, as soon as he sees him, with |
his energy. The Brahmana, stronger than any of these two, destroys not only the objects of his wrath but his whole race as well, |
not by vision alone but by thought also.[466] The man of wisdom should, therefore, tend these three with care. One should, |
never engage in any disputation with one's preceptor. O Yudhishthira, if the preceptor becomes angry, he should always be |
pacified by due honours being paid to him. Even if the preceptor happens to be entirely wrong, one should still follow and |
honour him. Without doubt, calumnious sayings against the preceptor always consume the lives of those that utter them. One |
should always answer a call of nature at a spot far removed from one's habitation. One should wash one's feet at a distance |
from one's habitation. One should always throw the remnants of one's dishes and plates at a spot far removed from one's |
habitation. Verily, he who desires his own good should do all these. One should not wear garlands of red flowers. Indeed, they |
who are possessed of wisdom should wear garlands of flowers that are white in hue. Rejecting the lotus and the lily, O thou of |
great might, one may bear on one's head, however, a flower that is red, even if it be an aquatic one.[467] A garland of gold can |
under no circumstances become impure. After one has bathed, O king, one should use perfumes mixed with water.[468] One |
should never wear one's upper garment for covering the lower limbs or the lower garments for covering the upper ones. Nor |
should one wear clothes worn by another. One should not, again, wear a piece of cloth that has not its lateral fringes.[469] |
When one goes to bed, O king, one should wear a different piece of cloth. When making a journey also on a road, one should |
wear a different piece of cloth. So also, when worshipping the deities, one should wear a different piece of cloth.[470] The man |
of intelligence should smear his limbs with unguents made of Priyangu, sandalwood, Vilwa, Tagara, and Kesara.[471] In |
observing a fast, one should purify oneself by a bath, and adorn one's person with ornaments and unguents. One should always |
abstain from sexual congress on days of the full moon and the new moon. One should never, O monarch, eat off the same plate |
with another even if that other happens to be of one's own or equal rank. Nor should one ever eat any food that has been |
prepared by a woman in her functional period. One should never eat any food or drink, any liquid whose essence has been |
taken off. Nor should one eat anything without giving a portion thereof to persons that wishfully gaze at the food that one |
happens to take. The man of intelligence should never sit close to one that is impure. Nor should one sit close to persons that |
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