"As soon as a son is born his father should perform the ceremonies consequent upon the birth of a child and all other initiatory ceremonies as well as a Srādh which is the source of prosperity. He must feed two Brāhminis, seated with their faces to the east and according to his means must offer sacrifices to the celestials and the progenitors, O lord of earth. He must delightedly offer to the manes, balls of meat, mixed with curds, barley and jujubes with the four part of his finger. On every occasion of prosperity, he must perform this with all offerings and go through circumambulalations.
"Upon the tenth day after birth the father should give a name to the child, the first term of which shall be the name of a god and the second of a man as Sarman or Varman. The former is the proper designation of a Brāhmin, and the second of a Kshatriya. And the Vaiçyas and Sudras should have the designation of Gupta and Dāsha, A name should not be devoid of any meaning, should not be indecent, absurd, inauspicious nor dreadful. It should contain an even number of syllables; it should not be too long nor too short, nor too full of long vowels, but contain a due proportion of short vowels and be easily articulated.
"After going through these initiatory ceremonies and being purified the youth should acquire knowledge from his preceptor. And having acquired knowledge from the preceptor and given him presents, O king, he should, desirous of entering the order of householders, marry. If he desires to continue his life as a student, he should, taking that vow, engage in the service of his preceptor and his descendant or he may, according to his premeditated inclination, Q king, at once become a hermit or adopt the order of the religious mendicant.
"He must marry a maiden, who is of a third of his age, one who has not too much of hair, but is not without any, one who is not very black nor yellow complexioned and is nor from birth a cripple or deformed. He must not marry a girl, who is vicious or unhealthy, born of a low family, or suffering from any disease; one who may have been badly trained, one who talks improperly, one who inherited some disease from father or mother; one who has a beard and has got a masculine appearance; one who speaks thick or thin or croaks like a craven, who has got eyes without eye lashes, or sufficiently covered with them; one who has got legs covered with hairs, thick ankles; one who has dimples in her cheeks when laughing. The learned should not marry a girl who has not got a tender countenance, who has got white nails, and who has got red eyes. The wise and prudent should not marry one whose hands and legs are heavy, who is a dwarf, or who is very tall or one whose eyebrows meet, or whose teeth are far apart and resemble tusks. O king, a householder should marry a girl who is at least five degrees distant in descent from his mother and seven degrees from his father.
"There are eight forms of marriage—namely, Brāhma, Daiva, the Arsha, Prajāpatyā, Asura, Gāndharba, Rākshasa and Paisācha and the last is the worst. And every one should marry according to the mode enjoined to his caste by the sages and should never marry according to the Paisācha mode. Thus entering the order of householders, if a man takes a wife observing the same religious and civil obligations and perform all the ceremonies of his orders in her company, he derives great benefit from such a wife".
SECTION XI.
Sagara said—"O Muni, I wish to hear from you of such religious observances, performing which a householder does not meet with the wane of piety either in this world or in the next".
Aurva said—"Hear, O lord of earth, an account of all those religious observances celebrating which a man conquers both this and the next world. The term sat means Sādhu; and they are called Sādhus or saints who are freed from all blemishes. And their practices are called Sāddhachāras. O lord of earth, the seven Rishis, the Manus and the Patriarchs are those who have laid down and observed those practices. Let the wise, O king, get up at Brahmā Muhartta, [244] when the mind is at rest, meditate upon virtue and wealth not incompatible with the former. He should also meditate upon desire not conflicting with the other two. And he must equally meditate upon the three ends of life for the purpose of counteracting the unseen consequences of good or best acts. He should renounce, O king, such wealth and desire as stand in the way of virtue, and he should abstain from such religious acts as give uneasiness, and as are not compatible with the rules of society. O lord of men, having got up from bed early in the morning, he must offer adoration to the sun and then proceeding to the South-East quarter at a distance of a bow-shot or more, or somewhere remote from the village he must void the impurities of nature. A man should not void the impurities of nature either in the court yard of his house or in any place where is the print of a man's foot. The wise should not pass urine either on his own shadow, nor on the shadow of a tree, nor on a cow, nor against the sun nor on fire, nor against the wind, nor on spiritual preceptor, nor men of the first three castes. Nor he should pass excrement in a ploughed field, or a pasturage, or in the company of men, or on a high road, or in rivers and the like which are holy, or on the bank of a river or in a cremation ground. O king, the wise should pass urine with his face towards the north during the day and towards the south during the night. While passing excrement he should spread grass on the earth and cover his head with cloth and should not wait there long, and should not speak during that time. To clean his hand he should not take earth from an ant-hill, not a rat-hole, nor from water, nor from what has been left after being used for that purpose, nor from what has been used to plaster a cottage, nor that which has been thrown up by insects, or turned over by the plough. He must avoid all these kinds of earth for the purpose of cleanliness; he should use one handful after passing urine, three handfuls after passing excrement, ten handfuls are to be rubbed over the left hand and seven on both hands. He should then rinse his mouth with pure water which is neither fetid, nor frothy nor full of bubbles. After that, he should, being composed, use earth to cleanse his feet, washing them well with water.
| [244] | The third Muhurtta about two hours before sunrise. |
"He must then drink water thrice and wash his face twice with it and then touch with his head, the cavities of the eyes, ears and nostrils, the forehead, navel and the heart. Having finally washed his mouth he must clean and arrange his hairs and must decorate his body, before a looking glass with unguents, garlands and perfumes. He, then according to the practice of his caste, should earn money for maintenance and should worship the deities with firm faith. Sacrifices with acid juice, those with clarified butter and those with offerings of food, may be performed with wealth; therefore men should endeavour much to acquire wealth.