Whoever runs away in battle, renders himself highly guilty, and all the merit which he might have acquired before, falls to the share of another who stood firm in the field of battle.[126] A king who, with the laudable qualities before described, exerts himself in the maintenance of his laws, the distribution of justice, and the welfare of the cultivators, shares the recompense of all the good actions which the inhabitants of the country have performed.[127] The exercise of justice is imposed as a necessity upon a king; in order that, if a son, brother, uncle, brother-in-law, preceptor, or any other friend, commit a crime, he may immediately, according to the established code of laws, order their chastisement, terrify, reprimand, or subject them to retaliation.
In the Hindu Institutes which are called Smriti, it is said to be established that, after the worship of the Supreme God, they ought to venerate the subordinate divinities, and perform the prescribed rites. To eat flesh, and to put to death some animals, is therein not prohibited, excepting the cow; he who kills, or even hurts, this animal, shall never enjoy the sight of heaven; and they say that he only who can restore to life, may put to death, an animal; this is necessary: who destroys a living being must vivify it again; if he be not able to do this, he ought to forbear from that act, because he shall not escape punishment for it. According to their learned interpreters, the killing of certain animals which is permitted in their sacred books, signifies the eradicating and destroying of such blameable qualities as are proper to these animals.
In ancient times, it was the custom among the Brahmans and the wise among them, when they had become householders and begotten a son, to withdraw from society, and when they had established their sons, to separate from them, and having retired into a desert, to devote themselves to the worship of God; and when the sons had children in their house, their father and mother did not visit each other in the desert, but lived separate from each other, at the distance of several farsangs.
The religious austerity of this people is very great; thus they practise perpetual standing upon their legs, hanging themselves up, abstaining from conversation, keeping silence, cutting themselves asunder, leaping down from a rock, and such like. Women used to burn themselves alive with their dead husbands: this is according to the Smriti,[128] which is ascribed to Brahma, and believed to be eternal truth.
Of this people, the author of this book saw in Lahor, the capital of the sultan, a Brahman, called Sri Manu Rama, who would not accept any nourishment from the Musulmans, nor keep society with strangers. It was said, that an Umra of the Mahommedans had offered him three lacs of rupees, which he refused to take. Pursuant to his religion, he abstained from animal food. Kesayi Tívárí is one of the Brahmans of Benáres, and well conversant with the science of his class. Having left his house, he settled on the bank of the river Ravi, which passes near the garden Kamran, at Lahór: given up to devotion, he seeks no protection against rain and sun; he lives upon a little milk; and whatever he has collcted during several months, he spends in the entertainment of the pious Brahmans whom he invites.
[73] Munji, a sort of grass, from the fibres of which a string is prepared, of which the triple thread worn by the Brahman should be formed (Saccharum munja Rox.)—(Wilson’s Sanskrit Dictionary.)—D. S.
[74] Ward enumerates only ten Sanskara, or “ceremonies:” Garbhádhána, Púngsavana, Simonton-nayana, Játa-karma, Nishkramana, Náma-karana, Anna-práshana, Chúra-karana, Upanayana, and Viváha (vol. III. p. 71).
[75] The above interpretation is not correct; the name of the ceremony गर्भाधान is derived from Garbha, “the fœtus,” and adhan, “taking;” according to Wilson’s Dictionary, a ceremony performed prior to conception; but, according to Ward, a ceremony to be performed four months after conception, including a burnt sacrifice, the worship of the Shálgráma, and all the forms of the Nándí-Múkhí-Shrádda. The Shalgrama (from Shal, “to move, to shake,” and Grama, “a village”) the ætites, or “eagle-stone,” black, hollow, and nearly round, said to be brought from mount Gandaki, in Nepaul—an emblem of Vishnu (see Ward, vol. I. p. 283-4-5).—D. S.
[76] पुंसवन. A religious and domestic festival, held on the mother’s perceiving the first signs of a living conception: from pung, “a male,” and shu, “to bear.”
Nándi-Mukha-Sráddha, funeral obsequies performed on joyous occasions, as initiation, marriage, etc., in which nine balls of meat are offered to the deceased father, paternal grandfather, and great grandfather; to the maternal grandfather, great grandfather, and great great grandfather; to the mother, paternal grandmother, and paternal great grandmother: from Nandi, “good fortune,” and Mukha, “principal.”