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fion, he is going to perform the ceremony on his return, let him give 'the venerable man some valuable thing to the best of his power;

246. A field, or gold, a jewel, a cow, or a horse, an umbrella,

' a pair of fandals, a stool, corn, cloths, or even any very excellent vegetable: thus will he gain the affectionate remembrance of his • inftructor.

247. The student for life muft, if his teacher die, attend on his 'virtuous fon, or his widow, or on one of his paternal kinfmen, with • the same respect, which he showed to the living:

248.Should none of those be alive, he must occupy the station of his preceptor, the feat, and the place of religious exercises; must 'continually pay due attention to the fires, which he had confecrated; and must prepare his own foul for heaven.

249. The twice born man, who fhall thus without intermiffion have paffed the time of his ftudentship, fhall afcend after death to 'the most exalted of regions, and no more again fpring to birth in this lower world.

CHAPTER THE THIRD.

On Marriage; or, on the Second Order.

1. THE discipline of a student in the three Védas may be continued

• for thirty-fix years, in the house of his preceptor; or for half that time, or for a quarter of it, or until he perfectly comprehend them:

2. A student, whofe rules have not been violated, may affume the ⚫ order of a married man, after he has read in fucceffion a s'ác'há, or branch, from each of the three, or from two, or from any one of ⚫ them.

3. Being justly applauded for the strict performance of his duty, ⚫ and having received from his natural or spiritual father the facred ⚫ gift of the Véda, let him fit on an elegant bed, decked with a garland

⚫ of flowers; and let his father honour him, before his nuptials, with a prefent of a cow.

4. Let the twice born man, having obtained the confent of his venerable guide, and having performed his ablution with stated ceremonies on his return home, as the law directs, espouse a wife of the 'fame clafs with himself and endued with the marks of excellence.

5. She, who is not defcended from his paternal or maternal ances'tors within the fixth degree, and who is not known by her family

name

name to be of the fame primitive ftock with his father or mother, is

eligible by a twice born man for nuptials and holy union:

6. In connecting himself with a wife, let him ftudiously avoid the

ten following families, be they ever so great, or ever so rich in kine, goats, fheep, gold, and grain:

7. The family, which has omitted prescribed acts of religion; that,

' which has produced no male children; that, in which the Veda has

not been read; that, which has thick hair on the body; and those,

⚫ which have been fubject to hemorrhoids, to phthifis, to dyspepfia, to epilepfy, to leprofy, and to elephantiafis.

8. Let him not marry a girl with reddish hair, nor with any de• formed limb; nor one troubled with habitual fickness; nor one either with no hair or with too much; nor one immoderately talkative; nor one with inflamed eyes;

9. Nor one with the name of a conftellation, of a tree, or of a river, of a barbarous nation, or of a mountain, of a winged creature, a snake, or a flave; nor with any name raising an image of terrour.

10. Let him chufe for his wife a girl, whose form has no defect; who has an agreeable name; who walks gracefully like a phenicop'teros or like a young elephant; whose hair and teeth are moderate respectively in quantity and in fize; whose body has exquisite softness.

11. Her, who has no brother, or whofe father is not well known, • let no fenfible inan efpouse, through fear left, in the former cafe, her ⚫ father should take her firft fon as his own to perform his obfequies; or, in the fecond cafe, left an illicit marriage should be contracted.

12. For the first marriage of the twice born claffes a woman of the fame class is recommended; but for fuch, as are impelled by 'inclination to marry again, women in the direct order of the claffes are to be preferred:

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13.

• A Súdra woman only must be the wife of a Súdra; she and a Vaifyà, of a Vaifya; they two and a Chatriyá, of a Chatriya; those two and a Bráhmanì, of a Bráhmen.

14. A woman of the fervile clafs is not mentioned, even in the ' recital of any ancient story, as the first wife of a Bráhmen or of a Chatriya, though in the greatest difficulty to find a suitable match.

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15.

'Men of the twice born claffes, who, through weakness of intellect, irregularly marry women of the lowest class, very foon degrade their families and progeny to the ftate of Súdras:

16. According to ATRI and to (GO'TAMA) the fon of UTAT'HYA,

he, who thus marries a woman of the fervile clafs, if he be a

priest, is degraded inftantly; according to SAUNACA, on the birth of a fon, if he be a warriour; and, if he be a merchant, on the birth ' of a fon's fon, according to (me) BHRĪGU.

17. A Bráhmen, if he take a Súdra to his bed, as his first wife, finks to the regions of torment; if he beget a child by her, he lofes ' even his priestly rank :

18. His facrifices to the Gods, his oblations to the Manes, and ⚫ his hofpitable attentions to strangers, must be fupplied principally by her; but the Gods and Manes will not eat fuch offerings; nor can heaven be attained by such hospitality.

VOL. III.

R

19. For