Mahābhārata

M. N. Dutt: Vaishampayana said This accosted by the holy Rishi, king Yudhishthira the just, having thought for a short time, said these words to the sage.

M. N. Dutt: Yudhishthira said Tell me, O grandfather, what food is clean and what, unclean, what gift is praiseworthy, and who is the deserving, and who, undeserving (recipients of gifts).

M. N. Dutt: Vyasa said “Regarding it is cited a old discourse between the ascetics and that lord of creation, viz., Manu.

M. N. Dutt: In the Krita age, a concourse of Rishis, of rigid vows, having approached the great and powerful lord of creation, Manu, while seated at his case requested him to describe duties, saying,-What food should be taken, who is to be considered a deserving person (for gifts), what gifts should be made, how should a person study and what penances should one perform and how, and what acts should be done and what acts should not be done. O lord of creation, tell us everything in detail. Thus solicited by them, the divine and self-sprung Manu said to them,-Listen to me as I describe the duties in brief and in detail.

M. N. Dutt: In regions which have not been forbidden, silent recitation of sacred Mantras, homa round fasts, knowledge of soul, sacred rivers, regions inhabited by men devoted to pious acts,-these have been laid down as purifying acts and objects. Certain mountains also are purifying, as also the eating of gold and bathing in waters into which have been washed gems and precious stones.

M. N. Dutt: Sojourn to sacred pilgrimages and eating of sanctified butter,-these also, forsooth, speedily cleanse a man.

M. N. Dutt: No man would ever be called wise if he is proud. If he wishes to live long, he should for three nights drink hot water as an expiation for the same.

M. N. Dutt: Refusal to take what is not given, gift, study of sacred books, penance, abstention from injury, truth, freedom from anger, and adoration of the gods in sacrifices,-these are the marks of virtue.

M. N. Dutt: Virtue again, according to time and place, becomes sin. Thus misappropriation of another's property, untruth, and injury and killing, may under special circumstances, become virtue.

M. N. Dutt: To persons capable of judging, acts are of two kinds, viz., virtuous and sinful. From the worldly and the Vedic points of view again, virtue and vice become good or bad. From the Vedic point of view, virtue and vice, would be classed under action and inaction. Inaction, i.e., abstention from Vedic rites leads to liberation (from re-birth while the fruits of action) i.e., performance of Vedic rites, leads to repeated death and re-birth. From the worldly point of view, acts that are evil, lead to sins and those that are good, or virtue. From the worldly point of view, therefore, virtue and vice are to be marked out by the good and the evil character of their fruits. Even evil acts, when performed for divine purposes, the scriptures, life itself, and the means by which life is sustained, yield good consequences.

M. N. Dutt: Expiation has been laid down, for an act undertaken for the purpose of doing mischief (to some one) in the future, as well as for an act done whose consequence is apparently mischievous.

M. N. Dutt: When an act is performed from wrath or misjudgment, then expiation should be performed by paining the body, guided by example by scriptures, and by reason. when any action, is performed for pleasing or displeasing the mind, the sin originating thereform may be cleansed by pure food and recitation of Mantras.

M. N. Dutt: The king who does not use (in a particular case) the rod of chastisement, should fast for one night. The priest who does not advise the king to inflict punishment (in a proper case) should fast for three nights.

M. N. Dutt: A man who, from grief, attempts to commit suicide by means of weapons, should fast for three nights.

M. N. Dutt: There is no expiation for them who do not observe duties and practices of their order and caste, country, and family, and who forsake their own creed.

M. N. Dutt: When any doubt arises regarding what should be done, it should be settled by the injunction of the scriptures which ten persons versed in Vedic scriptures or three of those who frequently recite them may declare.

M. N. Dutt: The bull, earth, little ants, worms born in dirt, and poison, should not be eaten by Brahmanas.

M. N. Dutt: They should also abstain from eating fishes that have scales, and four-legged aquatic animals like frogs and others, except the tortoise.

M. N. Dutt: A Brahmana should not also take waterfowls called Bhasas, ducks, Suparnas, Chakravakas, diving ducks, cranes, crow, shags, vultures, hawks, owls, as also all fourlegged carnivorous animals and that have sharp and long teeth, and birds, and animals having two teeth and those having four teeth, as also the milk of the sheep, the she-ass, the shecamel, the newly-calved cow, women and dear.

Corresponding verse not found in M. N. Dutt's version.

M. N. Dutt: Besides this the good that has been offered to the departed manes, that which has been usurer cooked by a woman who has recently given birth to a child, and food cooked by a unknown person, should not be taken. The milk also of a cow that has recently calved should not be drunk.

M. N. Dutt: If a Brahmana takes food which has been cooked by a Kshatriya, it diminishes his power; if lie takes the food supplied by effulgence; and if he takes the food supplied by a goldsmith or a woman who has neither husband nor children, it decreases his longevity.

M. N. Dutt: The food supplied by an is equivalent to dirt, while that supplied by a prostitute is equivalent to semen. The food also supplied by persons who connive at the unchastity of their wives, and by persons who are henpecked, is forbidden.

M. N. Dutt: The food supplied by a person selected (for receiving present) at a sacrifice; by one who does not enjoy his riches or make any gifts, that supplied by one who sells Soma, or one who is a shoe-maker, by an unchaste woman, by a washerman, by a physician, by watchmen, by a number of persons, by one who is marked by a whole village, by one who lives on the income of dancing girls, by persons marrying before their elder brothers are married, by professional panegyrists and bards, and by gamblers, the food also which is brought with the left hand or which is stale, the food which is mixed with alcohol, the food which is already tasted, and the residue of a feast, should not be taken (by a Brahmana.) Cakes sugarcanes, potherbs, and rice boiled in sugared milk, when of relish should not be taken. The powder of fried barley and of other sorts of fried gain, mixed with curds, when stale with age, should not be taken, Rice boiled in Sugared milk, food mixed with the Tila seed, meat, and cakes, that have not been dedicated to the gods, should not be taken by Brahmanas, who live as householders. Having first pleased the gods, Rishis, guests, Pitris, and the tutelary deities, a Brahmana householder should then take his food. A householder by living thus in his own house becomes like a person of the mendicant order that has renounced the world. A man of such conduct even living with his wives as a householder, earns great religious merit. No one should make a gift for gaining fame, or from fear of censure or to a benefactor. A pious man would never make gifts to persons living by singing and dancing or to those that are jesters by profession, or to a। drunkard, or to a mad man, or to a thief, or to slanderer or to an idiot, or to one that is pale coloured or to one that is defective of a limb, or to a dwarf, or to wicked person, or to one born in a degraded and wicked family, or to one that has not been sanctified by the observance of VOWS.

Corresponding verse not found in M. N. Dutt's version.

M. N. Dutt: No gift should be made to a Brahmana who has no knowledge of the Vedas Gifts should be made to him only who is well read in the Vedas. An improper gift and an improper acceptance beget bad consequences to both the giver and the acceptor.

M. N. Dutt: As a person who tries to cross the sea with the help of a rock or a mass of catechu sinks with the supports, so the improper giver and the acceptor both sink together.

M. N. Dutt: As a fire that is covered with wet fuel does not burn, so the acceptor of a gift who has not practised penances, and piety to those who studied Vedas, but cannot confer any benefit (upon the giver).

M. N. Dutt: As water in a skull and milk in a bag made of dog-skin become impure for the uncleanness of the vessels in which they are kept, so the Vedas become fruitless in a person who is not of good conduct.

M. N. Dutt: One may give from pity to a low Brahmana who is without Mantras and vows, who is innocent of the scriptures and who is envious.

M. N. Dutt: One may, from pity, give to a person who is poor or afflicted or ill. But he should not make charities to such a person with the belief that he would drive any (spiritual) benefit from it or that he would acquire any religious merit by it.

M. N. Dutt: Forsooth, gift made to a Brahmana ignorant of the Vedas, becomes perfectly fruitless for the shortcomings of the recipient.

M. N. Dutt: As an elephant made of wood, or an antelope made of leather, so is a Brahmana who has not read the Vedas. All the three have nothing but names.

M. N. Dutt: As a eunuch cannot beget children on women, as a cow does not procreats on another cow, as a bird lives in vain that is featherless, even so is a Brahmana that without Mantras.

M. N. Dutt: As grain without kernel, as a well without water, as libations poured on ashes, even so is a gift to a Brahmana who is ignorant.

M. N. Dutt: An unlearned Brahmana is an enemy (to all) and is the destroyer of the food that is offered to the gods and the departed manes. A gift made to such a person become useless. He is, therefore, like a robber. He can never attain to blissful regions hereafter.

M. N. Dutt: now I have told you in brief, O Yudhishthira, all that was said by Manu on that occasion. This high discourse should be listened to by all, O foremost of Bharata's race.'