Praśna II, Adhyāya 3, Kaṇḍikā 6

1. Let him not put back into the dish a remnant of food.^[1]

2. If he eats (food), containing meat, fish, or sesamum, he shall (afterwards) wash and touch fire,^[2]

3. And bathe after sunset.^[3]

4. Let him avoid a seat, clogs, sticks for cleaning the teeth, and other (implements) made of Palāśa wood.^[4]

5. Let him not eat (food placed) in his lap,

6. Nor on a chair,

7. He shall carry a staff, made of bamboo, and golden earrings.

8. Let him not rub one foot with the other while bathing, nor place the one on the other while standing,^[5]

9. Let him not wear a visible garland.^[6]

10. Let him not look at the sun when he rises or sets.^[7]

11. Let him not announce (the appearance of a rainbow) to another (man, saying), 'There is Indra's bow.'^[8]

12. If he points it out, he shall call it 'the jewelled bow.'

13. Let him not pass between the prakīlaka and the beam, at the town gate,^[9]

14. Nor let him pass between the two posts of a swing.^[10]

15. Let him not step over a rope to which a calf is tied.^[11]

16. Let him not step on ashes, bones, hair, chaff, potsherds, nor on a bathing-place (moist with) water.^[12]

17. Let him not announce it to another (man if) a cow suckles (her calf).^[13]

18. Let him not say of (a cow which is) not a milch-cow, 'She is not a milch-cow.'^[14]

19. If he speaks (of such a one), let him say, 'It is one which will become a milch-cow.'

20. Let him not make empty, ill-sounding, or harsh speeches.^[15]

21. Let him not go alone on a. journey,^[16]

22. Nor with outcasts, nor with a woman, nor with a Śūdra.

23. Let him not set out (on a journey) towards evening.

24. Let him not bathe (entirely) naked.^[17]

25. Let him not bathe at night.

26. Let him not cross a river swimming.^[18]

27. Let him not look down into a well.

28. Let him not look down into a pit.

29. Let him not sit down there, where another person may order him to rise.^[19]

30. Way must be made for a Brāhmaṇa, a cow, a king, a blind man, an aged man, one who is suffering under a burden, a pregnant woman, and a weak man.^[20]

31. A righteous man shall seek to dwell in a village where fuel, water, fodder, sacred fuel, Kuśa grass, and garlands are plentiful, access to which is^[21] easy, where many rich people dwell, which abounds in industrious people, where Āryans form the majority, and which is not easily entered by robbers.

32. 'A Brāhmaṇa who, having wedded a wife of the Śūdra caste and dwells during twelve years in a village where water (is obtainable) from wells only, becomes equal to a Śūdra.'

33. (If you say that) he who lives in a town and whose body is covered with the dust, (raised) by others, and whose eyes and mouth are filled with it, will obtain salvation, if he restrains himself, (I declare that) that is impossible.^[22]

34. 'The dust raised by carriages, horses, elephants, and cows, and (that which comes) from grain is pure, blamed is (that raised) by a broom, goats, sheep, donkeys, and garments.'

35. Let him honour those who are worthy of honour.

36. 'A Ṛṣi, a learned man, a king, a bride-groom, a maternal uncle, a father-in-law, and an officiating priest are mentioned in the Smṛti as worthy of the honey-mixture at certain times and occasions.'^[23]

37. 'A Ṛṣi, a learned man, and a king must be^[24] honoured whenever they come, a bridegroom and a priest at the beginning of the religious rites, a maternal uncle and a father-in-law when a year has elapsed since their last visit.'

38. 'Let him raise his right arm on (entering) the place where the sacred fire is kept, in the midst of a herd of cows, in the presence of Brāhmaṇas, at the daily recitation of the Veda, and at dinner.'^[25]

39. 'An upper garment must be worn on the following five occasions: during the daily study, during the evacuation (of excrements), when one bestows gifts, at dinner, and while one sips water.'

40. 'While one offers oblations in the fire, while one dines, bestows gifts, offers (food to deities or Gurus), and accepts presents, (the right hand) must be placed between the knees.'

41. 'The revealed texts declare, that the creatures depend on food, food is life; therefore gifts of food must be made. Food is the most excellent of sacrificial viands.'^[26]

42. 'Sin is removed by burnt offerings, burnt oblations are surpassed by (gifts of) food, and gifts of food by kind speeches. That (is declared) to us in the revealed texts.'

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

6. 'I.e. he shall take up as much food only as he can swallow at one mouthful.'--Govinda.

[2]:

The Dekhan and Gujarāt MSS., including K., add madhu, 'honey,' after sesamum.

[3]:

This and the following six Sūtras are left out in M. and the two copies of the commentary. If they have, nevertheless, been received. into the text, the reason is that similar rules occur in all Dharmasūtras, and that Sūtra 3 begins with astamite, while astamaye occurs in Sūtra 10. It seems therefore probable that the writer of the MS. from which M. and Govinda's copies are derived, skipped over a line by mistake.

[4]:

-7. Vasiṣṭha XII, 34-38.

[5]:

Viṣṇu LXXI, 40.

[6]:

Vasiṣṭha XII, 39.

[7]:

Vasiṣṭha XII, 10.

[8]:

-12. Vasiṣṭha XII, 32-33.

[9]:

Govinda explains prakīlaka by 'a piece of wood fastened at the town gate.' Etymologically it would mean 'a strong bolt.' Possibly the rule may be equivalent to Āpastamba I, II, 31, 23, and mean that a Snātaka is not to creep through the small door which is found in all Indian town gates, and left open after the gates have been shut.

[10]:

Āpastamba I, 11, 31, 16.

[11]:

Vasiṣṭha XII, 9.

[12]:

Gautama IX, 15; Manu IV, 132.

[13]:

Viṣṇu LXXI, 62.

[14]:

-19. Gautama IX, 19.

[15]:

Manu IV, 177; Viṣṇu LXXI, 57, 72, 74.

[16]:

-23. Manu IV, 140.

[17]:

Gautama IX, 61.

[18]:

Vasiṣṭha XII, 45.

[19]:

E.g. in the palace of a king, whence the attendants may drive him.

[20]:

Vasiṣṭha XIII, 58.

[21]:

Gautama IX, 65.

[22]:

Āpastamba I, 32, 21.

[23]:

Vasiṣṭha XI, 1-2. A Ṛṣi is, according to Govinda, a man who knows not only the text of the Mantras, but also their sense. But Baudhāyana, Gṛhya-sūtra I, 11, 4, says that a man who knows, besides the Śākhā and its Aṅgas, the Kalpa also, is called Ṛṣikalpa, i.e. one almost a Ṛṣi. See also Āpastamba I, 2, 5, 3. A learned man (vidvas) is probably a student who has finished not only his vow, but learned the Veda, a so-called vidyāsnātaka, Āpastamba I, 11, 30, 3. Regarding the arghya or madhuparka, the honey-mixture, see Āpastamba II, 4, 8, 7-9.

[24]:

Gautama V, 27-30. I read kriyārambhe varartvijau. The p. 245 meaning is that a bridegroom is to receive the honey-mixture when he comes to his father-in-law's house for his wedding, and an officiating priest when he comes to perform a sacrifice.

[25]:

Viṣṇu LXXI, 60. Govinda adds that the act is performed as a salutation.

[26]:

See ej. Taittirīya Āraṇyaka VIII, 2.