Prapāṭhaka III, Kāṇḍikā 5

1.^[1] From that time he shall assume a dignified demeanour: this is in short the rule (for his behaviour).

2. Here the teachers enumerate the following (regulations).

3. Nājātalomnyopahāsam icchet.

4. Nor (should he wish for sport) with a girl who is the only child of her mother,

5. Nor with a woman during her courses,

6. Nor with one who descends from the same Ṛṣis.

7. Let him not eat food which has been brought by another door (than the usual),

8. Or which has been cooked twice,

9. Or which has stood over night—

10. Except such as is prepared of vegetables, flesh, barley, or flour.

11. Let him not run while it is raining.

12. Let him not take himself his shoes in his hands (when putting them on or pulling them off).

13. Let him not look into a well.

14. Let him not gather fruits himself.

15. He should not wear a scentless wreath,

16. If it is not a wreath of gold.

17. (He should not wear a wreath) of which the expression mālā (garland) has been used.

18. He should cause the people to call it sraj (wreath). (Then he may wear it.)

19. He should avoid using the word bhadra ('blessed') without a reason.

20.^[2] He should say (instead of it), mandra ('lovely').

21.^[3] There are three (kinds of) Snātakas:

22. A Vidyāsnātaka (or a Snātaka by knowledge), a Vratasnātaka (or a Snātaka by the completion of his vow), and a Vidyāvratasnātaka (i.e. Snātaka by both).

23. Of these the last ranks foremost; the two others are equal (to each other).

24. (A Snātaka) should not put on a wet garment.

25.^[4] He should not wear one garment.

26. He should not praise any person (excessively).

27. He should not speak of what he has not seen, as if he had seen it,

28. Nor of what he has not heard, as if he had heard it.

29. He should give up everything that forms an impediment for his Veda-recitation.

30. He should endeavour to keep himself (pure from every defilement) like a pot of oil.

31. He should not climb a tree.

32. He should not go toward evening to another village,

33.^[5] Nor alone,

34. Nor together with Vṛṣalas (or Śūdras).

35. He should not enter the village by a by-path.

36. And he should not walk without a companion.

37. These are the. observances for those who have performed the Samāvartana,

38.^[6] And what (besides) is prescribed by Śiṣṭas.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

5, 1 seq. Rules of conduct for the Snātaka; comp. Khādira-Gṛhya III, I, 33 seq.

[2]:

As to the reading, comp. Dr. Knauer's remarks in his edition of the text, p. xi of the Introduction.

[3]:

21, 22. These Sūtras are identical with Pāraskara II, 5, 32. Comp. the definitions of these three kinds of Snātakas, Pāraskara, l.l. 33-35.

[4]:

Comp. above, chap. 2, 58.

[5]:

That the Snātaka is not allowed to go alone to another village, follows from Sacra 36; thus Sūtra 33 is superfluous. The commentator of course tries to defend Gobhila, but I think he has not succeeded. Probably Gobhila has taken the two Sūtras from different texts on which his own composition seems to be based.

[6]:

Baudhāyana I, 1, 6 (S.B.E. XIV, 144): 'Those are called Śiṣṭas who, in accordance with the sacred law, have studied the Veda together with its appendages, know how to draw inferences from that, and are able to adduce proofs perceptible by the senses from the revealed texts.'