al-Biruni • Kitab al-Hind
On Manners and Customs, Festivals, and Related Subjects
CHAPTER 63
ON THAT WHICH ESPECIALLY CONCERNS THE BRĀHMAṆS,
AND WHAT THEY ARE OBLIGED TO DO DURING THEIR WHOLE LIFE
[ii.130] THE life of the Brāhmaṇ, after seven years of it have passed, is divided into four parts. The first part begins with the eighth year, when the Brāhmaṇs come to him to instruct him, to teach him his duties, and to enjoin him to adhere to them and to embrace them as long as he lives. Then they bind a girdle round his waist and invest him with a pair of yajnopavītas (i.e. one strong cord consisting of nine single cords which are twisted together), and with a third yajnopavīta, a single one made from cloth. This girdle runs from the left shoulder to the right hip. Further, he is presented with a stick that he has to wear, and with a seal-ring of a certain grass, called darbha, which he wears on the ring-finger of the right hand. This seal-ring is also called pavitra. The object of his wearing the ring on the ring-finger of his right hand is this, that it should be a good omen and a blessing for all those who receive gifts from that hand. The obligation of wearing the ring is not quite so stringent as that of wearing the yajnopavīta, for from the latter he is not to separate himself under any circumstances whatever. If he takes it off while eating or fulfilling some want of Nature, he thereby commits a sin that cannot be wiped off save by some work of expiation, fasting, or almsgiving.
[ii.131] This first period of the Brāhmaṇ's life extends until the twenty-fifth year of his age, or, according to the Vishṇu-Purāṇa, until his forty-eighth year. His duty is to practice abstinence, to make the earth his bed, to begin with the learning of the Veda and of its explanation, of the science of theology and law, all this being taught to him by a master whom, he serves day and night. He washes himself thrice a day, and performs a sacrifice to the fire both at the beginning and end of the day. After the sacrifice he worships his master. He fasts a day and he breaks fast a day, but he is never allowed to eat meat. He dwells in the house of the master, which he only leaves in order to ask for a gift and to beg in not more than five houses once a day, either at noon or in the evening. Whatever alms he receives he places before his master to choose from it what he likes. Then the master allows him to take the remainder. Thus the pupil nourishes himself from the remains of the dishes of his master. Further, he fetches the wood for the fire, wood of two kinds of trees-palāśa ( Butea frondosa) and darbha-in order to perform the sacrifice; for the Hindus highly venerate the fire, and offer flowers to it. It is the same case with all other nations. They always thought that the sacrifice was accepted by the deity if the fire came down upon it, and no other worship has been able to draw them away from it, neither the worship of idols nor that of stars, cows, asses, or images. Therefore Bashshār Ibn Burd says: "Since there is fire, it is worshipped." The second period of their life extends from the twenty-fifth year until the fiftieth, or, according to the Vishṇu-Purāṇa, until the seventieth. The master allows him to marry. He marries, establishes a household, and intends to have descendants, but he cohabits with his wife only once in a month after she has become clean of the menstruation. He is not allowed to marry a woman above twelve years of age. He gains his sustenance either by the fee he [ii.132] obtains for teaching Brāhmaṇs and Kshatriyas, not as a payment, but as a present, or by presents which he receives from some one because he performs for him the sacrifices to the fire, or by asking a gift from the kings and nobles, there being no importunate pressing on his part, and no unwillingness on the part of the giver. There is always a Brāhmaṇ in the houses of those people, who there administers the affairs of religion and the works of piety. He is called purohita. Lastly, the Brāhmaṇ lives from what he gathers on the earth or from the trees. He may try his fortune in the trade of clothes and betel-nuts, but it is preferable that he should not trade himself, and that a Vaiśya should do the business for him, because originally trade is forbidden on account of the deceiving and lying which are mixed up with it. Trading is permitted to him only in case of dire necessity, when he has no other means of sustenance. The Brāhmaṇs are not, like the other castes, bound to pay taxes and to perform services to the kings. Further, he is not allowed continually to busy himself with horses and cows, with the care for the cattle, nor with gaining by usury. The blue color is impure for him, so that if it touches his Body, he is obliged to wash himself. Lastly, he must always beat the drum before the fire, and recite for it the prescribed holy texts.
The third period of the life of the Brāhmaṇ extends from the fiftieth year to the seventy-fifth, or, according to the Vishṇu-Purāṇa, until the ninetieth. He practices abstinence, leaves his household, and hands it as well as his wife over to his children, if the latter does not prefer to accompany him into the life in the wilderness. He dwells outside civilization, and leads the same life again which he led in the first period. He does not take shelter under a roof, nor wear any other dress but some bark of a tree, simply sufficient to cover his loins. He sleeps on the earth without any bed, and only [ii.133] nourishes himself by fruit, vegetables, and roots. He lets the hair grow long, and does not anoint himself with oil.
The fourth period extends until the end of life. He wears a red garment and holds a stick in his hand. He is always given to meditation; he strips the mind of friendship and enmity, and roots out desire, and lust, and wrath. He does not converse with anybody at all. When walking to a place of a particular merit, in order to gain a heavenly reward, he does not stop on the road in a village longer than a day, nor in a city longer than five days. If any one gives him something, he does not leave a remainder of it for the following day. He has no other business but that of caring for the path that leads to salvation, and for reaching Moksha, whence there is no return to this world.
The universal duties of the Brāhmaṇ throughout his whole life are works of piety, giving alms and receiving them. For that which the Brāhmaṇs give reverts to the pitaras (is in reality a benefit to the 'Fathers'). He must continually read, perform the sacrifices, take care of the fire which he lights, offer before it, worship it, and preserve it from being extinguished, that he may be burned by it after his death. It is called homa.
Every day he must wash himself thrice: at the saṁdhi of rising (i.e. morning dawn), at the saṁdhi of setting (i.e. evening twilight), and between them in the middle of the day. The first washing is on account of sleep, because the openings of the body have become lax during it. Washing is a cleansing from accidental impurity and a preparation for prayer.
Their prayer consists of praise, glorification, and prostration according to their peculiar manner-prostrating themselves on the two thumbs, while the two palms of the hands are joined, and they turn their faces towards the Sun. For the Sun is their kibla, wherever he may be, except when in the south. For they do not [ii.134] perform any work of piety with the face turned southward; only when occupied with something evil and unlucky they turn themselves towards the south.
The time when the Sun declines from the meridian (the afternoon) is well suited for acquiring in it a heavenly reward. Therefore at this time the Brāhmaṇ must be clean.
The evening is the time of supper and of prayer. The Brāhmaṇ may take his supper and pray without having previously washed himself. Therefore, evidently, the rule as to the third washing is not as stringent as that relating to the first and second washings.
A nightly washing is obligatory for the Brāhmaṇ only at the times of eclipses, that he should be prepared to perform the rules and sacrifices prescribed for that occasion.
The Brāhmaṇ, as long as he lives, eats only twice a day, at noon and at nightfall; and when he wants to take his meal, he begins by putting aside as much as is sufficient for one or two men as alms, especially for strange Brāhmaṇs who happen to come at evening time asking for something. To neglect their maintenance would be a great sin. Further, he puts something aside for the cattle, the birds, and the fire. Over the remainder he says prayers and eats it. The remainder of his dish he places outside his house, and does not any more come near it, as it is no longer allowable for him, being destined for the chance passer-by who wants it, be he a man, bird, dog, or something else.
The Brāhmaṇ must have a water-vessel for himself. If another one uses it, it is broken. The same remark applies to his eating-instruments. I have seen Brāhmaṇs who allowed their relatives to eat with them from the same plate, but most of them disapprove of this.
He is obliged to dwell between the river Sindh in the north and the river Carmaṇvatī in the south. He is not allowed to cross either of these frontiers so as [ii.135] to enter the country of the Turks or of the Karṇāṭa. Further, he must live between the Ocean in the east and west. People say that he is not allowed to stay in a country in which the grass which he wears on the ring-finger does not grow, nor the black-haired gazelles graze. This is a description for the whole country within the just-mentioned boundaries. If he passes beyond them he commits a sin.
In a country where not the whole spot in the house which is prepared for people to eat upon it is plastered with clay, where they, on the contrary, prepare a separate tablecloth for each person eating by pouring water over a spot and plastering it with the dung of cows, the shape of the Brāhmaṇ's tablecloth must be square. Those who have the custom of preparing such tablecloths give the following as the cause of this custom: the spot of eating is soiled by the eating. If the eating is finished, the spot is washed and plastered to become clean again. If, now, the soiled spot is not distinguished by a separate mark, you would suppose also the other spots to be soiled, since they are similar to and cannot be distinguished from each other. Five vegetables are forbidden to them by the religious code: onions, garlic, a kind of gourd, the root of a plant like the carrots called krncn (?), and another vegetable which grows round their tanks called nālī.
CHAPTER 64
ON THE RITES AND CUSTOMS WHICH THE OTHER CASTES,BESIDES THE BRĀHMAṆS, PRACTICE DURING THEIR LIFETIME
[ii.136] THE Kshatriya reads the Veda and learns it, but does not teach it. He offers to the fire and acts according to the rules of the Purāṇas. In places where, as we have mentioned (ii.135), a tablecloth is prepared for eating, he makes it angular. He rules the people and defends them, for he is created for this task. He girds himself with a single cord of the threefold yajnopavīta, and a single other cord of cotton. This takes place after he has finished the twelfth year of his life.
It is the duty of the Vaiśya to practice agriculture and to cultivate the land, to tend the cattle and to remove the needs of the Brāhmaṇs. He is only allowed to gird himself with a single yajnopavīta, which is made of two cords.
The Śūdra is like a servant to the Brāhmaṇ, taking care of his affairs and serving him. If, though being poor in the extreme, he still desires not to be without a yajnopavīta, he girds himself only with the linen one. Every action which is considered as the privilege of a Brāhmaṇ, such as saying prayers, the recitation of the Veda, and offering sacrifices to the fire, is forbidden to him, to such a degree that when, for example, a Śūdra or a Vaiśya is proved to have recited the Veda, he is accused by the Brāhmaṇs before the ruler, and the latter will order his tongue to be cut off. However, the meditation on God , [ii.137] works of piety, and almsgiving are not forbidden to him.
Every man who takes to some occupation which is not allowed to his caste, (e.g. a Brāhmaṇ to trade, a Śūdra to agriculture), commits a sin or crime, which they consider only a little less than the crime of theft.
The following is one of the traditions of the Hindus:
In the days of King Rāma human life was very long, always of a well-defined and well-known length. Thus a child never died before its father. Then, however, it happened that the son of a Brāhmaṇ died while the father was still alive. Now the Brāhmaṇ brought his child to the door of the king and spoke to him: "This innovation has sprung up in thy days for 110 other reason but this, that there is something rotten in the state of the country, and because a certain vazīr commits in thy realm what he commits." Then Rāma began to inquire into the cause of this, and finally they pointed out to him a Caṇḍāla who took the greatest pains in performing worship and in self-torment. The king rode to him and found him on the banks of the Ganges, hanging on something with his head downward. The king bent his bow, shot at him, and pierced his bowels. Then he spoke: "That is it! I kill thee on account of a good action which thou art not allowed to do." When he returned home, he found the son of the Brāhmaṇ, who had been deposited before his door, alive.
All other men except the Caṇḍāla, as far as they are not Hindus, are called mleccha ('unclean'), all those who kill men and slaughter animals and eat the flesh of cows.
All these things originate in the difference of the classes or castes, one set of people treating the others as fools. This apart, all men are equal to each other as Vāsudēva says regarding him who seeks salvation:
In the judgment of the intelligent man, the Brāhmaṇ [ii.138] and the Caṇḍāla are equal, the friend and the foe, the faithful and the deceitful, nay, even the serpent and the weasel. If to the eyes of Intelligence all things are equal, to ignorance they appear as separated and different.
Vāsudēva speaks to Arjuna:
If the civilization of the world is that which is intended, and if the direction of it cannot proceed without our fighting for the purpose of suppressing evil, it is the duty of us who are the intelligent to act and to fight, not in order to bring to an end that which is deficient within us, but because it is necessary for the purpose of healing what is ill and banishing destructive elements. Then the ignorant imitate us in acting, as the children imitate their elders, without their knowing the real aim and purport of actions. For their nature has an aversion to intellectual methods, and they use force only in order to act in accordance with the influences of lust and passion on their senses. In all this, the intelligent and educated man is directly the contrary of them.
CHAPTER 65
ON THE SACRIFICES
[ii.139] MOST of the Veda treats of the sacrifices to the fire, and describes each one of them. They are different in extent, so that certain of them can only be performed by the greatest of their kings, such as the Aśvamedha. A mare is let freely to wander about in the country grazing, without anybody's hindering her. Soldiers follow her, drive her, and cry out before her: "She is the king of the world. He who does not agree, let him come forward." The Brāhmaṇs walk behind her and perform sacrifices to the fire where she casts dung. When she thus has wandered about through all parts of the world, she becomes food for the Brāhmaṇs and for him whose property she is.
Further, the sacrifices differ in duration so that only he who lives a very long life could perform certain of them; and such long lives do no longer occur in this our age. Therefore most of them have been abolished, and only few of them remain and are practiced nowadays.
According to the Hindus, the fire eats everything. Therefore it becomes defiled, if anything unclean is general mixed up with it, as does water, for example. Accordingly they are very punctilious regarding fire and water if they are in the hands of non-Hindus, because they are defiled by being touched by them.
That which the fire eats for its share, reverts to thedēvas, because the fire comes out of their mouths. [ii.140] What the Brāhmaṇs present to the fire to eat is oil and different cereals-wheat, barley, and rice-which they throw into the fire. Further, they recite the prescribed texts of the Veda in case they offer on their own behalf. However, if they offer in the name of somebody else, they do not recite anything.
The Vishṇu-Dharma mentions the following tradition:
Once upon a time there was a man of the class of the daityas, powerful and brave, the ruler of a wide realm called Hiraṇyāksha. He had a daughter of the name of Dkīsh, who was always bent upon worship and trying herself by fasting and abstinence. Thereby she had earned as reward a place in Heaven. She was married to Mahādēva. When he, then, was alone with her and did with her according to the custom of the dēvas (i.e. cohabiting very long and transferring the semen very slowly), the Fire became aware of it and became jealous, fearing lest the two might procreate a fire similar to themselves. Therefore it determined to defile and to ruin them.
When Mahādēva saw the Fire, his forehead became covered with sweat from the violence of his wrath, so that some of it dropped down to the Earth. The Earth drank it, and became in consequence pregnant with Mars (i.e. Skanda), the commander of the Army of the Dēvas.
Rudra, the destroyer, seized a drop of the semen of Mahādēva and threw it away. It was scattered in the interior of the Earth, and represents all atom-like substances (?).
The Fire, however, became leprous, and felt so much ashamed and confounded that it plunged down into Pālāla ('Lowest Earth'). As, now, the dēvas missed the Fire, they went out to search for it.
First, the frogs pointed it out to them. The Fire, on seeing thedēvas, left its place and concealed itself in the treeaśvattha, laying a curse on the frogs such that they [ii.141] should have a horrid croaking and be odious to all others.
Next, the parrots betrayed to the dēvas the hiding-place of the Fire. Thereupon the Fire cursed them, that their tongues should be turned topsy-turvy, that their root should be where its tip ought to be. But the dēvas spoke to them: " If your tongue is turned topsy-turvy, you shall speak in human dwellings and eat delicate things."
The Fire fled from the asvattha tree to the treeśamī. Thereupon the elephant gave a hint to the dēvas regarding its hiding-place. Now it cursed the elephant that his tongue should be turned topsy-turvy. But then the dēvas spoke to him: "If your tongue is turned topsy-turvy, you shall participate with man in his victuals and understand his speech." At last they hit upon the Fire, but the Fire refused to stay with them because it was leprous. Now the dēvas restored it to health, and freed it from the leprosy. The dēvas brought back to them the Fire with all honor and made it a mediator between themselves and mankind, receiving from the latter the shares that they offer to the dēvas, and making these shares reach them.
CHAPTER 66
ON PILGRIMAGE AND THE VISITING OF SACRED PLACES
[ii.142] PILGRIMAGES are not obligatory to the Hindus, but facultative and meritorious. A man sets off to wander to some holy region, to some much-venerated idol or to some of the holy rivers. He worships in them, worships the idol, makes presents to it, recites many hymns and prayers, fasts, and gives alms to the Brāhmaṇs, the priests, and others. He shaves the hair of his head and beard, and returns home.
The holy much venerated ponds are in the cold mountains round Meru. The following information regarding them is found in both the Vāyu- and the Matsya-Purāṇa:
At the foot of Meru there is Arhata (?), a very great pond, described as shining like the Moon. In it originates the river Zanba (? Jambu), which is very pure, flowing over the purest gold.
Near the mountain Śveta there is the pond Uttaramānasa, and around it twelve other ponds, each of them like a lake. Thence come the two rivers Sāṇḍī (?) and Maddhyandā (?), which flow to Kiṁpurusha.
Near the mountain Nīla there is the pond pyvd (Pitanda?) adorned with lotuses.
Near the mountain Nishadha there is the pond Vishṇupada, whence comes the river Sarasvatī (i.e. Sarsuti). Besides, the river Gandharvī comes from there.
In the mountain Kailāsa there is the pond Manda, as large as a sea, whence comes the river Mandākinī.
[ii.143] Northeast of Kailāsa there is the mountain Candraparvata, and at its foot the pond Ācūd (?), whence comes the river Ācūd.
Southeast of Kailāsa there is the mountain Lohita, and at its foot a pond called Lohita. Thence comes the river Lohitanadī.
South of Kailāsa there is the mountain Sarayuśatī (?), and at its foot the pond Mānasa. Thence comes the river Sarayū.
West of Kailāsa there is the mountain Aruṇa, always covered with snow, which cannot be ascended. At its foot is the pond Śailōdā, whence comes the river Śailōdā.
North of Kailāsa there is the mountain Gaura (?), and at its foot the pond C-n-d-sara ('Golden-Sand').
Near this pond the King Bhagiratha led his anchorite life. His story is as follows:
A king of the Hindus called Sagara had 60,000 sons, all of them bad, mean fellows. Once they happened to lose a horse. They at once searched for it, and in searching they continually ran about so violently that in consequence the surface of the Earth broke in. They found the horse in the interior of the Earth standing before a man who was looking down with deep-sunken eyes. When they came near him he smote them with his look, in consequence of which they were burned on the spot and went to Hell on account of their wicked actions.
The collapsed part of the Earth became a sea, the Great Ocean. A king of the descendants of that king, called Bhagīratha, on hearing the history of his ancestors, was much affected thereby. He went to the above-mentioned pond, the bottom of which was polished gold, and stayed there, fasting all day and worshipping during the nights. Finally, Mahādēva asked him what he wanted; upon which he answered,
[ii.144] "I want the river Ganges which flows in Paradise," knowing that to any one over whom its water flows all his sins are pardoned. Mahādēva granted him his desire. However, the Milky Way was the bed of the Ganges, and the Ganges was very haughty, for nobody had ever been able to stand against it. Now Mahādēva took the Ganges and put it on his head. When the Ganges could not move away, he became very angry and made a great uproar. However, Mahādēva held him firmly, so that it was not possible for anybody to plunge into it. Then he took part of the Ganges and gave it to Bhagīratha, and this king made the middle one of its seven branches flow over the bones of his ancestors, whereby they became liberated from punishment. Therefore the Hindus throw the burned bones of their dead into the Ganges. The Ganges was also called by the name of that king who brought him to earth (i.e. Bhagīratha)."
We have already quoted Hindu traditions to the effect that in the dvīpas there are rivers as holy as the Ganges. In every place to which some particular holiness is ascribed, the Hindus construct ponds intended for the ablutions. In this they have attained to a very high degree of art, so that our people (the Muslims), when they see them, wonder at them, and are unable to describe them, much less to construct anything like them. They build them of great stones of an enormous bulk, joined to each other by sharp and strong cramp-irons, in the form of steps (or terraces) like so many ledges; and these terraces run all around the pond, reaching to a height of more than a man's stature. On the surface of the stones between two terraces they construct staircases rising like pinnacles. Thus the first steps or terraces are like roads (leading round the pond), and the pinnacles are steps (leading up and down). If ever so many people descend to the pond while others ascend, they do not meet each other, and [ii.145] the road is never blocked up, because there are so many terraces, and the ascending person can always turn aside to another terrace than that on which the descending people go. By this arrangement all troublesome thronging is avoided.
In Multān there is a pond in which the Hindus worship by bathing themselves, if they are not prevented.
The Saṁhitā of Varāhamihira relates that in Tāneshar there is a pond that the Hindus from afar visit in order to bathe in its water. Regarding the cause of this custom they relate the following:
The waters of all the other holy ponds visit this particular pond at the time of an eclipse. Therefore, if a man washes in it, it is as if he had washed in every single one of all of them.
Then Varahamihira continues:
People say, if it were not the head (apsis) which causes the eclipse of Sun and Moon, the other ponds would not visit this pond.
The ponds become particularly famous for holiness either because some important event has happened at them, or because there is some passage in the holy text or tradition which refers to them. We have already quoted words spoken by Śaunaka. Venus had related them to him on the authority of Brahman, to whom they had originally been addressed. In this text King Bali also is mentioned, and what he would do until the time when Nārāyana would plunge him down to the lowest Earth. In the same text occurs the following passage:
I do that to him only for this purpose that the equality between men, which he desires to realize, shall be done away with, that men shall be different in their conditions of life, and that on this difference the order of the world is to be based; further, that people shall turn away from his worship and worship me and believe in me. The mutual assistance of civilized people presupposes a certain difference [ii.146] among them, in consequence of which the one requires the other. According to the same principle, God has created the world as containing many differences in itself. So the single countries differ from each other, one being cold, the other warm; one having good soil, water, and air, the other having bitter salt soil, dirty and bad smelling water, and unhealthy air. There are still more differences of this kind; in some cases advantages of all kinds being numerous, in others few. In some parts there are periodically returning physical disasters; in others they are entirely unknown. All these things induce civilized people carefully to select the places where they want to build towns.
That which makes people do these things is usage and custom. However, religious commands are much more powerful, and influence much more the nature of man than usages and customs. The bases of the latter are investigated, explored, and accordingly either kept or abandoned, while the bases of the religious commands are left as they are, not inquired into, adhered to by the majority simply on trust. They do not argue over them, as the inhabitants of some sterile region do not argue over it, since they are born in it and do not know anything else, for they love the country as their fatherland, and find it difficult to leave it. If, now, besides physical differences, the countries differ from each other also in law and religion, there is so much attachment to it in the hearts of those who live in them that it can never be rooted out.
The Hindus have some places that are venerated for reasons connected with their law and religion, such as Benares (Bārānasī). For their anchorites wander to it and stay there forever, as the dwellers of the Kaᴄba stay forever in Mekka. They want to live there to the end of their lives, that their reward after death should be the better for it. They say that a murderer [ii.147] is held responsible for his crime and punished with a punishment due to his guilt, except in case he enters the city of Benares, where he obtains pardon. Regarding the cause of the holiness of this asylum they relate the following story:
Brahman was in shape four-headed. Now there happened some quarrel between him and Śaṁkara (i.e. Mahādēva), and the succeeding fight had this result, that one of the heads of Brahman was torn off. At that time it was the custom that the victor took the head of the slain adversary in his hand and let it hang down from his hand as an act of ignominy to the dead and as a sign of his own bravery. Further, a bridle was put into the mouth (?). Thus the head of Brahman was dishonored by the hand of Mahādēva, who took it always with him wherever he went and whatever he did. He never once separated himself from it when he entered the towns, until at last he came to Benares. After he had entered Benares the head dropped from his hand and disappeared.
A similar place is Pūkara, the story of which is this: Brahman once was occupied in offering there to the fire, when a pig came out of the fire. Therefore they represent his image there as that of a pig. Outside the town, in three places, they have constructed ponds that stand in high veneration, and are places of worship.
Another place of the kind is Tāneshar, also called Kurukshetra, i.e. the land of Kuru, who was a peasant, a pious, holy man, who worked miracles by divine power. Therefore the country was called after him, and venerated for his sake. Besides, Tāneshar is the theatre of the exploits of Vāsudēva in the wars of Bhārata and of the destruction of the evil-doers. It is for this reason that people visit the place.
Māhūra, too, is a holy place, crowded with Brāhmaṇs. [ii.148] It is venerated because Vāsudēva was born and brought up there, in a place in the neighborhood called Nandagola.
Nowadays the Hindus also visit Kaśmīr. Lastly, they used to visit Mūltān before its idol-temple was destroyed.
CHAPTER 67
ON ALMS, AND HOW A MAN MUST SPEND WHAT HE EARNS
[ii.149] IT is obligatory with them every day to give alms as much as possible. They do not let money become a year or even a month old, for this would be a draft on an unknown future, of which a man does not know whether he reaches it or not.
With regard to that which he earns by the crops or from the cattle, he is bound first to pay to the ruler of the country the tax that attaches to the soil or the pasture-ground. Further, he pays him one-sixth of the income in recognition of the protection that he affords to the subjects, their property, and their families. The same obligation rests also on the common people, but they will always lie and cheat in the declarations about their property. Further, trading businesses, too, pay a tribute for the same reason. Only the Brāhmaṇs are exempt from all these taxes.
As to the way in which the remainder of the income, after the taxes have been deducted, is to be employed, there are different opinions. Some destine one-ninth of it for alms. For they divide it into three parts. One of them is kept in reserve to guarantee the heart against anxiety. The second is spent on trade to bring profit, and one-third of the third portion (i.e. one-ninth of the whole) is spent on alms, while the two other thirds are spent according to the same rule.
Others divide this income into four portions. One-[ii.150] fourth is destined for common expenses, the second for liberal works of a noble mind, the third for alms, and the fourth for being kept in reserve, i.e. not more of it than the common expenses for three years. If the quarter that is to be reserved exceeds this amount, only this amount is reserved, while the remainder is spent as alms.
Usury or taking percentages is forbidden. The sin that a man commits thereby corresponds to the amount by which the percentages have increased the capital stock. Only to the Śūdra is it allowed to take percentages, as long as his profit is not more than one-fiftieth of the capital (i.e. he is not to take more than two percent).
CHAPTER 68
ON WHAT IS ALLOWED AND FORBIDDEN IN EATING AND DRINKING
[ii.151] ORIGINALLY killing in general was forbidden to them, as it is to the Christians and Manichaeans. People, however, have the desire for meat, and will always fling aside every order to the contrary. Therefore the here-mentioned law applies in particular only to the Brāhmaṇs, because they are the guardians of the religion, and because it forbids them to give way to their lusts. The same rule applies to those members of the Christian clergy who are in rank above the bishops-the metropolitans, the catholici, and the patriarchs-not to the lower grades, such as presbyter and deacon, except in the case that a man who holds one of these degrees is at the same time a monk.
As matters stand thus, it is allowed to kill animals by means of strangulation, but only certain animals, others being excluded. The meat of such animals, the killing of which is allowed, is forbidden in case they die a sudden death. Animals the killing of which is allowed are sheep, goats, gazelles, hares, rhinoceroses (gandha), the buffaloes, fish, water and land birds, as sparrows, ringdoves, francolins, doves, peacocks, and other animals which are not loathsome to man nor noxious.
That which is forbidden are cows, horses, mules, asses, camels, elephants, tame poultry, crows, parrots, nightingales, all kinds of eggs and wine. The latter is [ii.152] allowed to the Śūdra. He may drink it, but dare not sell it, as lie is not allowed to sell meat.
Some Hindus say that in the time before Bhārata it was allowed to eat the meat of cows, and that there then existed sacrifices part of which, was the killing of cows. After that time, however, it had been forbidden on account of the weakness of men, who were too weak to fulfill their duties, as also the Veda, which originally was only one, was afterwards divided into four parts, simply for the purpose of facilitating the study of it to men. This theory, however, is very little substantiated, as the prohibition of the meat of cows is not an alleviating and less strict measure, but, on the contrary, one which is more severe and more restrictive than the former law.
Other Hindus told me that the Brāhmaṇs used to suffer from the eating of cows' meat. For their country is hot, the inner parts of the bodies are cold, the natural warmth becomes feeble in them, and the power of digestion is so weak that they must strengthen it by eating the leaves of betel after dinner, and by chewing the betel-nut. The hot betel inflames the heat of the body, the chalk on the betel-leaves dries up everything wet, and the betel-nut acts as an astringent on the teeth, the gums, and the stomach. As this is the case, they forbade eating cows' meat, because it is essentially thick and cold.
I, for my part, am uncertain, and hesitate in the question of the origin of this custom between two different views.
...lacuna...
As for the economical reason, we must keep in mind that the cow is the animal that serves man in traveling by carrying his loads, in agriculture in the works of plowing and sowing, in the household by the milk and the product made thereof. Further, man makes use of its dung, and in wintertime even of its breath. [ii.153] Therefore it was forbidden to eat cows' meat; as also al-Ḥajjāj forbade it, when people complained to him that Babylonia became more and more desert.
I have been told the following passage is from an Indian book:
All things are one, and whether allowed or forbidden, equal. They differ only in weakness and power. The wolf has the power to tear the sheep; therefore the sheep is the wolf's food, for the former cannot oppose the latter, and is his prey.
I have found in Hindu books passages to the same effect. However, such views come to the intelligent man only by knowledge, when in it he has attained to such a degree that a Brāhmaṇ and a Caṇḍāla are equal to him. If he is in this state, all other things also are equal to him, in so far as he abstains from them. It is the same if they are all allowed to him, for he can dispense with them, or if they are forbidden to him, for he does not desire them. As to those, however, who require these things, being in the yoke of ignorance, something is allowed to them, something forbidden, and thereby a wall is erected between the two kinds of things.
CHAPTER 69
ON MATRIMONY, THE MENSTRUAL COURSES, EMBRYOS, AND CHILDBED
[ii.154] NO nation can exist without a regular married life, for it prevents the uproar of passions abhorred by the cultivated mind, and it removes all those causes which excite the animal to a fury always leading to harm. Considering the life of the animals by pairs, how the one member of the pair helps the other, and how the lust of other animals of the same species is kept aloof from them, you cannot help declaring matrimony to be a necessary institution; while disorderly cohabitation or harlotry on the part of man is a shameful proceeding, that does not even attain to the standing of the development of animals, which in every other respect stand far below him.
Every nation has particular customs of marriage, and especially those who claim to have a religion and law of divine origin. The Hindus marry at a very young age; therefore the parents arrange the marriage for their sons. On that occasion the Brāhmaṇs perform the rites of the sacrifices, and they as well as others receive alms. The implements of the wedding rejoicings are brought forward. No gift is settled between them. The man gives only a present to the wife, as he thinks fit, and a marriage gift in advance, which he has no right to claim back, but the wife may give it back to him of her own will. Husband and wife can only be separated by death, as they have no divorce.
[ii.155] A man may marry one to four wives. He is not allowed to take more than four; but if one of his wives die, he may take another one to complete the legitimate number. However, he must not go beyond it.
If a wife loses her husband by death, she cannot marry another man. She has only to choose between two things-either to remain a widow as long as she lives or to burn herself; and the latter eventuality is considered the preferable, because as a widow she is ill-treated as long as she lives. As regards the wives of the kings, they are in the habit of burning them, whether they wish it or not, by which they desire to prevent any of them by chance committing something unworthy of the illustrious husband. They make an exception only for women of advanced years and for those who have children; for the son is the responsible protector of his mother.
According to their marriage law it is better to marry a stranger than a relative. The more distant the relationship of a woman with regard to her husband the better. It is absolutely forbidden to marry related women both of the direct descending line (a granddaughter or great-granddaughter) and of the direct ascending line (a mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother). It is also forbidden to marry collateral relations (a sister, a niece, a maternal or paternal aunt and their daughters) except in case the couple of relations who want to marry each other be removed from each other by five consecutive generations. In that case the prohibition is waived, but, notwithstanding, such a marriage is an object of dislike to them.
Some Hindus think that the number of the wives depends upon the caste; that, accordingly, a Brāhmaṇ may take four, a Kshatriya three, a Vaiśya two wives, and a Śūdra one. Every man of a caste may marry a woman of his own caste or one of the castes or caste [ii.156] below his; but nobody is allowed to marry a woman of a caste superior to his own.
The child belongs to the caste of the mother, not to that of the father. Thus, for example, if the wife of a Brāhmaṇ is a Brāhmaṇ, her child also is a Brāhmaṇ; if she is a Śūdra, her child is a Śūdra. In our time, however, the Brāhmaṇs, although it is allowed to them, never marry any woman except one of their own caste.
The longest duration of the menstrual courses which has been observed is sixteen days, but in reality they last only during the first four days, and then the husband is not allowed to cohabit with his wife, nor even to come near her in the house, because during this time she is impure. After the four days have elapsed and she has washed, she is pure again, and the husband may cohabit with her, even if the blood has not yet entirely disappeared; for this blood is not considered as that of the menstrual courses, but as the same substance-matter of which the embryos consist.
It is the duty (of the Brāhmaṇ), if he wants to cohabit with a wife to get a child, to perform a sacrifice to the fire called garbhādhāna; but he does not perform it, because it requires the presence of the woman, and therefore he feels ashamed to do so. In consequence he postpones the sacrifice and unites it with the next following one, which is due in the fourth month of the pregnancy, called sīmaṁtonnayanam. After the wife has given birth to the child, a third sacrifice is performed between the birth and the moment when the mother begins to nourish the child. It is called jātakarman.
The child receives a name after the days of the childbed have elapsed. The sacrifice for the occasion of the name-giving is called nāmakarman.
As long as the woman is in childbed, she does not touch any vessel, and nothing is eaten in her house, nor does the Brāhmaṇ light there a fire. These days are [ii.157] eight for the Brāhmaṇ, twelve for the Kshatriya, fifteen for the Vaiśya, and thirty for the Śūdra. For the low-caste people that are not reckoned among any caste, no term is fixed.
The longest duration of the suckling of the child is three years, but there is no obligation in this matter. The sacrifice on the occasion of the first cutting of the child's hair is offered in the third, the perforation of the ear takes place in the seventh and eighth years.
People think with regard to harlotry that it is allowed with them. Thus, when Kābul was conquered by the Muslims and the Ispahbad of Kābul adopted Islam, he stipulated that he should not be bound to eat cows' meat nor to commit sodomy (which proves that he abhorred the one as much as the other). In reality, the matter is not as people think, but it is rather this, that the Hindus are not very severe in punishing whoredom. The fault, however, in this lies with the kings, not with the nation. But for this, no Brāhmaṇ or priest would suffer in their idol-temples the women who sing, dance, and play. The kings make them an attraction for their cities, a bait of pleasure for their subjects, for no other but financial reasons. By the revenues that they derive from the business both as fines and taxes, they want to recover the expenses which their treasury has to spend on the army.
In a similar way the Buyid prince ᴄAdu al-Daula acted, who besides also had a second aim in view, namely that of protecting his subjects against the passions of his unmarried soldiers.
CHAPTER 70
ON LAWSUITS
[ii.158] THE judge demands from the suitor a document written against the accused person in a well-known writing which is thought suitable for writs of the kind, and in the document the well-established proof of the justice of his suit. In case there is no written document, the contest is settled by means of witnesses without a written document.
The witnesses must not be less than four, but there may be more. Only in case the justice of the deposition of a witness is perfectly established and certain before the judge, he may admit it, and decide the question alone on the basis of the deposition of this sole witness. However, he does not admit prying about in secret, deriving arguments from mere signs or indications in public, concluding by analogy from one thing which seems established about another, and using all sorts of tricks to elicit the truth, as ᴐlyās Ibn Mu ᴄawiya used to do.
If the suitor is not able to prove his claim, the defendant must swear, but he may also tender the oath to the suitor by saying:
Swear thou that thy claim is true and I will give thee what thou claimest.
There are many kinds of the oath, in accordance with the value of the object of the claim. If the object is of no great importance, and the suitor agrees that the accused person shall swear, the latter simply swears before five learned Brāhmaṇs in the following words:
[ii.159] If I lie, he shall have as recompense as much of my goods as is equal to the eightfold of the amount of his claim.
A higher sort of oath is this: The accused person is invited to drink the bīsh (visha?) called brahmaṇa (?). It is one of the worst kinds; but if he speaks the truth, the drink does not do him any harm.
A still higher sort of ordeal is this: They bring the man to a deep and rapidly flowing river, or to a deep well with much water. Then he speaks to the water:
Since thou belongest to the pure angels, and knowest both what is secret and public, kill me if I lie, and preserve me if I speak the truth.
Then five men take him between them and throw him into the water. If he has spoken the truth, he will not drown and die.
A still higher sort is the following: The judge sends both claimant and defendant to the temple of the most venerated idol of the town or realm. There the defendant has to fast during that day. On the following day he dresses in new garments, and posts himself together with the claimant in that temple. Then the priests pour water over the idol and give it him to drink. If he, then, has not spoken the truth, he at once vomits blood.
A still higher sort is the following: The defendant is placed on the scale of a balance, and is weighed; whereupon he is taken off the scale, and the scale is left as it is. Then he invokes as witnesses for the truth of his deposition the spiritual beings, the angels, the heavenly beings, one after the other, and all which he speaks he writes down on a piece of paper, and fastens it to his head. He is a second time placed in the scale of the balance. In case he has spoken the truth, he now weighs more than the first time.
There is also a still higher sort. It is the following: They take butter and sesame-oil in equal quantities, and [ii.160] boil them in a kettle. Then they throw a leaf into it, which by getting flaccid and burned is to them a sign of the boiling of the mixture. When the boiling is at its height, they throw a piece of gold into the kettle and order the defendant to fetch it out with his hand. If he has spoken the truth, he fetches it out.
The highest kind of ordeal is the following: They make a piece of iron so hot that it is near melting, and put it with a pair of tongs on the hand of the defendant, there being nothing between his hand and the iron save a broad leaf of some plant, and under it some few and scattered corns of rice in the husks. They order him to carry it seven paces, and then he may throw it to the ground.
CHAPTER 71
ON PUNISHMENTS AND EXPIATIONS
[ii.161] IN this regard the manners and customs of the Hindus resemble those of the Christians, for they are, like those of the latter, based on the principles of virtue and abstinence from wickedness, such as never to kill under any circumstance whatsoever, to give to him who has stripped you of your coat also your shirt, to offer to him who has beaten your cheek the other cheek also, to bless your enemy and to pray for him. Upon my life, this is a noble philosophy; but the people of this world are not all philosophers. Most of them are ignorant and erring, who cannot be kept on the straight road save by the sword and the whip. And, indeed, ever since Constantine the Victorious became a Christian, both sword and whip have ever been employed, for without them it would be impossible to rule.
India has developed in a similar way. For the Hindus relate that originally the affairs of government and war were in the hands of the Brāhmaṇs, but the country became disorganized, since they ruled according to the philosophic principles of their religious codes, which proved impossible when opposed to the mischievous and perverse elements of the populace. They were even near losing also the administration of their religious affairs. Therefore they humiliated themselves before the lord of their religion. Whereupon Brahman entrusted them exclusively with the functions that they now have, while he entrusted the Kshatriyas with the [ii.162] duties of ruling and fighting. Ever since the Brāhmaṇs live by asking and begging, and the penal code is exercised under the control of the kings, not under that of the scholars.
The law about murder is this: If the murderer is a Brāhmaṇ, and the murdered person a member of another caste, he is only bound to do expiation consisting of fasting, prayers, and almsgiving.
If the murdered person is a Brāhmaṇ, the Brāhmaṇ murderer has to answer for it in a future life; for he is not allowed to do expiation, because expiation wipes off the sin from the sinner, while nothing can wipe off any of the mortal crimes from a Brāhmaṇ, of which the greatest are: the murder of a Brāhmaṇ, called (vajrabrahmahatyā); further, the killing of a cow, the drinking of wine, whoredom, especially with the wife of one's own father and teacher. However, the kings do not for any of these crimes kill a Brāhmaṇ or Kshatriya, but they confiscate his property and banish him from their country.
If a man of a caste under those of the Brāhmaṇ and Kshatriya kills a man of the same caste, he has to do expiation, but besides the kings inflict upon him a punishment in order to establish an example.
The law of theft directs that the punishment of the thief should be in accordance with the value of the stolen object. Accordingly, sometimes a punishment of extreme or of middling severity is necessary, sometimes a course of correction and imposing a payment, sometimes only exposing to public shame and ridicule. If the object is very great, the kings blind a Brāhmaṇ and mutilate him, cutting off his left hand and right foot, or the right hand and left foot, while they mutilate a Kshatriya without blinding him, and kill thieves of the other castes.
An adulteress is driven out of the house of the husband and banished.
I have repeatedly been told that when Hindu slaves [ii.163] (in Muslim countries) escape and return to their country and religion, the Hindus order that they should fast by way of expiation, then they bury them in the dung, stale, and milk of cows for a certain number of days, until they get into a state of fermentation. Then they drag them out of the dirt and give them similar dirt to eat, and more of the like.
I have asked the Brāhmaṇs if this is true, but they deny it, and maintain that there is no expiation possible for such an individual, and that he is never allowed to return into those conditions of life in which he was before he was carried off as a prisoner. And how should that be possible? If a Brāhmaṇ eats in the house of a Śūdra for Sundry days, he is expelled from his caste and can never regain it.
CHAPTER 72
ON INHERITANCE, AND WHAT CLAIM THE DECEASED PERSON HAS ON IT
[ii.164] THE chief rule of their law of inheritance is this-women do not inherit, except the daughter. She gets the fourth part of the share of a son, according to a passage in the book Manu. If she is not married, the money is spent on her until the time of her marriage, and her dowry is bought by means of her share. Afterwards she has no more income from the house of her father. If a widow does not burn herself, but prefers to remain alive, the heir of her deceased husband has to provide her with nourishment and clothing as long as she lives. The debts of the deceased must be paid by his heir, either out of his share or of the stock of his own property, no regard being had whether the deceased has left any property or not. Likewise he must bear the just-mentioned expenses for the widow in any case whatsoever. As regards the rule about the male heirs, evidently the descendants (the son and grandson), have a nearer claim to the inheritance than the ascendants (the father and grandfather). Further, as regards the single relatives among the descendants as well as the ascendants, the nearer a man is related, the more claim he has on inheriting. Thus a son has a nearer claim than a grandson, a father than a grandfather.
The collateral relations (e.g. the brothers) have less [ii.165] claim, and inherit only in case there is nobody who has a better claim. Hence it is evident that the son of a daughter has more claim than the son of a sister, and that the son of a brother has more claim than either of them.
If there are several claimants of the same degree of relationship (e.g. sons or brothers) they all get equal shares. A hermaphrodite is reckoned as a male being.
If the deceased leaves no heir, the inheritance falls to the treasury of the king, except in the case that the deceased person was a Brāhmaṇ. In that case the king has no right to meddle with the inheritance, but it is exclusively spent on almsgiving.
The duty of the heir towards the deceased in the first year consists in his giving sixteen banquets, where every guest in addition to his food receives alms also, namely on the fifteenth and sixteenth days after death; further, once a month during the whole year. The banquet in the sixth month must be more rich and more liberal than the others. Further, on the last but one day of the year, which banquet is devoted to the deceased and his ancestors; and finally, on the last day of the year. With the end of the year the duties towards the deceased have been fulfilled.
If the heir is a son, he must during the whole year wear mourning dress; he must mourn and have no intercourse with women, if he is a legitimate child and of a good stock. Besides, you must know that nourishment is forbidden to the heirs for one single day in the first part of the mourning-year.
Besides the almsgiving at the just-mentioned sixteen banquets, the heirs must make, above the door of the house, something like a shelf projecting from the wall in the open air, on which they have every day to place a dish of something cooked and a vessel of water, until the end of ten days after the death. For possibly the Spirit of the deceased has not yet found its rest, but [ii.166] moves still to and fro around the house, hungry and thirsty. A similar view is indicated by Plato in Phaedo, where he speaks of the Soul circling round the graves, because possibly it still retains some vestiges of the love for the Body. Further he says:
People have said regarding the Soul that it is its habit to combine something coherent out of the single limbs of the Body, which is its dwelling in this as well as in the future world, when it leaves the Body, and is by the death of the Body separated from it.
On the tenth of the last-mentioned days, the heir spends, in the name of the deceased, much food and cold water. After the eleventh day, the heir sends every day sufficient food for a single person and a dirham to the house of the Brāhmaṇ, and continues doing this during all the days of the mourning-year without any interruption until its end.
CHAPTER 73
ABOUT WHAT IS DUE TO THE BODIES OF THE DEAD AND OF THE LIVING (THAT IS, ABOUT BURYING AND SUICIDE)
[ii.167] IN the most ancient times the bodies of the dead were exposed to the air by being thrown on the fields without any covering; also sick people were exposed on the fields and in the mountains, and were left there. If they died there, they had the fate just mentioned; but if they recovered, they returned to their dwellings. Thereupon there appeared a legislator who ordered people to expose their dead to the wind. In consequence they constructed roofed buildings with walls of rails, through which the wind blew, passing over the dead, as something similar is the case in the grave-towers of the Zoroastrians.
After they had practiced this custom for a long time, Nārāyaṇa prescribed to them to hand the dead over to the fire, and ever since they are in the habit of burning them, so that nothing remains of them, and every defilement, dirt, and smell is annihilated at once, so as scarcely to leave any trace behind.
Nowadays the Slavonians, too, burn their dead, while the ancient Greeks seem to have had both customs, that of burning and that of burying. Socrates speaks in the book Phaedo, after Crito had asked him in what manner he wanted to be buried: As you wish, when you make arrangements for me. I shall not flee from you.
Then he spoke to those around him:
Give to Crito regarding myself the opposite guarantee of that [ii.168] which he has given to the judges regarding myself; for he guaranteed to them that I should stay, while you now must guarantee that I shall not stay after death. I shall go away, that the look of my body may be tolerable to Crito when it is burned or buried, that he may not be in agony, and not say: "Socrates is carried away, or is burned or buried." Thou, O Crito, be at ease about the burial of my body. Do as thou likest, and especially in accordance with the laws.
Galen says in his commentary to the Apothegms of Hippocrates:
It is generally known that Asclepius was raised to the angels in a column of fire, the like of which is also related with regard to Dionysus, Heracles, and others, who labored for the benefit of mankind. People say that God did thus with them in order to destroy the mortal and earthly part of them by the fire, and afterwards to attract to himself the immortal part of them, and to raise their souls to Heaven.
In these words, too, there is a reference to the burning as a Greek custom, but it seems to have been in use only for the great men among them.
In a similar way the Hindus express themselves. There is a point in man by which he is what he is. This point becomes free when the mixed elements of the Body are dissolved and scattered by combustion
Regarding this return (of the Immortal Soul to God), the Hindus think that partly it is effected by the rays of the Sun, the Soul attaching itself to them and ascending with them, partly by the flame of the fire, which raises it (to God). Some Hindu used to pray that God would make his road to himself as a straight line, because this is the nearest road, and that there is no other road upwards save the fire or the ray.
Similar to this is the practice of the Ghuzz Turks with reference to a drowned person; for they place the body on a bier in the river, and make a cord hang down [ii.169] from his foot, throwing the end of the cord into the water. By means of this cord the spirit of the deceased is to raise himself for resurrection.
The belief of the Hindus on this head was confirmed by the words of Vāsudēva, which he spoke regarding the sign of him who is liberated from the fetters (of bodily existence).
His death takes place during uttarāyana-i.e. the northern revolution of the Sun from the winter solstice to the summer solstice-during the white half of the month, between lighted lamps-i.e. between conjunction and opposition (new Moon and full Moon), in the seasons of winter and spring.
A similar view is recognized in the following words of Mānī:
The other religious bodies blame us because we worship Sun and Moon, and represent them as an image. But they do not know their real Natures; they do not know that Sun and Moon are our path, the door whence we march forth into the world of our existence (into Heaven), as this has been declared by Jesus.
So he maintains.
People relate that Buddha had ordered the bodies of the dead to be thrown into flowing water. Therefore his followers, the Shamans, throw their dead into the rivers.
According to the Hindus, the body of the dead has Hindu the claim upon his heirs that they are to wash, embalm, burial wrap it in a shroud, and then to burn it with, as much sandal and other wood as they can get. Part of his burned bones are brought to the Ganges and thrown into it, that the Ganges should flow over them, as it has flowed over the burned bones of the children of Sagara, thereby forcing them from Hell and bringing them into Paradise. The remainder of the ashes is thrown into some brook of running water. On the spot where the body has been burned they raise a monument similar to a milestone, plastered with gypsum.
[ii.170] The bodies of children under three years are not burned.
Those who fulfill these duties towards the dead afterwards wash themselves as well as their dresses during two days, because they have become unclean by touching the dead.
Those who cannot afford to burn their dead will either throw them somewhere on the open field or into running water.
Now as regards the right of the body of the living, the Hindus would not think of burning it save in the case of a widow who chooses to follow her husband, or in the case of those who are tired of their life, who are distressed over some incurable disease of their body, some irremovable bodily defect, or old age and infirmity. This, however, no man of distinction does, but only Vaiśyas and Śūdras, especially at those times which are prized as the most suitable for a man to acquire in them, for a future repetition of life, a better form and condition than that in which he happens to have been born and to live. Burning oneself is forbidden to Brāhmaṇs and Kshatriyas by a special law. Therefore these, if they want to kill themselves, do so at the time of an eclipse in some other manner, or they hire somebody to drown them in the Ganges, keeping them under water until they are dead.
At the junction of the two rivers, Yamunā and Ganges, there is a great tree called Prayāga, a tree of the species called vaṭa. It is peculiar to this kind of tree that its branches send forth two species of twigs, some directed upward, as is the case with all other trees, and others directed downward like roots, but without leaves. If such a twig enters into the soil, it is like a supporting column to the branch whence it has grown. Nature has arranged this on purpose, since the branches of this tree are of an enormous extent (and require to be supported). Here the Brāhmaṇs and Kshatriyas are in [ii.171] the habit of committing suicide by climbing up the tree and throwing themselves into the Ganges.
Johannes Grammaticus relates that certain people Greek in ancient Greek heathendom, "whom I call the worshippers of the devil"-so he says-used to beat their limbs with swords, and to throw themselves into the fire, without feeling any pain therefrom.
As we have related this as a view of the Hindus not to commit suicide, so also Socrates speaks:
Likewise it does not become a man to kill himself before the gods give him a cause in the shape of some compulsion or dire necessity, like that in which we now are.
Further he says:
We human beings are, as it were, in a prison. It does not behoove us to flee nor to free ourselves from it, because the gods take notice of us, since we, the human beings, are servants to them.
CHAPTER 74
ON FASTING, AND THE VARIOUS KINDS OF IT
[ii.172] FASTING is with the Hindus voluntary and supererogatory. Fasting is abstaining from food for a certain length of time, which may be different in duration and in the manner in which it is carried out.
The ordinary middle process, by which all the conditions of fasting are realized, is this: A man determines the day on which he will fast, and keeps in mind the name of that being whose benevolence he wishes to gain thereby and for whose sake he will fast, be it a god, or an angel, or some other being. Then he proceeds, prepares (and takes) his food on the day before the fast-day at noon, cleans his teeth by rubbing, and fixes his thoughts on the fasting of the following day. From that moment he abstains from food. On the morning of the fast-day he again rubs his teeth, washes himself, and performs the duties of the day. He takes water in his hand, and sprinkles it into all four directions, he pronounces with his tongue the name of the deity for whom he fasts, and remains in this condition until the day after the fast-day. After the Sun has risen, he is at liberty to break the fast at that moment if he likes, or, if he prefers, he may postpone it until noon.
This kind is called upavāsa ('fasting'); for the not-eating from one noon to the following is called ekanakta, not fasting.
Another kind, called kṛicchra, is this: A man takes his food on some day at noon, and on the following day [ii.173] in the evening. On the third day he eats nothing except what by chance is given him without his asking for it. On the fourth day he fasts.
Another kind, called parāka, is this: A man takes his food at noon on three consecutive days. Then he transfers his eating-hour to the evening during three further consecutive days. Then he fasts uninterruptedly during three consecutive days without breaking fast.
Another kind, called candrāyaṇa, is this: A man fasts on the day of full Moon; on the following day he takes only a mouthful, on the third day he takes double this amount, on the fourth day the threefold of it, etc. etc., going on thus until the day of new Moon. On that day he fasts; on the following days he again diminishes his food, by one mouthful a day, until he again fasts on the day of full Moon.
Another kind, called māsavāsa ( māsopavāsa) is this: A man uninterruptedly fasts all the days of a month without ever breaking fast.
The Hindus explain accurately what reward the latter fasting in every single month will bring to a man for a new life of his after he has died. They say:
If a man fasts all the days of Caitra, he obtains wealth and joy over the nobility of his children.
If he fasts Vaiśākha, he will be a lord over his tribe and great in his army.
If he fasts Jyaishṭha, he will be a favorite of the women.
If he fasts Āshādha, he will obtain wealth.
If he fasts Śrāvaṇa, he obtains wisdom.
If he fasts Bhādrapada, he obtains health and valor, riches and cattle.
If he fasts Āśvayuja, he will always be victorious over his enemies.
If he fasts Kārttika, he will be grand in the eyes of people and will obtain his wishes.
[ii.174] If he fasts Mārgaśīrsha, he will be born in the most beautiful and fertile country.
If he fasts Pausha, he obtains a high reputation.
If he fasts Māgha, he obtains innumerable wealth.
If he fasts Phālguna, he will be beloved.
He, however, who fasts during, all the months of the year, only twelve times breaking the fast, will reside in paradise 10,000 years, and will thence return to life as the member of a noble, high, and respected family.
The book Vishṇu-Dharma relates that Maitreyī, the wife of Yājnavalkya, asked her husband what man is to do in order to save his children from calamities and bodily defects, upon which he answered:
If a man begins on the day Duvē, in the month Pausha (i.e. the second day of each of the two halves of the month), and fasts four consecutive days, washing himself on the first with water, on the second with sesame oil, on the third with galangale (an aromatic root, similar to ginger), and on the fourth with a mixture of various balms; if he further on each day gives alms and recites praises over the names of the angels; if he continues to do all this during each month until the end of the year, his children will in the following life be free from calamities and defects, and he will obtain what he wishes; for also Dilīpa, Dushyanta, and Yayāti obtained their wishes for having acted thus.
CHAPTER 75
ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE FAST-DAYS
[ii.175] THE reader must know in general that the eighth and eleventh days of the white half of every month are fast-days, except in the case of the leap month, for it is disregarded, being considered unlucky.
The eleventh is specially holy to Vāsudēva, because on having taken possession of Māhūra, the inhabitants of which formerly used to worship Indra one day in each month, he induced them to transfer this worship to the eleventh, that it should be performed in his name. As the people did so, Indra became angry and poured rains over them like deluges, in order to destroy both them and their cattle. Vāsudēva, however, raised a mountain by his hand and protected them thereby. The water collected round them, but not above them, and the image of Indra fled. The people commemorated this event by a monument on a mountain in the neighborhood of Māhūra. Therefore they fast on this day in the state of the most punctilious cleanness, and they stay awake all the night, considering this as an obligatory performance, though in reality it is not obligatory.
The book Vishṇu-Dharma says:
When the Moon is in Ṛohiṇī, the fourth of her stations, on the eighth day of the black half, it is a fast-day called Jayantī. Giving alms on this day is an expiation for all sins.
Evidently this condition of the fast-day does not in general apply to all months, but in particular only to Bhādrapada, since Vāsudēva was born in this month [ii.176] and on this day, while the Moon stood in the station Ṛohiṇī. The two conditions-the Moon's standing in Ṛohiṇī and that the day is the eighth of the black half-can happen only once in so and so many years, for various reasons (e.g. the intercalation of the year, and because the civil years do not keep pace with lunar time, either getting in advance of it or falling behind).
The same book says:
When the Moon stands in Punarvasu, the seventh of her stations, on the eleventh day of the white half of the month, this is a fast-day, called Atj (? Aṭṭāṭaja). If a man does works of piety on this day, he will be enabled to obtain whatever he wishes, as has been the case with Sagara, Kakutstha, and Dandakamār (?), who obtained royalty because they had done so.
The sixth day of Caitra is a fast-day holy to the Sun.
In the month Āshāḍha, when the Moon stands in Anurādhā, the seventeenth of her signs, there is a fast-day holy to Vāsudēva called Dēvasīnī ('Sleeping Dēva'), because it is the beginning of the four months during which Vāsudēva slept. Others add this condition-that the day must be the eleventh of the month.
It is evident that such a day does not occur in every year. The followers of Vāsudēva abstain on this day from meat, fish, sweetmeats, and cohabitation with the women, and take food only once a day. They make the earth their bed without any covering, and do not use a bedstead raised above the earth.
People say that these four months are the night of the angels, to which must be added a month at the beginning as evening twilight, and a month at the end as morning dawn. However, the Sun stands then near 0° of Cancer, which is noon in the Day of the Angels, and I do not see in what way this Moon is connected with the Two Saṁdhis.
The day of full Moon in the month Śrāvaṇa is a fast-day holy to Somanātha.
[ii.177] When in the month Āśvayuja the Moon stands in Alsharaṭān (the lunar station) and the Sun is in Virgo, it is a fast-day.
The eighth of the same month is a fast-day holy to Bhagavatī. Fasting is broken when the Moon rises.
The fifth day of Bhādrapada is a fast-day holy to the Sun, called shaṭ. They anoint the solar rays, and in particular those rays that enter through the windows, with various kinds of balsamic ointments, and place upon them odoriferous plants and flowers.
When in this month the Moon stands in Ṛohiṇī, it is a fast-day for the birth of Vāsudēva. Others add, besides, the condition that the day must be the eighth of the black half. We have already pointed out that such a day does not occur in every year, but only in certain ones of a larger number of years.
When in the month Karttika the Moon stands in Revati, the last of her stations, it is a fast-day in commemoration of the waking up of Vāsudēva. It is called Deotthīnī ('Rising of Dēva'). Others add, besides, the condition that it must be the eleventh of the white half. On that day they soil themselves with the dung of cows, and break fasting by feeding upon a mixture of cow's milk, urine, and dung. This day is the first of the five days which are called Bhīshma pañcarātri. They fast during them in honor of Vāsudēva. On the second of them the Brāhmaṇs break fasting, after them the others.
On the sixth day of Pausha is a fasting in honor of the Sun.
On the third day of Māgha there is a fasting for the women, not for the men. It is called Gaur-t-r (Gaurī-tṛitīyā?), and lasts the whole day and night. On the following morning they make presents to the nearest relatives of their husbands.
CHAPTER 76
ON THE FESTIVALS AND FESTIVE DAYS
[ii.178] YĀTRĀ means traveling under auspicious circumstances. Therefore a feast is called yātrā. Most of the Hindu festivals are celebrated by women and children only.
The 2nd of the month Caitra is a festival to the people of Kaśmīr, called Agdūs (?), and celebrated on account of a victory gained by their king, Muttai, over the Turks. According to their account he ruled over the whole world. But this is exactly what they say of most of their kings. However, they are incautious enough to assign him to a time not much anterior to our time, which leads to their lie being found out. It is, of course, not impossible that a Hindu should rule (over a huge empire), as Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, and Persians have done, but all the times not much anterior to our own are well known. (If, therefore, such had been the case, we should know it). Perhaps the here mentioned king ruled over the whole of India, and they know of no other country but India and of no other nations but themselves.
On the 11th there is a festival calledHindolīcaitra, when they meet in the Dēvagṛiha, or Temple of Vāsudēva, and swing his image to and fro, as had been done with him when he was an infant in the cradle. They perform the same in their houses during the whole day and make merry.
On the full Moon's day of Caitra there is a feast called Bahand ( vasanta?), a festival for the women, [ii.179] when they put on their ornaments and demand presents from their husbands.
The 22nd is a festival called Caitra-cashati, a day of merriment holy to Bhagavatī, when people use to wash and to give alms.
The 3rd Vaiśākha is a festival for the women called Gaur-t-r (Gaurī-tṛitīyā?) holy to Gaurī, the daughter of the mountain Himavant and wife of Mahādēva. They wash and dress gaily, they worship the image of Gaurī and light lamps before it, they offer perfumes, abstain from eating, and play with swings. On the following day they give alms and eat.
On the 10th Vaiśākha all the Brāhmaṇs whom the kings have invited proceed forth to the open fields, and there they light great fires for the sacrifices during five days until full moon. They make the fires in sixteen different spots and in four different groups. In each group a Brāhmaṇ performs the sacrifice, so that there are four performing priests as there are Four Vedas. On the 16 th they return home.
In this month occurs the Vernal Equinox, called Vasanta. They determine the day by calculation and make it a festival, when people invite the Brāhmaṇs. On the 1st Jyaishṭha, or New Moon's Day, they celebrate a festival and throw the first-fruits of all seeds into the water in order to gain thereby a favorable prognostic.
The Full Moon's Day of this month is a festival to the women, called Rūpa-panca (?).
All the days of the month Ashāḍha are devoted alms giving. It is also called Āhārī. During this time the household is provided with new vessels.
On the Full Moon's Day of Śrāvaṇa they give banquets to the Brāhmaṇs.
On the 8th Āśvayuja, when the Moon stands in the nineteenth station, Mūla, begins the sucking of the sugar cane. It is a festival holy to Mahānavamī, the [ii.180] sister of Mahādēva, when they offer the first-fruits of sugar and all other things to her image which is called Bhagavatī. They give much alms before it and kill kids. He who does not possess anything to offer, stands upright by the side of the idol, without ever sitting down, and will sometimes pounce upon whomsoever he meets and kill him.
On the 15th, when the Moon stands in the last of her stations, Revatī, there is the festival Puhāī (?), when they wrangle with each other and play with the animals. It is holy to Vāsudēva, because his uncle Kaṁsa had ordered him into his presence for the purpose of wrangling.
On the 16th there is a festival, when they give alms to the Brāhmaṇs.
On the 23rd is the festival Aśōka, also called Āhoī, when the Moon stands in the seventh station, Punarvasu. It is a day of merriment and of wrangling.
In the month Bhādrapada, when the Moon stands in the tenth station, Maghā, they celebrate a festival that they call Pitṛipaksha (the 'Half of the Month of the Fathers'), because the Moon's entering this station falls near the time of new Moon. They distribute alms during fifteen days in the name of the Fathers.
On the 3rd Bhādrapada is the festival, Harbālī (?), for the women. It is their custom that a number of days before they sow all kinds of seeds in baskets, and they bring the baskets forward on this day after they have commenced growing. They throw roses and perfumes on them and play with each other during the whole night. On the following morning they bring them to the ponds, wash them, wash themselves, and give alms.
On the 6th of this month, which is called Gāihat (?), when people give food to those who are in prison.
On the 8th, when the moonlight has reached half of its development, they have a festival called Dhruva[ii.181] gṛiha (?); they wash themselves and eat well growing grain-fruit that their children should be healthy. The women celebrate this festival when they are pregnant and desire to have children.
The 11th Bhādrapada is called Parvatī (?). This is the name of a thread that the priest makes from materials presented to him for the purpose. One part of it he dyes with crocus, the other he leaves as it is. He gives the thread the same length as the statue of Vāsudēva is high. Then he throws it over his neck, so that it hangs down to his feet. It is a much-venerated festival.
The 16th, the first day of the black half, is the first of seven days that are called Karāra (?), when they adorn the children nicely and give a treat to them. They play with various animals. On the seventh day the men adorn themselves and celebrate a festival. And during the rest of the month they always adorn the children towards the end of the day, give alms to the Brāhmaṇs, and do works of piety.
When the Moon stands in her fourth station, Ṛohiṇī, they call this time Gūnālahīd (?), celebrating a festival during three days and making merry by playing with each other, from joy over the birth of Vāsudēva.
Jivaśarman relates that the people of Kaśmīr celebrate a festival on the 26th and 27th of this month, on account of certain pieces of wood called gana (?), which the water of the river Vitastā (Jailam) carries, in those two days, through the capital, Adhishṭhāna. People maintain that it is Mahādēva who sends them. It is peculiar to these pieces of wood, so they say, that nobody is able to seize them, however much he may desire it, that they always evade his grasp and move away.
However, the people of Kaśmīr, with whom I have conversed on the subject, give a different statement as to the place and the time, and maintain that the thing occurs in a pond called Kūdaishahr (?), to the left of the [ii.182] source of the just-mentioned river (Vitastā-Jailam), in the middle of the month Vaiśakha. The latter version is the more likely, as about this time the waters begin to increase. The matter reminds one of the wood in the river of Jurjān that appears at the time when the water swells in its source.
The same Jīvaśarman relates that in the country of Svāt, opposite the district of Kīrī (?), there is a valley in which fifty-three streams unite. It is called Tranjāi (cf. Sindhi: trēvanjāha). In those two days the water of this valley becomes white, in consequence of Mahādēva's washing in it, as people believe.
The 1st Kārttika, or New Moon's Day, when the Sun marches in Libra, is called Dībālī. Then people bathe, dress festively, make presents to each other of betel-leaves and areca-nuts; they ride to the temples to give alms and play merrily with each other until noon. In the night they light a great number of lamps in every place so that the air is perfectly clear. The cause of this festival is that Lakshmī, the wife of Vāsudēva, once a year on this day liberates Bali, the son of Virocana, who is a prisoner in the Seventh Earth, and allows him to go out into the world. Therefore the festival is called Balirājya, i.e. the principality of Bali. The Hindus maintain that this time was a time of luck in the Kṛita- yuga, and they are happy because the feast-day in question resembles that time in the Kṛita-yuga.
In the same month, when full Moon is perfect, they give banquets and adorn their women during all the days of the black half.
The 3rd Mārgaśīrsha, called Guvāna-bātrīj (--tṛitīyā? ), is a feast of the women, sacred to Gaurī. They meet in the houses of the rich among them; they put several silver statues of the goddess on a throne, and perfume it and play with each other the whole day. On the following morning they give alms.
[ii.183] On Full Moon's Day of the same month there is another festival of the women.
On most of the days of the month Pansha they prepare great quantities of pūhaval, a sweet dish, which they eat.
On the eighth day of the white half of Pausha, which is called Ashṭaka, they make gatherings of the Brāhmaṇs, present them with dishes prepared from the plant orache ( Atriplex hortensis; Arabic: sarmakin), and show attentions to them.
On the eighth day of the black half, which is called Sākārtam, they eat turnips.
The 3rd Māgha, called Māhatrīj ( Māgha-ṭritīyā?), is a feast for the women, and sacred to Gaurī. They meet in the houses of the most prominent among them before the image of Gaurī, place before it various sorts of costly dresses, pleasant perfumes, and nice dishes. In each meeting-place they put 108 jugs full of water, and after the water has become cool, they wash with it four times at the four quarters of that night. On the following day they give alms, they give banquets and receive guests. The women's washing with cold water is common to all the days of this month.
On the last day of this month (the 29th), when there is only a remainder of 3 day-minutes (1⅕ hour), all the Hindus enter the water and duck under in it seven times.
On the Full Moon's Day of this month, called Cāmāha (?), they light lamps on all high places.
On the 23rd, which is called Mānsartaku, and also Māhātan, they receive guests and feed them on meat and large black peas.
On the 5th Phālguna, called Pūrārtāku, they prepare for the Brāhmaṇs various dishes from flour and butter.
The Full Moon's Day of Phālguna is a feast to the women, calledOdād (?), or also Dhola (i.e. Dola), when [ii.184] they make fire on places lower than those on which they make it on the festival Cāmāha, and they throw the fire out of the village.
On the following night (the 16th), called Śivarātri, they worship Mahādēva during the whole night; they remain awake, and do not lie down to sleep, and offer to him perfumes and flowers.
On the 23rd, which is called Pūyattān (?), they eat rice with butter and sugar.
The Hindus of Mūltān have a festival that is called Sāmbapurayātrā; they celebrate it in honor of the Sun, and worship him. It is determined in this way: They first take the ahargaṇa, according to the rules of Khaṇḍakhādyaka, and subtract 98,040 therefrom. They divide the remainder by 365, and disregard the quotient. If the division does not give a remainder, the quotient is the date of the festival in question. If there is a remainder, it represents the days that have elapsed since the festival, and by subtracting these days from 365 you find the date of the same festival in the next following year.
CHAPTER 77
CHAPTER 78
CHAPTER 79
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