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XXVII, 29.
SACRAMENTS.
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20. The skins (which they wear) should be those of a black antelope, of a tiger, and of a he-goat respectively.
21. Their staves should be made of Palâsa, Khadira, and Udumbara wood respectively.
22. Their staves should be of such a length as to reach the hair, the forehead, and the nose respectively.
23. Or all (kinds of staves may be used for all castes indiscriminately).
24. And they should not be crooked, nor should the bark be stripped off.
25. In begging alms, they should put in the word 'Lady' at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of their request (according to their caste).
26. The ceremony of initiation must not be delayed beyond the sixteenth year in the case of a Brâhmana; beyond the twenty-second, in the case of a Kshatriya; and beyond the twenty-fourth, in the case of a Vaisya.
27. After that, the youths belonging to any of those three castes, who have not been initiated at the proper time, are excluded from initiation, and contemned by the twice-born, and are called Vrâtyas.
28. That skin, that cord, that girdle, that staff, and that garment which has been given to any one (on his initiation), that he must for ever wear when performing any religious observance.
29. His girdle, his skin, his staff, his string, and his ewer he must throw into the water when broken (or spoiled by use), and receive others consecrated with Mantras.
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