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SOCIAL LIFE
maņas on every full-moon day of Kartika. But, these pious and learned Brahmanas, proud as they were of their knowledge and learning, never cared to bow down even before the kings. A learned Brāhmaṇa, being advised by others to visit the king and ask him for gifts, is seen as bluntly replying, should I accept gifts from a king going there uninvited? If the king desires the welfare of his forefathers and ancestors, he should come here himself to take me with him or send me the gifts here1. This shows the patronizing attitude with which they received gifts from the kings, and ensured that it was not a begging on their part, but a demand which was a mandatory duty on the part of the donor if he desired his own salvation.
Apart from the kings, the people also showed liberal charity towards the Brahmanas by providing them with food and other requirements. Feeding the cows and the Brahmaņas was considerd to be an act of meritorious duty on the part of the donor.2 The Brahmaņas were never refused alms during their begging-round. In the month of Kartika people broke their fast only after offering food to the Brāhmaṇas. The Brāhmaṇas were respectfully called to perform the religious ceremonies on various auspicious and inauspicious occasions. Often they were invited to the Śraddha ceremony when the food was offered to the dead ancestors. The period of ten days impurity because of the birth or death in a particular family also ended after offering food to the Brahmaņas. It is thus evident
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1. NC. 3, p. 92. The Brahmanic authorities lay down various restrictions. upon the Brahmanas and a Snataka for accepting food or gifts from a king. According to Manu, a Brahmana was not to seek gifts from a king who was avaricious and transgressor of the rules of the Sastras. -Manu. VII. 5. 84; also VII. 13. 4.
2. qui magia Alfa (NC. 2, p. 315). According to the Smrtis, feeding the Brahmanas is one of the acknowledged ways of gaining religious merit (Collection of Smṛtis, p. 423; Vayu Purāṇa, 80. 55). 3. किं तुमो बभणों ! ताहे इमस्सागतस्स अवस्सं भिक्खं देज्जह - NG 3, p. 413.
4. NC. 3, p. 418.
5. NC. 3, p. 415; Hariacarita, p. 164, text p. 175.
6. NC. 3, p. 526.
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