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XIII KÂNDA, 8 ADHYAYA, I BRÂHMANA, 9. 425
8. And some, indeed, say, 'Let him make it on a counter-cutting in ground inclined towards the south, for such (a tomb) indeed becomes rising sin?' But one must not do so, for indeed such (a burial place) alone becomes rising sin which one makes on ground inclining towards the north.
9. On any level (ground) where the waters, flowing thither from a south-easterly direction, and coming to a stand-still, will, on reaching that (north-westerly) quarter, without pressing forward", join imperishable water', on that (ground) one may make (the tomb); for, water being food, one thereby offers food to him from the front towards the back; and, water being the drink of immortality, and that region between the rising of the seven Rishis 6 and the setting of the sun being the quarter of the living, one thereby bestows the drink of immortality upon the living :--and such a one, indeed, is a closing tomb; and verily what is good for the living that is also good for the Fathers.
1 This is meant as a literal rendering of pratyarsha. What is intended thereby would seem to be either a cutting made into southward sloping ground, in such a way as to make the cut piece of ground rise towards the south, or perhaps such a part of the southward inclined ground as naturally rises towards the south. The St. Petersburg Dict. suggests 'steep bank (escarpment), or side (of a hill).' Kâty. XXI, 3, 15 (kakshe) seems also to imply some kind of hollow ground, surrounded by bushes and trees.
? That is, apparently, lightened, or improving, sin.
• It might also mean, in a south-easterly direction, but the comparison with food introduced into the mouth from the front (east) and the specification of the opposite direction evidently point to the above meaning.
• That is, without urging forward the standing water which they join, but quickly flowing into it.
* That is, apparently, such a lake as never dries up. . That is, Ursa major, the Great Bear, or Charles's Wain,
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