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Ixviii
LAWS OF MANU.
should have entered into all the details which our text gives. The passage on the householders has probably been placed wrongly. Most of its verses ought to stand in the discussion on the relative importance of the orders at the end of chapter VI. In the fourth chapter the first section on the means by which a Brahmana may subsist (vv. 1-24) is exceedingly suspicious. The Dharma-sūtras, e.g. Vasishtha XII, 2-4, no doubt sometimes prefix brief hints on the manner in which a Snataka may support himself, to the rules regarding his behaviour. But they do not mention the curious classification of the means of subsistence, Rita, Amrita, Mrita, Pramrita, and Svavritti (vv. 5, 6), which, though common in the Puranas and other later works, is unknown in Vedic literature. As, moreover, Vasishtha's rules, which enumerate the persons by whom a Snataka may be supported, occur further on (IV, 33–34), it is not improbable that the whole section consisting of the first twenty-four verses is a later addition. With still greater certainty the same may be said of vv. 85-91, which describe the heinousness of the offence committed by him who accepts gifts from a royal usurper and other wicked persons, and enumerate the twenty-one hells which will be the offender's portion. For it is not doubtful that, even if the Satrakaras were acquainted with a classification of the regions of punishment, their enumeration ought not to stand here, but, as in the Vishnu-smriti, at the beginning of the section on crimes and penances. Other probable interpolations are vv. 172-174 on the results of sin, vv. 180–185 on the reasons why quarrels with near relatives should be avoided, w. 238–243 on the reasons why spiritual merit should be accumulated. Finally, the section on gifts and the acceptance of gifts (vv. 186–197) seems to be strongly mixed with modern elements. The next following two chapters present fewer suspicious passages. Nevertheless, the preamble to the section on forbidden food, V. 1-4. the verses 19-21, which prescribe the penances for eating mushrooms, onions, leeks, and so forth, must be certainly rejected. For the former belong to the artificial framework which has been placed round the old Satra, and the latter ought to stand in chapter XI. From the quotation in
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