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100
LAWS OF MANU.
III, 133,
knowledge; for hands, smeared with blood, cannot be cleansed with blood.
133. As many mouthfuls as an ignorant man swallows at a sacrifice to the gods or to the manes, so many red-hot spikes, spears, and iron balls must (the giver of the repast) swallow after death.
134. Some Brâhmanas are devoted to the pursuit of) knowledge, and others to the performance of) austerities; some to austerities and to the recitation of the Veda, and others to (the performance of) sacred rites.
135. Oblations to the manes ought to be carefully presented to those devoted to knowledge, but offerings to the gods, in accordance with the reason (of the sacred law), to (men of) all the four (abovementioned classes).
136. If there is a father ignorant of the sacred texts whose son has learned one whole recension of the Veda and the Angas, and a son ignorant of the sacred texts whose father knows an entire recension of the Veda and the Argas,
133. Nar. thinks that the eater, not the giver of the feast will bear the punishment. Medh. gives both this explanation and that adopted in the translation. Nâr. explains risht, spear,' by khadga, “sword.' Nand. reads hulân for gudân,' balls,' and says that hula means 'a double-edged sword.'
134. Knowledge,' i. e. 'the knowledge of the supreme soul' (Medh., Gov., Kull., Nár., Râgh.). Medh. and Nâr. say that ascetics, hermits, students, and householders are intended by the four divisions mentioned in the text.
135. Vas. XI, 17; Baudh. II, 14, 3. The verse indicates that ascetics are particularly desirable guests.
136-137. Kull. remarks that the object of the verse is to teach that at a Sraddha the learned son of a learned father is to be entertained, but not to permit the admission of a fool whose father is learned.
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