Vasishthasmriti 126

126

śrāvaṇyāgrahāyaṇyoścānvaṣṭakāyāñca pitṛbhyo dadyād‌dravyadeśabrāhmaṇasannidhāne vā kālaniyamo'vaśyam . yo brāhmaṇī'gnimādadhota, darśapūrṇamāsāgrayaṇeṣṭicāturmmāsyapaśusomaiśca yajate . naiyamikaṃ hyetaddaṇaṃ saṃstṛtañca vijñāyate hi tribhirṛṇe rṛṇavān brāhmaṇo jāyate ; yajñena devemyaḥ, prajāyā pitṛbhyo, brahmacaryyoṇa ṛṣibhyaḥ ityeṣa vā anṛṇo yajva yaḥ putrau brahmacaryyavāniti . garbhāṣṭameṣu brāhmaṇamupanayota, garbhekādaśeṣu rājanyaṃ, garbhadvādaśeṣu vaiśyam . pālāśī daṇḍī bailvī vā brāhmaṇasya, naiyayādhaḥ kṣatriyasca vā, or̤a, mbaro vā vaiśyasya . kṛṣṇājinamuttaroyaṃ brāhmaṇasya, roravaṃ kṣatriyasya, gavyaṃ vastājinaṃ vaiśyasya . śuklamāhataṃ vāsā brāhmaṇasya, māñjiṣṭhaṃ kṣatriyasya, hāridraṃ kośeyaṃ vaiśyasya, sarveṣāṃ vā tāntavamaraktam . bhavat‌pūrvāṃ brāhmaṇo bhikṣāṃ yāceta, bhavanmadhyāṃ rājanyo, bhabadantyāṃ vaiśyaśca . āṣor̤aśād‌brāhmaṇasyānatītaḥ kāla, ā dbāviṃśāt kṣatriyasyā caturviṃśād‌vaiśyasyāta ūrddhaṃ patitasābitrokā bhavanti . nainānupanayennādhyāpadenna yājayennaibhirvivāhayeyuḥ . patitasāvitrīka uddālakavrataṃ caret .
dvau māsau yāvakena varttayenmāsaṃ mākṣikeṇāṣṭarātraṃ ghṛtena var̤arātramayācitaṃ trirātramav‌bhakṣo'horātramevopavaset . aśvamedhāvabhṛthaṃ gacched‌brāhmastomena vā yajet .
iti vāsiṣṭhe dharmmaśāstre ekādaśo'dhyāyaḥ .. 11 ..

He should make offerings to the ancestors on the full-moon days of Śrāvaṇa and Āgrahāyaṇa, and on the Anvaṣṭakā day, or whenever materials, a suitable place, and Brahmins are at hand; the time is not strictly binding. A Brahmin who has established the fires sacrifices with the New and Full Moon rites, the first-fruits sacrifice, the Four-Month sacrifices, the animal sacrifice, and Soma sacrifices. For this is a regular and established debt; for it is known [from revelation]: “A Brahmin is born with three debts: by sacrifice to the gods, by offspring to the ancestors, by chaste studenthood to the seers.” Thus, one who has sacrificed, fathered a son, and observed chaste studenthood is free from debt. He should initiate a Brahmin in the eighth year from conception, a nobleman in the eleventh year from conception, and a Vaishya in the twelfth year from conception. The staff of a Brahmin is made of palāśa or bilva wood, that of a Kshatriya of nyagrodha wood, and that of a Vaishya of udumbara wood. The upper garment of a Brahmin is a black antelope skin, that of a Kshatriya a ruru-deer skin, and that of a Vaishya a cow-hide or goat skin. The cloth of a Brahmin is white and unwashed, that of a Kshatriya dyed with madder, that of a Vaishya dyed with turmeric or made of silk, or for all of them an undyed woven garment. A Brahmin should beg alms with the word “Lady” at the beginning, a nobleman with “Lady” in the middle, and a Vaishya with “Lady” at the end. The time [for initiation] is not past for a Brahmin until the sixteenth year, for a Kshatriya until the twenty-second, and for a Vaishya until the twenty-fourth; after that, they become those whose Sāvitrī verse has lapsed. One should not initiate them, nor teach them, nor sacrifice for them, nor should one contract marriages with them. One whose Sāvitrī verse has lapsed should perform the Uddālaka penance: / he should subsist for two months on barley gruel, for one month on milk, for eight nights on clarified butter, for six nights on unsolicited food, for three nights drinking only water, and fast completely for a day and a night. He should go to the concluding bath of a horse sacrifice, or sacrifice with the Brāhmastoma. / Thus ends the eleventh chapter in the treatise on duty of Vasiṣṭha. 11.