The old Devala law-book — fragments 5: Vows, the calendar and gifts
English (machine translation) 5
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Vows, the calendar and gifts
5.1
The lunar day on which the sun rises is to be taken as the whole day for bathing, gifts, vows and the like; the lunar day on which the sun sets is (likewise) to be taken as the whole day for bathing, gifts, vows and the like.
5.2
When a difficult and critical situation arises, how should one break the fast on the twelfth?
5.3
For the householder the wise hold the 'night-meal' (nakta) to begin at the sight of the stars; for the ascetic it is in the eighth part of the day, since for him (eating) at night is forbidden.
5.4
What is eaten under a vow when half the day has passed, less by three mouthfuls, is called the single meal (ekabhakta).
5.5
Eating one meal on the tenth, avoiding meat and intercourse, he should fast on the eleventh in both fortnights.
5.6
Without taking the morning meal, having bathed and sipped water, composed, he should announce it to the Sun and the other deities and then undertake the vow.
5.7
A fast is destroyed by sleeping by day, by dice and by intercourse; but by drinking water in an emergency the fast is not destroyed.
5.8
Chastity, purity, truthfulness and abstaining from meat: these four are the most important things in vows; this is settled.
5.9
Fear of any creature, illness, inadvertence and a teacher's command: these, once, are declared by the treatises not to break a vow.
5.10
One who keeps the sacred fires, a draught-ox and a student: these three succeed only by eating; there is no success for them by fasting.
5.11
The moment of the solar transit is subtle and hard to know for fleshly eyes; thirty nāḍīs before and after its occurrence are sanctified.
5.12
As bathing and giving are prescribed at an eclipse of the sun by day, so at an eclipse of the moon at night.
5.13
The Gaṅgā, the Yamunā, the Sarasvatī that rises at the Plakṣa, and the others called nada (male rivers) are not defiled by the (rivers') menses.
5.14
The 'great night' is to be known as the two middle watches; in it one should not bathe, except for optional and occasional rites.
5.15
The auspicious bright third of Vaiśākha joined with Rohiṇī, the thirteenth of Nabhasya joined with Maghā … these are held to be the beginnings of the ages, making what is given imperishable.
5.16
Now we shall explain the rule of giving. Wealth bestowed with faith on a worthy recipient who has been named is called a gift; its explanation will be given.
5.17
Of all gifts the gift of food is the highest; who else is better than the giver of food, the giver of life?
5.18
On the fifteenth, the fourteenth and the eighth a wise man should avoid oil, meat, intercourse and the razor.
5.19
When (many) come to the holy places together, they should go (to bathe) in the order of Brahmins and the rest; and, to protect those without sons, in the order of their arrival.
Linked texts (1)
- Devalasmṛti (fragments) — Sanskrit