History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.187

v2.c20.187

Several other lesser privileges are enumerated by Nārada (prakīrṇaka, verses 35–39) 'The king shall show his face in the morning before brāhmaṇas first of all and shall salute them all. When nine or seven persons (of different rank) meet, they shall first make room for the brāhmaṇa to pass³⁵⁴ by. Further privileges assigned to brāhmaṇas are: free access to the houses of other people for the purpose of begging alms; the right to collect fuel, flowers, water and the like without its being regarded as a theft³⁵⁵ and to converse with other men's wives without being restrained (in such conversation) by others; and the right to cross rivers without paying any fare for the ferry-boat and to be conveyed (to the other bank) before other people. When engaged in trading and using a ferry boat, they shall have to pay no toll. A brāhmaṇa who is engaged in travelling, who is tired and has nothing to eat, commits no wrong by taking two canes of sugar or two esculent roots.