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Mulholland, Rosa, 1841-1921

"The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12"

A sacrifice not completed with
Dakshina, (instead of producing merit) brings about the destruction of
one's children, animals, and heaven. Such a sacrifice destroys also the
senses, the fame, the achievements and the very span of life, that one
has. Those Brahmanas that lie with women in their season, or who never
perform sacrifices, or whose families have no members conversant with the
Vedas, are regarded as Sudras in act. That Brahmana who, having married a
Sudra girl, resides for twelve continuous years in a village has only a
well for its water supply, becomes a Sudra in act. That Brahmana who
summons to his bed an unmarried maiden, or suffers a Sudra, thinking him
worthy of respect, to sit upon the same carpet with him, should sit on a
bed of dry grass behind some Kshatriya or Vaisya and give him respect in
that fashion.[475] It is in this manner that he can be cleansed. Listen,
O king, to my words on this subject. The sin that a Brahmana commits in a
single night by respectfully serving a member of a lower order or by
sporting with him in the same spot or on the same bed, is cleansed by
observing the practice of sitting behind a Kshatriya or a Vaisya on a bed
of dry grass for three continuous years. A falsehood spoken in jest is
not sinful; nor one that is spoken to a woman. O king, nor one that is
spoken on an occasion of marriage; nor one spoken for benefiting one's
preceptor; nor one spoken for saving one's own life. These five kinds of
falsehood in speech, it has been said, are not sinful.


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