cellent fruits commensurate with those gifts. That gift is
highly prized which the donor makes after seeking out the donee and
honouring him properly. That gift is middling which the donor makes upon
solicitation. That gift, however, which is made contemptuously and
without any reverence, is said to be very inferior (in point of merit).
Even this is what those utterers of the truth, viz., the sages, say.
While sinking in this ocean of life, man should always seek to cross that
ocean by various means. Indeed, he should so exert himself that he might
be freed from the bonds of this world. The Brahmana shines by self
restraint; the Kshatriya by victory; the Vaisya by wealth; while the
Sudra always shines in glory through cleverness in serving (the three
other orders).'"'"

SECTION CCXCV

"'"Parasara said, 'In the Brahmana, wealth acquired by acceptance of gifts,
in the Kshatriya that won by victory in battle, in the Vaisya that
obtained by following the duties laid down for his order, and in the
Sudra that earned by serving the three other orders, however small its
measure, is worthy of praise, and spent for the acquisition of virtue is
productive of great benefits. The Sudra is said to be the constant
servitor of the three other classes. If the Brahmana, pressed for a
living, betakes himself to the duties of either the Kshatriya or the
Vaisya, he does not fall off from righteousness. When, however, the
Brahmana betakes himself to the duties of the lowest order, then does he
certainly fall off. When the Sudra is unable to obtain his living by
service of the three other orders, then trade, rearing of cattle, and the
practice of the mechanical arts are lawful for him to follow. Appearance
on the boards of a theatre and disguising oneself in various forms,
exhibition of puppets, the sale of spirits and meat, and trading in iron
and leather, should never be taken up for purposes of a living by one who
had never before been engaged in those professions every one of which is
regarded as censurable in the world. It hath been heard by us that if one
engaged in them can abandon them, one then acquires great merit. When one
that has become successful in life behaves sinfully in consequence of
one's mind being filled with arrogance, one's acts under such
circumstances can never pass for authority. It is heard in the Puranas
that formerly mankind were self-restrained; that they held righteousness
in great esteem; that the practic