. Drinking the expressed juice of
this plant is a holy ceremony, used at the completion of a sacrifice,
and sanctifies the drinker. "He alone is worthy to drink the juice of
the moon plant who keep a provision of grain sufficient to supply
those whom the law commands him to nourish, for the term of three
years or more. But a twice-born man, who keeps a less provision of
grain, yet presumes to taste the juice of the moon plant, shall gather
no fruit from that sacrament, even though he taste it at the first or
solemn, or much less at any occasional ceremony." MENU, iii. 197. All
the ancestors of the Brahmins are 'Soma-pas, moon-plant drinkers.']

[Footnote 79: p. 36. l. 15. _--fire adoring_. Watching or maintaining the
sacred fire is another duty: it peculiarly belongs to priests and
hermits. The latter may watch the fire mentally: "Then having
reposited his holy fires, as the law directs, in his mind, let him
live without external fire, without a mansion, wholly silent, feeding
on roots and fruit." MENU, vi. 25.]

[Footnote 80: p. 37. l. 2. _--sweet as the amrita draught_. For the amrita, the
drink of immortality, see Curse of Kehama, the extract from the
Mahabharata quoted by Mr. Wilkins in his notes to the Bhagavat-Gita,
and Ramayana, I. 410.]

[Footnote 81: p. 37. l. 10. _To the ancient famous hermits_. These famous
hermits, whose names I have omitted, were Bhrigu, Atri, and Vasishta.]

[Footnote 82: p. 37. l. 11. _Self-denying, strict in diet_. The sixth book of
Menu is filled with instructions to those who are engaged in 'tapasa:'
it is entitled, "On Devotion." "When the father of a family perceives
his muscles become flaccid, and his hair gray, and sees the child of
his child, let him then seek refuge in a forest. Abandoning all food
eaten in towns, and all his household utensils, let him repair to the
lonely wood, committing the care of his wife to her sons, or
accompanied by her, if she choose to attend him. Let him take up his
consecrated fire, and all his domestic implements of making oblations
to it, and departing from the town to the forest, let him dwell in it
with complete power over his organs of sense and of action. With many
sorts of pure food, such as holy sages used to eat, with green herbs,
roots, and fruit, let him perform the five great sacraments before
mentioned, introducing them with due ceremonies. Let him wear a black
antelope's hide, or a vesture of bark; let him suffer the hairs of his
he