s the giver for wealth pretending that he would spend it in
religious acts, incurs, O monarch, the sin of uttering a falsehood.[226]
That person, belonging to any of the three higher orders, O Yudhishthira,
who at Sraddhas and on other occasions distributes food with the aid of
Mantras, unto such Brahmanas as do not study the Vedas and as are not
observant of vows, or as have not purified their conduct, certainly
incurs sin."

"'Yudhishthira said,--"I desire, O grandsire, to know by giving unto whom
the things dedicated to the deities and the Pitris, one may earn the
amplest rewards."

"'Bhishma said,--"Do thou, Yudhishthira, feed those Brahmanas whose
spouses reverently wait for the remnants of the dishes of their husbands
like tillers of the soil waiting in reverence for timely showers of rain.
One earns great merit by making gifts unto those Brahmanas that are always
observant of pure conduct, O king, that are emaciated through abstention
from all luxuries and even full meals, that are devoted to the
observances of such vows as lead to the emaciation of the body, and that
approach givers with the desire of obtaining gifts. By making gifts unto
such Brahmanas as regard conduct in this light of food, as regard conduct
in the light of spouses and children, as regard conduct in the light of
strength, as regard conduct in the light of their refuge for crossing
this world and attaining to felicity in the next, and as solicit wealth
only when wealth is absolutely needed, one earns great merit. By making
gifts unto those persons, O Yudhishthira, that having lost everything
through thieves or oppressors, approach the giver, one acquires great
merit.[227] By making gifts unto such Brahmanas as solicit food from the
hands of even a poor person of their order who has just got something
from others, one earns great merit. By making gifts unto such Brahmanas
as have lost their all in times of universal distress and as have been
deprived of their spouses on such occasions, and as come to givers with
solicitations for alms, one acquires great merit. By making gifts unto
such Brahmanas as are observant of vows, and as place themselves
voluntarily under painful rules and regulations, as are respectful in
their conduct to the declaration laid down in the Vedas, and as come to
solicit wealth for spending it upon the rites necessary to complete their
vows and other observances, one earns great merit. By making gifts unto
such Brahmanas