234) Of two Edicts hestowlng Land. [No. 3. 



1. He that receives land, and he that bestows land, both, as 

 performing acts of merit, assuredly go to elysium.* 



of the nine stanzas here collected, or similar ones ; little uniformity being ob- 

 served, however, in their arrangement. Most of them, if not all, are, somewhere 

 or other, attributed to Vyasa or the Munis. The probability is, that they are de- 

 rived from the Malidbhdrata and the Puranas. One or two may be taken from 

 the Rdmdyana. A few have been traced to their sources, mediate or immediate ; 

 as will subsequently appear. Their various readings are numerous ; but it has not 

 been thought necessary to adduce, in more than one or two instances, such as are 

 immaterial. The rest are dwelt on at length. 



* This couplet, attributed to a Muni, or Sage, will be found translated in Cole- 

 brooke's Digest of Hindu Law, &c, Vol. II., pp. 166, 167 : 8vo. ed. In the 

 original I have corrected ^frr^^lffT fc o S}f?f3Z^f Tf?T ; anu I have changed 

 f^f^T t0 f«f^?W 5 * ne preferable and more frequent reading. These verses are 

 very often met with. They occur, with minute variations, in all three of the law- 

 works about to be named. 



In express contradiction to the maxim which they deliver, a metrical precept, 

 quoted in the Prdyas'chitta-mayulcha and Prayas'chitta-muMdvali, and there 

 wrongly imputed to the code of the Manavas, pronounces, in substance, that the 

 acceptor of land falls into a place of torment : 



This bold enunciation is, however, in good part glossed away by refinements and 

 exceptions. The Hindu Rhadamanthus is wonderfully tolerant of sophistry. 



In the first place, the acceptance of land without a spiritual fee is ruled, by the 

 DdnachandriJcd, to be no delinquency whatever. This act is, accordingly, not 

 viewed as objectionable, unless an attempt is made to sanctify it by religious rites. 

 See the last note, p. 224. 



When ritual observances are connected with it, a new character at once attaches 

 to the deed. It now becomes sinful, and demands satisfaction. One treatise pre- 

 scribes, as the appropriate expiation, the penance of Prajapati and the bestowal 

 in charity of one-sixth of the gift ; the donee retaining the remainder. Another 

 treatise is more unrelenting in its exactions ; requiring three performances of the 

 ardent penance, three ablutions daily for four months, and alms as before ; the 

 residue of the donation likewise remaining with its receiver. 



The penance of Prajapati is thus described : " When a twice-born man per- 

 forms the common penance, or that of Prajapati, he must for three days eat only 

 in the morning ; for three days, only in the evening ; for three days, food unasked 

 hut presented to him; and for three days more, nothing." Laws of the Mana- 

 yas, XL, 212. But compare Yajvavalkya, III., 320. 



Pf the ardent penance we have the following account : " A Brahman, perform- 



