“Yudhishthira said, ’O thou of great wisdom, what purification is there by which a Brahmana may always keep himself pure?  I desire to hear of it from thee, O thou foremost of all virtuous men!’

“Markandeya answered, ’There are three kinds of purity, viz., purity in speech, purity in deed, and purity achieved by use of water.  He that has recourse to these three different kinds of purity, attains, without doubt, to heaven.  That Brahmana who adoreth the goddess Sandhya in the morning and the evening, and who recites meditatively the sacred goddess Gayairi who is the mother of the Vedas, sanctified by the latter, is freed from all his sins.  Even if he accepts in gift the entire earth with her oceans, he doth not, on that account, suffer the least unhappiness.  And those heavenly bodies in the sky including the sun that may be inauspicious and hostile towards him soon become auspicious and favourable towards him in consequence of these acts of his, while those stars that are auspicious and favourable become more auspicious and more favourable in consequence of such conduct of his.  And terrible Rakshasas subsisting on animal food, of gigantic and fierce mien, all become unable to prevail over a Brahmana who practiseth these purifications.  The Brahmanas are even like blazing fires.  They incur no fault in consequence of teaching, of officiating at sacrifices, and of accepting gifts from others.  Whether the Brahmana be cognisant of the Vedas or ignorant of them, whether they be pure or impure, they should never be insulted, for Brahmanas are like fires.  As the fire that blazeth up in the place set apart for the cremation of the dead is never regarded impure on that account, so the Brahmana, be he learned or ignorant, is always pure.  He is great and a very god!  Cities that are adorned with walls and gates and palaces one after another, lose their beauty if they are bereft of Brahmanas.  That, indeed, O king, is a city where Brahmanas accomplished in the Vedas, duly observing the duties of their order and possessed of learning and ascetic merit, reside.  O son of Pritha, that spot, be it a wood or pasture land, where learned Brahmanas reside, hath been called a city.  And that place, O king, becometh a tirtha also.  By approaching a king that offereth protection, as also a Brahmana possessed of ascetic merit, and by offering worship unto both, a man may purge off his sins immediately.  The learned have said that ablutions in the sacred tirthas, recitation of the names of holy ones, and converse with the good and virtuous, are all acts worthy of applause.  They that are virtuous and honest always regard themselves as sanctified by the holy companionship of persons like themselves and by the water of pure and sacred converse.  The carrying of three staffs, the vow of silence, matted hair on head, the shaving of the crown, covering one’s person with barks and deerskins, the practice