the Manes are satisfied by the oblation in fire.  The hosts of gods are waters, so, too, are the Manes.  The feasts of the new and full moon belong to the gods with the Manes; hence the Manes are divinities and the divinities are Manes.  They are of one being (ek[i]bh[=u]t[=a]s).  I (Fire) am the mouth of both, for both eat the oblation poured upon me.  The Manes at the new moon, the gods at the full, are fed by my mouth” (i. 7. 7 ff.).[24] Such gods the epic hero fears not (i. 227. 38 ff.).  Hymns to them are paralleled by hymns to snakes, as in i. 3. 134 ff., against whom is made the “sarpasattram (snake sacrifice) of the Pur[=a]nas” (i. 51. 6).  Divinity is universal.  Knights are as divine as the divinest god, the All-god.  Arjuna, the god-born man, to whom Krishna reveals the Divine Song, is himself god.[25] In this case whether god becomes human, or vice versa, no one knows.

Under the all embracing cloak of pantheism the heart of the epic conceals many an ancient rite and superstition.  Here is the covenant of blood, the covenant of death (represented by the modern ’sitting’[26]), and the covenant of water, which symbolizes both friendship and the solemnity of the curse.  The former are illustrated by Bhima’s drinking blood as a sign that he will fulfil his vow,[27] and by R[=a]ma lying by Ocean to die unless Ocean grants his wish.  Of the water-rite that of offering water in hospitality and as a form in reception of gifts is general; that of cursing by ‘touching water’ (v[=a]ry upasp[r.]cya), occurs in iii. 10. 32.  For this purpose holy-grass and other symbols are known also,[28] and formulae yield only in potency to love-philters and magic drugs.  Another covenant besides those just noticed seems to lie concealed in the avoidance of the door when injury is intended.  If one goes in by the door he is a guest who has anticipated hospitality, and then he dares not refuse the respect and offering of water, etc, which makes the formal pact of friendship.  If, on the contrary, he does not go in by the door he is not obliged to receive the offering, and may remain as a foe in the house (or in the city) of his enemy, with intent to kill, but without moral wrong.  This may be implied in the end of the epic, where Acvatth[=a]man, intent on secret murder of his foe, is prevented by god Civa from entering in at the gate, but going in by stealth, and ‘not by the door’ of the camp, gets to his foe, who lies asleep, and kills him (x. 8. 10).  This might be thought, indeed, to be merely strategic, but it is in accordance with the strict law of all the law-books that one, in ordinary circumstances, shall avoid to enter a town or a house in any other way than through the door (Manu, iv. 73; Gaut. 9. 32, etc.), and we think it has a moral significance, for this a-dv[=a]ra (non-door) rule occurs again in the epic in just the circumstances we have described.  The heroes in this case are not afraid of their foe, who is in his town.