as are made to the deities themselves. In Sraddhas,
however, O monarch, the man of intelligence should
examine the Brahmanas (to be employed for assisting
the doers of the Sraddha in getting through the ritual
and making gifts unto them of the offerings made to
the Pitris). Such examination should concern
itself with their birth and conduct and age and appearance
and learning and nobility (or otherwise) of parentage.
Amongst the Brahmanas there are some that pollute the
line and some that sanctify it. Listen to me,
O king, as I tell thee who those Brahmanas are that
should be excluded from the line.[404] He that is full
of guile, or he that is guilty of foeticide, or he
that is ill of consumption, or he that keeps animals,
of is destitute of Vedic study, or is a common servant
of a village, or lives upon the interest of loans,
or he that is a singer, or he that sells all articles,
or he that is guilty of arson, or he that is a poisoner
or he that is a pimp by profession, or he that sells
Soma, or he that is a professor of palmistry, or he
that is in the employ of the king, or he that is seller
of oil, or he that is a cheat and false swearer, or
he that has a quarrel with his father, or he that
tolerates a paramour of his wife in his house, or he
that has been cursed, or he that is a thief, or he
that lives by some mechanical art, or he that puts
on disguises, or he that is deceitful in his behaviour,
or he that is hostile to those he calls his friends,
or he that is an adulterer, or he that is a preceptor
of Sudras, or he that has betaken himself to the profession
of arms, or he that wanders with dogs (for hunting),
or he that has been bit by a dog, or he that has wedded
before his elder brothers, or he that seems to have
undergone circumcision,[405] he that violates the
bed of his preceptor, he that is an actor or mime,
he that lives by setting up a deity and he that lives
by calculating the conjunctions of stars and planets
and asterisms[406], are regarded as fit to be excluded
from the line. Persons conversant with the Vedas
say that the offerings made at Sraddhas, if eaten
by such Brahmanas, go to fill the stomachs of Rakshasas
(instead of filling those of the Pitris), O, Yudhishthira.
That person who having eaten at a Sraddha does not
abstain that day from study of the Vedas or who has
sexual congress that day with a Sudra woman, must
know that his Pitris, in consequence of such acts of
his, have to lie for a month on his dung. The
offerings made at Sraddhas if presented to a Brahmana
who sells Soma, become converted into human ordure;
if presented to a Brahmana who is engaged in the practice
of Medicine, they become converted into pus and blood;
if presented to one who lives by setting up a deity,
they fail to produce any fruit; if presented to one
who lives upon the interest of loans they lead to
infamy; if presented to one who is engaged in trade,
they become productive of no fruits either here or
hereafter. If presented to a Brahmana who is