of the Sraddha who gives away such offerings unto such a Brahmana falls away from prosperity and multiplies not his race.  He fails, again, to gratify his Pitris by doing such an act.  From the house of that person whence a guest returns unsatisfied, the Pitris, the deities, and the sacred fires, all return disappointed in consequence of such treatment of the guest.  That man who does not discharge the duties of hospitality towards the guest arrived at his abode, comes to be regarded as equally sinful with those that are slayers of women or of kine, that are ungrateful towards benefactors, that are slayers of Brahmanas, or that are violators of the beds of their preceptors.’

“Agni said, ’Listen ye with concentrated attention.  I shall recite the demerits of that man of wicked understanding who lifts up his feet for striking therewith a cow or a highly blessed Brahmana or a blazing fire.  The infamy of such a man spreads throughout the world and touches the confines of heaven itself.  His Pitris become filled with fear.  The deities also become highly dissatisfied on his account.  Endued with great energy, Fire refuses to accept the libations poured by him.  For a hundred lives he has to rot in hell.  He is never rescued at any time.  One should, therefore, never touch a cow with one’s feet, or a Brahmana of high energy, or a blazing fire, if one is endued with faith and desires one’s own good.  These are the demerits declared by me of one who lifts up one’s feet towards these three.’

“Viswamitra said, ’Listen to a high mystery that is unknown to the generality of men and that is connected with religion.  He who offers the Pitris rice boiled in sugared milk, sitting with face directed to the south at noontide in the shade caused by an elephant’s body, in the month of Bhadrapada, under the constellation Magha, acquires great merits.  Listen to what those merits are.  The man who makes such an offering to the Pitris under such circumstances, is regarded as performing a great Sraddha each year for thirteen years in succession.’[552]

“The kine said, ’That man becomes cleansed of all his sins who adores a cow with these Mantras, viz., ’O Vahula, O Samanga, O thou that art fearless everywhere, O thou that art forgiving and full of auspiciousness, O friend, O source of all plenty, in the region of Brahman, in days of yore, thou wert present with thy calf in the sacrifice of Indra, the wielder of the thunderbolt.  Thou tookest thy station in the firmament and in the path of Agni.  The deities with Narada among them adored thee on that occasion by calling thee Sarvamsaha.  Such man attains to the region of Purandara.  He acquires, besides, the merits that attach to kine, and the splendour of Chandramas also.  Such a man becomes freed from every sin, every fear, every grief.  At the end, he obtains residence in the happy region of the Thousand-eyed Indra!’