they who adore Righteousness attain to the regions of the deities.  Those individuals, whether human beings or deities who divest themselves of cupidity and malice and who emaciate or afflict their bodies by the observance of austerities, succeed, in consequence of the Righteousness which then becomes theirs to attain to great felicity.  Those that are gifted with wisdom have said that the Brahmanas, who are the eldest sons of Brahmana, represent Righteousness.  They that are righteous always worship them, their hearts regarding them with as much love and affection as a hungry man’s stomach entertains for ripe and delicious fruits.’

“Yudhishthira said, ’What is the appearance presented by those that are wicked, and what are those acts which they that are called good are to do?  Explain to me this, O holy one!  Indeed, tell me what the indications are of the good and the wicked.’

“Bhishma said, ’They that are wicked are evil in their practices, ungovernable or incapable of being kept within the restraints of rules, and foul mouthed.  They, on the other hand, they are good, are always good in their acts.  Verily, the acts these men do are regarded as the indications of that course of conduct which is called good.  They that are good or righteous, O monarch, never answer the two calls of nature on the public road, or in the midst of a cow-pen, or on a field of paddy, After feeding the five they take their own food.[622] They never talk while eating, and never go to sleep with wet hands (i.e., without rubbing them dry with towels or napkins).  Whenever they see any of the following, they circumambulate them for showing them reverence, viz., a blazing fire, a bull, the image of a deity, a cow-pen, a place where four roads meet, and an old and virtuous Brahmana.  They give the way, themselves standing aside, unto those that are old, those that are afflicted with burdens, ladies, those that hold high appointments in the village or town administration, Brahmanas, kine, and kings.  The righteous or good man is he that protects his guests, servants and other dependents, his own relatives, and all those that seek his protection.  Such a man always welcomes these with the usual enquiries of politeness.  Two times have been appointed by the deities for human beings to take their food, viz., morning and evening.  During the interval one should not eat anything.  By following this rule about eating, one is said to observe a fast.  As the sacred fire waits for libations to be poured upon it when the hour for Homa arrives, even so a woman, when her functional period is over, expects an act of congress with her husband.  One that never approaches one’s spouses at any other time save after the functional period, is said to observe the vow of Brahmacharya.  Amrita (nectar), Brahmanas, and kine,—­these three are regarded as equal.  Hence, one should always worship, with due rites, Brahmanas and kine.  One does not incur any fault or stain by eating the meat of animals slain