grandsons and animals and relatives and ministers and other officers and
the city and the provinces of the king.[18] Even such is the energy, so
great, of the Brahmana like unto that of the thousand-rayed Surya
himself, on the Earth. There-fore, O Yudhishthira, if one wishes to
attain to a respectable or happy order of being in one's next birth, one
should, having passed the promise to a Brahmana, certainly keep it by
actually making the gift to him. By making gifts to a Brahmana one is
sure to attain to the highest heaven. Verily, the making of gifts is the
highest of acts that one can achieve. By the gifts one makes to a
Brahmana, the deities and the pitris are supported. Hence one possessed
of knowledge should ever make gifts unto the Brahmanas. O chief of the
Bharatas, the Brahmana is regarded as the highest object unto whom gifts
should be made. At no time should a Brahmana be received without being
properly worshipped."



SECTION X

"Yudhisthira said, 'I wish to know, O royal sage, whether any fault is
incurred by one who from interested or disinterested friendship imparts
instructions unto a person belonging to a low order of birth! O
grandsire, I desire to hear this, expounded to me in detail. The course
of duty is exceedingly subtile. Men are often seen to be stupefied in
respect of that course.'

"Bhishma said, 'In this connection, O king, I shall recite to thee, in
due order, what I heard certain Rishis say in days of yore. Instruction
should not be imparted unto one that belongs to a low or mean caste. It
is said that the preceptor who imparts instruction to such a person