Or the ripening of actions.* This is a system of knowledge of an amaz­ing and extraordinary character, in which the learned of Hindustan concur without dissentient opinion. It reveals the particular class of actions per­formed in a former birth which have occasioned the events that befall men in this present life, and prescribes the special expiation of each sin, one by one. It is of four kinds.

THE FIRST KIND discloses the particular action which has brought a man into existence in one of the five classes into which mankind is divided, and the action which occasions the assumption of a male or female form. A Kshatriya who lives continently, will, in his next birth, be born a Bráhman. A Vaiśya who hazards his transient life to protect a Bráh­man, will become a Kshatriya. A ´Súdra who lends money without interest and does not defile his tongue by demanding repayment, will be born a Vaiṣya. A Mlechchha who serves a Bráhman and eats food from his house till his death, will become a ´Súdra. A Bráhman who undertakes the profession of a Kshatriya will become a Kshatriya, and thus a Kshatriya will become a Vaiśya, and a Vaiśya a ´Súdra, and a ´Súdra a Mlechchha. Whosoever accepts in alms a Kṛishṇájina* or skin of the black antelope, or the bed on which a man has died, or a buffalo, or receives an alms in the shrine of Kurukshetra, will, in the next birth, from a man become a woman. Any woman or Mlechchha, who in the temple of Badari-Náráyaṇa* sees the form of Náráyaṇa, and worships him with certain incantations, will in the next birth, if a woman, become a man, and if a Mlechchha, a Bráh­man. This shrine is in the hills north of Hardwár. They say that for any one who has not an accurately defined caste, the horoscope of the result of any particular action is taken, and the place of Mars is observed. Whatever may be its position, the dominus domûs shows the caste of the inquirer, and the dominant of the seventh house of Mars shows the caste of the inquirer in his former birth. If Venus and Jupiter, his caste is Bráhman: if the sun and Mars, a Kshatriya: if the moon, a Vaiśya: if Saturn, a ´Súdra: if the head and tail of the Dragon, a Mlechchha.*

THE SECOND KIND shows the strange effects of actions on health of body and in the production of manifold diseases. Physicians attribute these to constitution, but this science to the results of former conduct. Hindu philosophers class diseases under three heads:—(1). Those that can be cured by medicinal treatment; (2). Those that are removable by observing the following courses of procedure; (3). Those that require the application of both. To diagnose each of these, certain symptoms are recognised which are classed under three states, viz., (1). actions deliberately committed in a state of wakefulness; (2). such as are unconsciously done in that condition;* (3). and those that are effected during sleep. In the first, the sickness is incapable of remedy; in the second a remedy can be applied; in the third case, medicinal treatment to some extent restores health, but there is liability to relapse. Disorders of the heart, they con­sider, as originating in intention, and those of the body from inadvertency and error. Volumes have been written on this subject and the advice of physicians disregarded as unprofitable. Some of these causes of sickness are here set down for purposes of illustration.

HEADACHE is caused by former violent language used to father or mother. The remedy is to make the images of Kaśyapa* and Aditi of two tolahs of gold and give them to the poor. The first of these two is regarded as the father of the Devatás, and the latter as the mother.

MADNESS is the punishment of disobedience to father and mother. The cure is to perform the Chándráyaṇa,* which is to eat one mouthful on the first day, and to increase the food daily by the same quantity for one month, and then to decrease in the same measure till one mouthful is again reached, and to make two images as above of two tolahs of gold and bestow them in alms with one cow.

EPILEPSY results from having administered poison to another at the command of a superior. The cure consists of these two images, a cow, a piece of land and thirty-two sers of sesame-seed, with a repetition of some incantations in the name of Mahádeva.

PAIN IN THE EYES arises from having looked upon another's wife. The cure is Chándráyaṇa.

BLINDNESS is the punishment of a matricide which is followed by many years of suffering in hell. The cure is Prájápatya,* which is of five kinds:—(1). Bestowing a cow in charity; (2). Or one tolah of gold; (3). Or feeding twelve Bráhmans; (4). Or throwing into the fire ten thousand times a mixture of sesame-seed, butter, honey and sugar; (4). Or walk­ing a yojana, bare foot to a shrine. Let one or several of these be done in charity thirty times. Or let him make a boat of four tolahs of gold, the mast of silver, and six paddles of copper. Or, if it be a punishment of disobedience to father and mother, the cure is, as already described, the images of Kaśyapa and Aditi. These should not be of less than two tolahs.

DUMBNESS is the consequence of killing a sister. The cure is to bestow in charity a cow made of four tolahs of gold, its horns being of two tolahs of silver, its hump of two or three máshas of copper with a brass vessel for milk, and for seven days he should eat a mixture of curds, butter, urine and cowdung.

COLIC results from having eaten with an impious person or a liar. The cure is to fast for three days, and to give twelve tolahs of silver in charity.

STONE IN THE BLADDER* is the punishment of incest with a step-mother. The cure is Madhu-dhenu (honey-milch cow). Let it be supposed that a milch-cow of honey is formed thus:—Fourteen vessels full of honey, each of which shall contain a man and a quarter, must be placed with one tolah of gold in front to represent the mouth; four sers of sugar­candy must represent her tongue; thirty-two sers of fruit, her teeth; pearls for the two eyes; and two sticks of lignum aloes for her horns; two plantains stand for her two ears; and barley-flour for her teats, with three sticks of sugar-cane for each leg. A white woollen cloth is thrown over the vessels to represent her hide, and Dába,* which is a particular kind of grass, is strewn above it. The hoofs are to be of silver, the hump of a ser and a quarter of copper: the tail of silk, thirty fingers in length, with skeins* of silk eleven fingers long hanging there­from. Two pieces of red cloth must be thrown over her neck, and seven heaps of grain, each of two sers weight, must be made, and a brass vessel placed in front, and another vessel full of honey set near to represent her calf, and a copper* vessel filled with sesame-seed. Next, certain incanta­tions are made, and prayers are said, and alms given.

LAMENESS is the result of having kicked a Bráhman. The cure is to bestow in charity a horse made of a tolah of gold, and to feed one hun­dred and eight Bráhmans.

FEVER arises from killing an innocent Kshatriya. The cure: thirteen Bráhmans should read incantations in the name of Mahádeva one hun­dred times, and sprinkle water over his image.

CONSUMPTION is the punishment of killing a Bráhman. A lotus flower of four tolahs weight of gold should be made, and the ceremony of the Homa* performed and alms given to righteous Bráhmans.

TUMOUR is caused by killing a wife without fault on her part. The cure is to spread a black antelope-skin (Kṛishṇájina) and place thereon a heap of sesame-seed and a hundred tolahs or more of gold, and read incantations and perform the Homa oblation. But the acceptance of such an offering is considered blameable.

ASTHMA results from having accepted of this oblation, or of one of the sixteen great offerings, or of an alms at Kurukshetra. The cure is to take a buffalo of iron, with hoofs and horns of lead, and to make a sectarial mark of stone on its forehead, garland it with flowers of the Kaṇer (Nerium odorum), and place upon it a black blanket and four tolahs of gold, and three man and a half of pulse (Másh, Phaseolus mungo). The performer must have a sectarial mark drawn upon his forehead with the finger. The accepter of this charity is not well regarded.

DYSENTERY is the punishment for robbing a house. The cure is to give in alms a house and its necessary furniture, and seven kinds of grain, thirty-two sers of each kind, a handmill, a pestle and mortar, a repository for drinking water, a kitchen-hearth, a broom, a cow, and money according to means.

THE THIRD KIND indicates the class of actions which have caused sterility and names suitable remedies.

A WOMAN whose husband dies before her, was in a former birth of a great family and followed a stranger and on his death consigned herself to the flames. The cure is self-martyrdom by austerities, or suicide by throwing herself into snow.

A WOMAN who does not menstruate, in a former existence while in her courses, roughly drove away the children of her neighbours who had come as usual to play at her house. The cure is to fill an earthen vessel with water from a hundred wells, and to throw therein a betel-nut and one másha of gold, anoint it with perfumes and give it to a Bráhman. She should also give five, seven, nine or eleven kinds of fruit to children to eat.

STERILITY* is occasioned by a man or woman in a former birth having sold the children of other people, or the young of an oviparous animal, or reproached others for barrenness. Cure: the man and woman should enter the water at the meeting of two streams, wrapped in a single sheet, and bathe, and reciting certain incantations, pray to Mahádeva and give one mohur each to eleven Bráhmans, and a cow in alms on certain conditions, and make two images of Kaśyapa and Aditi of two tolahs of gold each, and making an image of Vishṇu in his dwarf incarnation (Vámana), bestow it in charity. And they should also fill eight winnowing-baskets with seven kinds of grain, and lay upon it a cloth and cocoanuts and various kinds of fruit, with flowers of saffron, and sandal-wood, and give each of these to a virtuous woman, and hear the recital of the Harivanśa,* which is the conclusion of the Mahábhárata.

A WOMAN whose son dies shortly after his birth is thus punished for having in a former birth followed a common practice in Hindustan of expos­ing any child to die that is born when the moon is in the lunar station called Múla (<Greek> Scorpionis) or Aślesha (<Greek> 1 and 2 Cancri) or near the end of Jyeshṭhá (<Greek> Scorpionis, Antares), and a birth is especially a matter of reproach in Múla. The cure is to make a cow of four tolahs of gold, its hoofs of a tolah of silver, jewels for her tail, brass bells on her neck, a calf of a tolah of gold, its hoofs being of half a tolah of silver.

A WOMAN who gives birth to only daughters is thus punished for having contemptuously regarded her husband from pride. The cure is to plate the horns of a white cow with four tolahs of gold and burnish its hoofs with four tolahs of silver, and make a hump of one ser and a quarter of copper and a vessel of two sers and a half of brass, and bestow this in charity. One hundred Bráhmans should also be fed and she should fashion a figure of the deity of ten máshas and two surkhs* of gold, and reciting incantations, give alms and feed fifty Bráhmans.

A WOMAN who has had but one son, is punished for having taken away a calf from its dam. Cure: let her giveaway a fine milch-cow with ten tolahs of gold.

A WOMAN who has given birth to a son that dies and to a daughter that lives, has, in her former existence, taken animal life. Some say that she had killed goats.* The cure is the fast of the Chándráyaṇa, a cow given in charity and the feeding of twelve Bráhmans.

A WOMAN who has continued in a state of pregnancy for sixteen years, has in a former birth been burnt when pregnant; the cure is an alms of Hiraṇya-garbha.*

BEING A MAID-SERVANT is the punishment for having in a former exis­tence, from ignorance, had criminal intimacy with the husband of another and been burnt for his sake. The cure is, if she be in the house of a ´Súdra, to convey her to the house of a Vaiśya, and thus by grada­tion of caste to a Bráhman's, where she should remain in service till her death.

In order to discover whether these punishments are for the deeds of the man or the woman, they should both take the horoscopes of the results of particular actions. If in the horoscope, either the fifth or eleventh (mansion), shows the ascendens to be the Sun, Mars, or Saturn or the head or tail of the Dragon (ascending or descending node), and these affect the character of the woman (as based on the three modes of goodness, passion and darkness) which is considered under the influence of Saturn, the punishment is reckoned to be that of the woman, otherwise it appertains to the man. If in both mansions, the results apply to both.*

THE FOURTH KIND treats of riches and poverty, and the like. Whoever distributes alms at auspicious times, as during eclipses of the moon and sun, will become rich and bountiful (in his next existence). Whoso at these times, visits any place of pilgrimage, especially Ilahábás (Allahabad), and there dies, will possess great wealth, but will be avaricious and of a surly disposition. Whosoever when hungry and with food before him, hears the supplication of a poor man and bestows it all upon him, will be rich and liberal. But whosoever has been deprived of these three opportuni­ties, will be empty-handed and poor in his present life. The cure is to fulfil scrupulously the duties of his state to whichsoever of the five classes he belongs, and also at Kurukshetra, in times of eclipse of the moon and sun, to bury in the ground a piece of gold, if it be but one másha, as an oblation.

Works have been written on each of these four kinds, detailing the causes, symptoms, and remedies of these actions. I have but adduced a little as an exemplar of much by way of illusration.