n to the family priest is
enjoined, in xii. 268. 14, to escape punishment.

Two other religious practices in the epic are noteworthy. The first is
the extension of idolatry in pictures. The amiable 'goddess of the
house' is represented, to be sure, as a R[=a]kshas[=i], or demoniac
power, whose name is Jar[=a]. But she was created by the
Self-existent, and is really very friendly, under certain conditions:
"Whoever delineates me with faith in his house, he increases in
children; otherwise he would be destroyed." She is worshipped, _i.e_.,
her painted image is worshipped, with perfumes, flowers, incense,
food, and other enjoyable things (II. 18).[56] Another practice that
is very common is the worship of holy trees. One may compare the
banyan at Bodhi Gay[=a] with the 'worshipful' village-tree of II. 24.
23. Seldom and late is the use of a rosary mentioned (_e.g_., III.
112. 5, _aksham[=a]l[=a]_, elsewhere _aksha_), although the word is
employed to make an epithet of Civa, Aksham[=a]lin.[57]

As has been said already, an extraordinary power is ascribed to the
mere repetition of a holy text, _mantra_. These are applied on all
occasions without the slightest reference to the subject. By means of
_mantra_ one exorcises; recovers weapons; calls gods and demons,
etc.[58] When misfortune or disease arrives it is invariably ascribed
to the malignant action of a devil, although the _karma_ teaching
should suggest that it was the result of a former misdeed on the
victim's part. But the very iteration, the insistence on new
explanations of this doctrine, show that the popular mind still clung
to the old idea of demoniac interference. Occasionally the naivete
with which the effect of a _mantra_ is narrated is somewhat amusing,
as, for instance, when the heroine Krishn[=a] faints, and the
by-standers "slowly" revive her "by the use of demon-dispelling
_mantras_, rubbing, water, and fanning" (iii. 144. 17). All the
weapons of the heroes are inspired with and impelled by _mantras_.

Sufficient insight into the formal rules of morality has been given in
the extracts above, nor does the epic in this regard differ much from
the law-books. Every man's first duty is to act; inactivity is sinful.
The man that fails to win a good reputation by his acts, a warrior,
for example, that is devoid of fame, a 'man of no account,' is a
_bh[=u]mivardhana, [Greek: achthos aroures]_ a cumberer of earth (iii.
35. 7). A proverb says that man should see