swer me
without delay. How, indeed, dost thou know that I am a Chandala? How has
my status as a Brahmana been lost? O thou of great wisdom, tell me all
this in detail, from beginning to end.'

"'"The she-ass said, 'Begotten thou wert, upon a Brahmana woman excited
with desire, by a Sudra following the profession of a barber. Thou art,
therefore, a Chandala by birth. The status of Brahmana thou hast not at
all.'"

"'Brahmana continued, 'Thus addressed by the she-ass, Matanga retraced his
way homewards. Seeing him return, his father said,--'I had employed thee
in the difficult task of gathering the requisites of my intended
sacrifice. Why hast thou come back without having accomplished thy
charge? Is it the case that all is not right with thee?'

"'"Matanga said, 'How can he who belongs to no definite order of birth, or
to an order that is very low be regarded as all right and happy? How, O
father, can that person be happy whose mother is stained? O father, this
she-ass, who seems to be more than a human being, tells me that I have
been begotten upon a Brahmani woman by a Sudra. I shall, for this reason,
undergo the severest penances.'--Having said these words to his father,
and firmly resolved upon what he had said he proceeded to the great
forest and began to undergo the austerest of penances. Setting himself to
the performance of those penances for the purpose of happily acquiring
the status of a Brahmana, Matanga began to scorch the very deities by the
severity of his asceticism. Unto him thus engaged in penances, the chief
of the celestials, viz., Indra, appeared and said,--'Why, O Matanga, dost
thou pass thy time in such grief, abstaining from all kinds of human
enjoyments? I shall give thee boons. Do thou name the boons thou
desirest. Do not delay, but tell me what is in thy breast. Even if that
be unattainable, I shall yet bestow it on thee.'

"'"Matanga said, 'Desirous of attaining to the status of Brahmana I have
begun to practise these penances. After having obtained it, I shall go
home. Even this is the boon solicited by me.'"

"'Bhishma continued, "Hearing these words of his, Purandara said unto him,
'The status of a Brahmana, O Matanga, which thou desirest to acquire is
really unattainable by thee. It is true, thou desirest to acquire it, but
then it is incapable of acquisition by persons begotten on uncleansed
souls. O thou of foolish understanding, thou art sure to meet with
destruction if thou persis