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LIFE OF MAHÁVÍRA.
73
Institute no one should be permitted to be shaved, leave his house, and abandon his family, as long as his father and mother were alive.
The noble Trišalá having bathed, and made her offerings to the inferior divinities*, partook daily of articles of food, which were neither cold, nor hot, pungent, bitter, nor astringent, neither sour nor sweet, oily, harsh, unripe, nor parched, eating always what was proper for the season of the year, and not only in food, but also in clothing, scents, and ointments, studying to use such things as should prevent disease, grief, and longings, while at the same time she was on her guard against frights and fatigues. In such circumstances a mother should be careful to use a healthy diet, suited to the country and season. She should sleep on a firm and easy couch, in pleasant apartments, suited to exhilarate the mind, have a place where she can take exercise, and, as a general rule,
* We have here in all the copies crear T performed the Bali worship; and as this was done by the mother of a Tirthankár, it is perplexing to those rigid Jains, who condemn this worship. The Brahmans, too, discourage these ceremonies; but among Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists, no rites are more carefully practised than these, which all their priesthoods condemn, showing that they must belong to an aboriginal form of worship, which prevailed among the people before the introduction of thuso new religions froin the North.
