Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/189

Rh When students had thus acquired the traditional learning of the age either in Parishads or under private teachers, they returned to their homes, married, and settled down as householders. With marriage began their duties as householders, and the first duty



of a householder was to light the sacrificial fire under an auspicious constellation, to offer libations of milk to the fire both morning and evening, to perform other religious and domestic rites, and, above all, to offer hospitality to strangers. The essence of a Hindu's duties are inculcated in passages like the following:—