enter a house or seek residence in it, acts of propitiating the deities should be performed.  These are creatures of evil omen, as also ospreys.  One should never divulge the secrets of high-souled men; one should never have sexual congress with a forbidden woman.  Nor should one ever have such congress with the spouse of a king or with women that are the friends of queens.  One should never cultivate intimacy with physicians, or with children, or with persons that are old, or with one’s servants, O Yudhishthira.  One should always provide for friends, for Brahmanas, and for such as seek one’s protection.  By doing this, O king, one acquires a long life.  The man of wisdom should reside in such a house as has been constructed with the aid of a Brahmana and an engineer skilled in his profession, if indeed, O king, he desires his own good.[478] One should not, O king, sleep at the evening twilight.  Nor should one study at such an hour for acquiring any branch of knowledge.  The man of intelligence should never eat also at such an hour.  By acting in this way one acquires a long life.  One should never perform any act in honour of the Pitris at night time.  One should not deck one’s person after finishing one’s meals.  One should bathe at night, if one desires one’s own advancement.  One should also, O Bharata, always abstain from the flour of fried barley at night.  The remnants of food and drink, as also the flowers with which one has worshipped the deities, should never be used.  Inviting a guest at night, one should never, with excessive courtesy, force him to eat to the point of gratification.  Nor should one eat oneself to the point of gratification, at night.  One should not slay a bird (for eating it), especially after having fed it.[479] One possessed of wisdom should wed a maiden born in a high family, endued with auspicious indications, and of full age.  Begetting children upon her and thus perpetuating one’s race by that means, one should make over one’s sons to a good preceptor for acquiring general knowledge, O Bharata, as also a knowledge of the especial customs of the family, O monarch.  The daughters that one may beget should be bestowed upon youths of respectable families, that are again possessed of intelligence.  Sons should also be established and a portion of the family inheritance, given to them, O Bharata, as their provision.  One should bathe by dipping one’s head in water before one sits down to perform any act in honour of the Pitris of the deities.  One should never perform a Sraddha under the constellation of one’s nativity.  No Sraddha should be performed under any of the Bhadrapadas (prior or later), nor under the constellation Krittika, O Bharata.  The Sraddha should never be performed under any of those constellations that are regarded as fierce (such as Aslesha, etc ) and any of those that, upon calculation, seem to be hostile.  Indeed, in this respect, all these constellations should be avoided which are forbidden in treatises on astrology.