"'Bhishma said, "Then all the highly blessed deities and the Pitris, and
the highly blessed Rishis also, addressing the Pramathas, said,[557] 'Ye
are all highly blessed beings. Ye are invisible wanderers of the night.
Why do you afflict those men that are vile and impure and that are
unclean? What acts are regarded as impediments to your power? What,
indeed, are those acts in consequence of which ye become incompetent to
afflict men? What are those acts that are destructive of Rakshasas and
that prevent you from asserting your power over the habitations of men?
Ye wanderers of the night, we desire to hear all this from you.'
"'"The Pramathas said, 'Men are rendered unclean by acts of sexual
congress. They who do not purify themselves after such acts, they who
insult their superiors, they who from stupefaction eat different kinds of
meat, the man also who sleeps at the foot of a tree, he who keeps any
animal matter under his pillow while lying down for sleep, and he who
lies down or sleeps placing the head where his feet should be placed or
his feet where the head should be placed,--these men are regarded by us
as unclean. Verily, these men have many holes. Those also are numbered in
the same class who throw their phlegm and other unclean secretions into
the water. Without doubt these men deserve to be slain and eaten up by
us. Verily, we afflict those human beings who are given to such conduct.
Listen now to what those acts are which are regarded as antidotes and in
consequence of which we fail to do any injury to men. Those men upon
whose persons occur streaks of Gorochana, or who hold Vachas in their
hands, or who make gifts of ghee with those ingredients that go by the
name of Akshata, or who place ghee and Akshata on their heads, or those
who abstain from meat are incapable of being afflicted by us. That man in
whose house the sacred fire burns day and night without being ever put
out, or who keeps the skin or teeth of a wolf in his abode or a
hill-tortoise, or from whose habitation the sacrificial smoke is seen to
curl upwards, or who keeps a cat or a goat that is either tawny or black
in hue, is free from our power. Verily, those householders who keep these
things in their houses always find them free from the inroads of even the
fiercest spirits that live on carrion. Those beings also, that like us
range through different worlds in pursuit of pleasure, are unable to do
any injury to such houses. Hence, ye deities, should men keep such
articles in their houses,--articles that are destructive of Rakshasas
(and other beings of the kind). We have thus told you everything about
that respecting which ye had great doubts.'"'"