Not by water is one clean,
though many people are bathing here.
Whoever has truth
& rectitude:
He’s a clean one;
he, a brahman.2
Notes
1. The “Eights” are the waning half-moon days (each on the eighth day of the waning cycle) after three of the full moons in the cold season. These are the dates of brahmanical ceremonies for making merit for the dead. The period between the first and last of these dates–the “Between-the-Eights”–is regarded in northern India as the coldest part of the year. See AN 3:35.
2. The last half of this verse is identical with the last half of Dhp 393.
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