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                      The Laws of Manu - Chapter XI
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1. Him who wishes (to marry for the sake of having) offspring, him who wishes
to perform a sacrifice, a traveller, him who has given away all his property,
him who begs for the sake of his teacher, his father, or his mother, a
student of the Veda, and a sick man,

2. These nine Brāhmaṇas one should consider as Snātakas, begging in order to
fulfil the sacred law; to such poor men gifts must be given in proportion to
their learning.

3. To these most excellent among the twice-born, food and presents (of money)
must be given; it is declared that food must be given to others outside the
sacrificial enclosure.

4. But a king shall bestow, as is proper, jewels of all sorts, and presents
for the sake of sacrifices on Brāhmaṇas learned in the Vedas.

5. If a man who has a wife weds a second wife, having begged money (to defray
the marriage expenses, he obtains) no advantage but sensual enjoyment; but the
issue (of his second marriage belongs) to the giver of the money.

6. One should give, according to one's ability, wealth to Brāhmaṇas learned
in the Veda and living alone; (thus) one obtains after death heavenly bliss.

7. He who may possess (a supply of) food sufficient to maintain those
dependent on him during three years or more than that, is worthy to drink the
Soma-juice.

8. But a twice-born man, who, though possessing less than that amount of
property, nevertheless drinks the Soma-juice, does not derive any benefit
from that (act), though he may have formerly drunk the Soma-juice.

9. (If) an opulent man (is) liberal towards strangers, while his family lives
in distress, that counterfeit virtue will first make him taste the sweets (of
fame, but afterwards) make him swallow the poison (of punishment in hell).

10. If (a man) does anything for the sake of his happiness in another world,
to the detriment of those whom he is bound to maintain, that produces evil
results for him, both while he lives and when he is dead.

11. If a sacrifice, (offered) by (any twice-born) sacrificer, (and)
especially by a Brāhmaṇa, must remain incomplete through (the want of) one
requisite, while a righteous king rules,

12. That article (required) for the completion of the sacrifice, may be taken
(forcibly) from the house of any Vaiśya, who possesses a large number of
cattle, (but) neither performs the (minor) sacrifices nor drinks the
Soma-juice;

13. (Or) the (sacrificer) may take at his pleasure two or three (articles
required for a sacrifice) from the house of a Śūdra; for a Śūdra has no
business with sacrifices.

14. If (a man) possessing one hundred cows, kindles not the sacred fire, or
one possessing a thousand cows, drinks not the Soma-juice, a (sacrificer) may
unhesitatingly take (what he requires) from the houses of those two, even
(though they be Brāhmaṇas or Kṣatriyas);

15. (Or) he may take (it by force or fraud) from one who always takes and
never gives, and who refuses to give it; thus the fame (of the taker) will
spread and his merit increase.

16. Likewise he who has not eaten at (the time of) six meals, may take at
(the time of) the seventh meal (food) from a man who neglects his sacred
duties, without (however) making a provision for the morrow,

17. Either from the threshing-floor, or from a field, or out of the house, or
wherever he finds it; but if (the owner) asks him, he must confess to him
that (deed and its cause).

18. (On such occasions) a Kṣatriya must never take the property of a
(virtuous) Brāhmaṇa; but he who is starving may appropriate the possessions
of a Dasyu, or of one who neglects his sacred duties.

19. He who takes property from the wicked and bestows it on the virtuous,
transforms himself into a boat, and carries both (over the sea of
misfortune).

20. The property of those who zealously offer sacrifices, the wise call the
property of the gods; but the wealth of those who perform no sacrifices is
called the property of the Asuras.

21. On him (who, for the reasons stated, appropriates another's possessions),
a righteous king shall not inflict punishment; for (in that case) a Brāhmaṇa
pines with hunger through the Kṣatriya's want of care.

22. Having ascertained the number of those dependent on such a man, and
having fully considered his learning and his conduct, the king shall allow
him, out of his own property, a maintenance whereon he may live according to
the law;

23. And after allotting to him a maintenance, the king must protect him in
every way; for he obtains from such (a man) whom he protects, the part of his
spiritual merit.

24. A Brāhmaṇa shall never beg from a Śūdra property for a sacrifice; for a
sacrificer, having begged (it from such a man), after death is born (again)
as a Caṇḍāla.

25. A Brāhmaṇa who, having begged any property for a sacrifice, does not use
the whole (for that purpose), becomes for a hundred years a (vulture of the
kind called) Bhāsa, or a crow.

26. That sinful man, who, through covetousness, seizes the property of the
gods, or the property of Brāhmaṇas, feeds in another world on the leavings
of vultures.

27. In case the prescribed animal and Soma-sacrifices cannot be performed,
let him always offer at the change of the year a Vaiśvānarī Iṣṭi as a
penance (for the omission).

28. But a twice-born, who, without being in distress, performs his duties
according to the law for times of distress, obtains no reward for them in the
next world; that is the opinion (of the sages).

29. By the Viśve-devās, by the Sādhyas, and by the great sages (of the)
Brāhmaṇa (caste), who were afraid of perishing in times of distress, a
substitute was made for the (principal) rule.

30. That evil-minded man, who, being able (to fulfil) the original law, lives
according to the secondary rule, reaps no reward for that after death.

31. A Brāhmaṇa who knows the law need not bring any (offence) to the notice
of the king; by his own power alone he can punish those men who injure him.

32. His own power is greater than the power of the king; the Brāhmaṇa
therefore, may punish his foes by his own power alone.

33. Let him use without hesitation the sacred texts, revealed by Atharvan and
by Aṅgiras; speech, indeed, is the weapon of the Brāhmaṇa, with that he may
slay his enemies.

34. A Kṣatriya shall pass through misfortunes which have befallen him by the
strength of his arms, a Vaiśya and a Śūdra by their wealth, the chief of the
twice-born by muttered prayers and burnt-oblations.

35. The Brāhmaṇa is declared (to be) the creator (of the world), the
punisher, the teacher, (and hence) a benefactor (of all created beings); to
him let no man say anything unpropitious, nor use any harsh words.

36. Neither a girl, nor a (married) young woman, nor a man of little
learning, nor a fool, nor a man in great suffering, nor one uninitiated,
shall offer an Agnihotra.

37. For such (persons) offering a burnt-oblation sink into hell, as well as
he to whom that (Agnihotra) belongs; hence the person who sacrifices (for
another) must be skilled in (the performance of) Vaitāna (rites), and know
the whole Veda.

38. A Brāhmaṇa who, though wealthy, does not give, as fee for the
performance of an Agnyādheya, a horse sacred to Prajāpati, becomes (equal to
one) who has not kindled the sacred fires.

39. Let him who has faith and controls his senses perform other meritorious
acts, but let him on no account offer sacrifices at which he gives smaller
fees (than those prescribed).

40. The organs (of sense and action), honour, (bliss in) heaven, longevity,
fame, offspring, and cattle are destroyed by a sacrifice at which (too) small
sacrificial fees are given; hence a man of small means should not offer a
(Śrauta) sacrifice.

41. A Brāhmaṇa who, being an Agnihotrin, voluntarily neglects the sacred
fires, shall perform a lunar penance during one month; for that (offence) is
equal to the slaughter of a son.

42. Those who, obtaining wealth from Śūdras, (and using that) offer an
Agnihotra, are priests officiating for Śūdras, (and hence) censured among
those who recite the Veda.

43. Treading with his foot on the heads of those fools who worship a fire
(kindled at the expense) of a Śūdra, the giver (of the wealth) shall always
pass over his miseries (in the next world).

44. A man who omits a prescribed act, or performs a blamable act, or cleaves
to sensual enjoyments, must perform a penance.

45. (All) sages prescribe a penance for a sin unintentionally committed; some
declare, on the evidence of the revealed texts, (that it may be performed)
even for an intentional (offence).

46. A sin unintentionally committed is expiated by the recitation of Vedic
texts, but that which (men) in their folly commit intentionally, by various
(special) penances.

47. A twice-born man, having become liable to perform a penance, be it by
(the decree of) fate or by (an act) committed in a former life, must not,
before the penance has been performed, have intercourse with virtuous men.

48. Some wicked men suffer a change of their (natural) appearance in
consequence of crimes committed in this life, and some in consequence of
those committed in a former (existence).

49. He who steals the gold (of a Brāhmaṇa) has diseased nails; a drinker of
(the spirituous liquor called) Surā, black teeth; the slayer of a Brāhmaṇa,
consumption; the violator of a Guru's bed, a diseased skin;

50. An informer, a foul-smelling nose; a calumniator, a stinking breath; a
stealer of grain, deficiency in limbs; he who adulterates (grain), redundant
limbs;

51. A stealer of (cooked) food, dyspepsia; a stealer of the words (of the
Veda), dumbness; a stealer of clothes, white leprosy; a horse-stealer,
lameness.

52. The stealer of a lamp will become blind; he who extinguishes it will
become one-eyed; injury (to sentient beings) is punished by general
sickliness; an adulterer (will have) swellings (in his limbs).

53. Thus in consequence of a remnant of (the guilt of former) crimes, are
born idiots, dumb, blind, deaf, and deformed men, who are (all) despised by
the virtuous.

54. Penances, therefore, must always be performed for the sake of
purification, because those whose sins have not been expiated, are born
(again) with disgraceful marks.

55. Killing a Brāhmaṇa, drinking (the spirituous liquor called) Surā,
stealing (the gold of a Brāhmaṇa), adultery with a Guru's wife, and
associating with such (offenders), they declare (to be) mortal sins
(mahāpātaka).

56. Falsely attributing to oneself high birth, giving information to the king
(regarding a crime), and falsely accusing one's teacher, (are offences) equal
to slaying a Brāhmaṇa.

57. Forgetting the Veda, reviling the Vedas, giving false evidence, slaying a
friend, eating forbidden food, or (swallowing substances) unfit for food, are
six (offences) equal to drinking Surā.

58. Stealing a deposit, or men, a horse, and silver, land, diamonds and
(other) gems, is declared to be equal to stealing the gold (of a Brāhmaṇa).

59. Carnal intercourse with sisters by the same mother, with (unmarried)
maidens, with females of the lowest castes, with the wives of a friend, or of
a son, they declare to be equal to the violation of a Guru's bed.

60. Slaying kine, sacrificing for those who are unworthy to sacrifice,
adultery, selling oneself, casting off one's teacher, mother, father, or son,
giving up the (daily) study of the Veda, and neglecting the (sacred domestic)
fire,

61. Allowing one's younger brother to marry first, marrying before one's
elder brother, giving a daughter to, or sacrificing for, (either brother),

62. Defiling a damsel, usury, breaking a vow, selling a tank, a garden,
one's wife, or child,

63. Living as a Vrātya, casting off a relative, teaching (the Veda) for
wages, learning (the Veda) from a paid teacher, and selling goods which one
ought not to sell,

64. Superintending mines (or factories) of any sort, executing great
mechanical works, injuring (living) plants, subsisting on (the earnings of)
one's wife, sorcery (by means of sacrifices), and working (magic by means of)
roots, (and so forth),

65. Cutting down green trees for firewood, doing acts for one's own advantage
only, eating prohibited food,

66. Neglecting to kindle the sacred fires, theft, non-payment of (the three)
debts, studying bad books, and practising (the arts of) dancing and singing,

67. Stealing grain, base metals, or cattle, intercourse with women who drink
spirituous liquor, slaying women, Śūdras, Vaiśyas, or Kṣatriyas, and
atheism, (are all) minor offences, causing loss of caste (Upapātaka).

68. Giving pain to a Brāhmaṇa (by a blow), smelling at things which ought
not to be smelt at, or at spirituous liquor, cheating, and an unnatural
offence with a man, are declared to cause the loss of caste (Jātibhraṃśa)

69. Killing a donkey, a horse, a camel, a deer, an elephant, a goat, a sheep,
a fish, a snake, or a buffalo, must be known to degrade (the offender) to a
mixed caste (Saṃkarīkaraṇa).

70. Accepting presents from blamed men, trading, serving Śūdras, and
speaking a falsehood, make (the offender) unworthy to receive gifts
(Apātra).

71. Killing insects, small or large, or birds, eating anything kept close to
spirituous liquors, stealing fruit, firewood, or flowers, (are offences)
which make impure (Malāvaha).

72. Learn (now) completely those penances, by means of which all the several
offences mentioned (can) be expiated.

73. For his purification the slayer of a Brāhmaṇa shall make a hut in the
forest and dwell (in it) during twelve years, subsisting on alms and making
the skull of a dead man his flag.

74. Or let him, of his own free will, become (in a battle) the target of
archers who know (his purpose); or he may thrice throw himself headlong into
a blazing fire;

75. Or he may offer a horse-sacrifice, a Svargit, a Gosava, an Abhijit, a
Viśvajit, a Trivṛt, or an Agniṣṭut;

76. Or, in order to remove (the guilt of) slaying a Brāhmaṇa, he may walk
one hundred yojanas, reciting one of the Vedas, eating little, and
controlling his organs;

77. Or he may present to a Brāhmaṇa, learned in the Vedas, his whole
property, as much wealth as suffices for the maintenance (of the recipient),
or a house together with the furniture;

78. Or, subsisting on sacrificial food, he may walk against the stream along
(the whole course of the river) Sarasvatī; or, restricting his food (very
much), he may mutter thrice the Saṃhitā of a Veda.

79. Having shaved off (all his hair), he may dwell at the extremity of the
village, or in a cow-pen, or in a hermitage, or at the root of a tree,
taking pleasure in doing good to cows and Brāhmaṇas.

80. He who unhesitatingly abandons life for the sake of Brāhmaṇas or of
cows, is freed from (the guilt of) the murder of a Brāhmaṇa, and (so is he)
who saves (the life of) a cow, or of a Brāhmaṇa.

81. If either he fights at least three times (against robbers in defence of)
a Brāhmaṇa's (property), or reconquers the whole property of a Brāhmaṇa, or
if he loses his life for such a cause, he is freed (from his guilt).

82. He who thus (remains) always firm in his vow, chaste, and of concentrated
mind, removes after the lapse of twelve years (the guilt of) slaying a
Brāhmaṇa.

83. Or he who, after confessing his crime in an assembly of the gods of the
earth (Brāhmaṇas), and the gods of men (Kṣatriyas), bathes (with the
priests) at the close of a horse-sacrifice, is (also) freed (from guilt).

84. The Brāhmaṇa is declared (to be) the root of the sacred law and the
Kṣatriya its top; hence he who has confessed his sin before an assembly of
such men, becomes pure.

85. By his origin alone a Brāhmaṇa is a deity even for the gods, and (his
teaching is) authoritative for men, because the Veda is the foundation for
that.

86. (If) only three of them who are learned in the Veda proclaim the
expiation for offences, that shall purify the (sinners); for the words of
learned men are a means of purification.

87. A Brāhmaṇa who, with a concentrated mind, follows any of the
(above-mentioned) rules, removes the sin committed by slaying a Brāhmaṇa
through his self-control.

88. For destroying the embryo (of a Brāhmaṇa, the sex of which was) unknown,
for slaying a Kṣatriya or a Vaiśya who are (engaged in or) have offered a
(Vedic) sacrifice, or a (Brāhmaṇa) woman who has bathed after temporary
uncleanness (Ātreyī), he must perform the same penance,

89. Likewise for giving false evidence (in an important cause), for
passionately abusing the teacher, for stealing a deposit, and for killing
(his) wife or his friend:

90. This expiation has been prescribed for unintentionally killing a
Brāhmaṇa; but for intentionally slaying a Brāhmaṇa no atonement is ordained.

91. A twice-born man who has (intentionally) drunk, through delusion of mind,
(the spirituous liquor called) Surā shall drink that liquor boiling-hot; when
his body has been completely scalded by that, he is freed from his guilt;

92. Or he may drink cow's urine, water, milk, clarified butter or (liquid)
cowdung boiling-hot, until he dies;

93. Or, in order to remove (the guilt of) drinking Surā, he may eat during a
year once (a day) at night grains (of rice) or oilcake, wearing clothes made
of cowhair and his own hair in braids and carrying (a wine cup as) a flag.

94. Surā, indeed, is the dirty refuse (mala) of grain, sin also is called
dirt (mala); hence a Brāhmaṇa, a Kṣatriya, and a Vaiśya shall not drink
Surā.

95. Surā one must know to be of three kinds, that distilled from molasses
(gauḍī), that distilled from ground rice, and that distilled from
Madhūka-flowers (mādhvī); as the one (named above) even so are all (three
sorts) forbidden to the chief of the twice-born.

96. Surā, (all other) intoxicating drinks and decoctions and flesh are the
food of the Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, and Piśācas; a Brāhmaṇa who eats (the
remnants of) the offerings consecrated to the gods, must not partake of such
(substances).

97. A Brāhmaṇa, stupefied by drunkenness, might fall on something impure, or
(improperly) pronounce Vedic (texts), or commit some other act which ought
not to be committed.

98. When the Brahman (the Veda) which dwells in his body is (even) once
(only) deluged with spirituous liquor, his Brāhmaṇahood forsakes him and he
becomes a Śūdra.

99. The various expiations for drinking (the spirituous liquors called) Surā
have thus been explained; I will next proclaim the atonement for stealing the
gold (of a Brāhmaṇa).

100. A Brāhmaṇa who has stolen the gold (of a Brāhmaṇa) shall go to the king
and, confessing his deed, say, 'Lord, punish me!'

101. Taking (from him) the club (which he must carry), the king himself shall
strike him once, by his death the thief becomes pure; or a Brāhmaṇa (may
purify himself) by austerities.

102. He who desires to remove by austerities the guilt of stealing the gold
(of a Brāhmaṇa), shall perform the penance (prescribed) for the slayer of a
Brāhmaṇa, (living) in a forest and dressed in (garments) made of bark.

103. By these penances a twice-born man may remove the guilt incurred by a
theft (of gold); but he may atone for connexion with a Guru's wife by the
following penances.

104. He who has violated his Guru's bed, shall, after confessing his crime,
extend himself on a heated iron bed, or embrace the red-hot image (of a
woman); by dying he becomes pure;

105. Or, having himself cut off his organ and his testicles and having taken
them in his joined hands, he may walk straight towards the region of Nirṛti
(the south-west), until he falls down (dead);

106. Or, carrying the foot of a bedstead, dressed in (garments of) bark and
allowing his beard to grow, he may, with a concentrated mind, perform during
a whole year the Kṛcchra (or hard, penance), revealed by Prajāpati, in a
lonely forest;

107. Or, controlling his organs, he may during three months continuously
perform the lunar penance, (subsisting) on sacrificial food or barley-gruel,
in order to remove (the guilt of) violating a Guru's bed.

108. By means of these penances men who have committed mortal sins
(Mahāpātaka) may remove their guilt, but those who committed minor offences,
causing loss of caste, (Upapātaka, can do it) by the various following
penances.

109. He who has committed a minor offence by slaying a cow (or bull) shall
drink during (the first) month (a decoction of) barley-grains; having shaved
all his hair, and covering himself with the hide (of the slain cow), he must
live in a cow-house.

110. During the two (following) months he shall eat a small (quantity of
food) without any factitious salt at every fourth meal-time, and shall bathe
in the urine of cows, keeping his organs under control.

111. During the day he shall follow the cows and, standing upright, inhale
the dust (raised by their hoofs); at night, after serving and worshipping
them, he shall remain in the (posture, called) vīrāsana.

112. Controlling himself and free from anger, he must stand when they stand,
follow them when they walk, and seat himself when they lie down.

113. (When a cow is) sick, or is threatened by danger from thieves, tigers,
and the like, or falls, or sticks in a morass, he must relieve her by all
possible means:

114. In heat, in rain, or in cold, or when the wind blows violently, he must
not seek to shelter himself, without (first) sheltering the cows according to
his ability.

115. Let him not say (a word), if a cow eats (anything) in his own or
another's house or field or on the threshing-floor, or if a calf drinks
(milk).

116. The slayer of a cow who serves cows in this manner, removes after three
months the guilt which he incurred by killing a cow.

117. But after he has fully performed the penance, he must give to
(Brāhmaṇas) learned in the Veda ten cows and a bull, (or) if he does not
possess (so much property) he must offer to them all he has.

118. Twice-born men who have committed (other) minor offences (Upapātaka),
except a student who has broken his vow (Avakīrṇin), may perform, in order
to purify themselves, the same penance or also a lunar penance.

119. But a student who has broken his vow shall offer at night on a crossway
to Nirṛti a one-eyed ass, according to the rule of the Pākayajñas.

120. Having offered according to the rule oblations in the fire, he shall
finally offer (four) oblations of clarified butter to Vāta, to Indra, to the
teacher (of the gods, Bṛhaspati) and to Agni, reciting the Ṛk verse 'May
the Maruts grant me,' &c.

121. Those who know the Veda declare that a voluntary effusion of semen by a
twice-born (youth) who fulfils the vow (of studentship constitutes) a breach
of that vow.

122. The divine light which the Veda imparts to the student, enters, if he
breaks his vow, the Maruts, Puruhūta (Indra), the teacher (of the gods,
Bṛhaspati) and Pāvaka (Fire).

123. When this sin has been committed, he shall go begging to seven houses,
dressed in the hide of the (sacrificed) ass, proclaiming his deed.

124. Subsisting on a single (daily meal that consists) of the alms obtained
there and bathing at (the time of) the three savanas (morning, noon, and
evening), he becomes pure after (the lapse of) one year.

125. For committing with intent any of the deeds which cause loss of caste
(Jātibhraṃśakara), (the offender) shall perform a Saṃtāpana Kṛcchra; (for
doing it) unintentionally, (the Kṛcchra) revealed by Prajāpati.

126. As atonement for deeds which degrade to a mixed caste (Saṃkara), and
for those which make a man unworthy to receive gifts (Apātra), (he shall
perform) the lunar (penance) during a month; for (acts) which render impure
(Malinīkaraṇīya) he shall scald himself during three days with (hot)
barley-gruel.

127. One fourth (of the penance) for the murder of a Brāhmaṇa is prescribed
(as expiation) for (intentionally) killing a Kṣatriya, one-eighth for
killing a Vaiśya; know that it is one-sixteenth for killing a virtuous
Śūdra.

128. But if a Brāhmaṇa unintentionally kills a Kṣatriya, he shall give, in
order to purify himself, one thousand cows and a bull;

129. Or he may perform the penance prescribed for the murderer of a Brāhmaṇa
during three years, controlling himself, wearing his hair in braids, staying
far away from the village, and dwelling at the root of a tree.

130. A Brāhmaṇa who has slain a virtuous Vaiśya, shall perform the same
penance during one year, or he may give one hundred cows and one (bull).

131. He who has slain a Śūdra, shall perform that whole penance during six
months, or he may also give ten white cows and one bull to a Brāhmaṇa.

132. Having killed a cat, an ichneumon, a blue jay, a frog, a dog, an
iguana, an owl, or a crow, he shall perform the penance for the murder of a
Śūdra;

133. Or he may drink milk during three days, or walk one hundred yojanas, or
bathe in a river, or mutter the hymn addressed to the Waters.

134. For killing a snake, a Brāhmaṇa shall give a spade of black iron, for a
eunuch a load of straw and a māṣa of lead;

135. For a boar a pot of clarified butter, for a partridge a droṇa of
sesamum-grains, for a parrot a calf two years old, for a crane (a calf)
three years old.

136. If he has killed a Haṃsa, a Balākā, a heron, a peacock, a monkey, a
falcon, or a Bhāsa, he shall give a cow to a Brāhmaṇa.

137. For killing a horse, he shall give a garment, for (killing) an elephant,
five black bulls, for (killing) a goat, or a sheep, a draught-ox, for
killing a donkey, (a calf) one year old;

138. But for killing carnivorous wild beasts, he shall give a milch-cow, for
(killing) wild beasts that are not carnivorous, a heifer, for killing a
camel, one kṛṣṇala.

139. For killing adulterous women of the four castes, he must give, in order
to purify himself, respectively a leathern bag, a bow, a goat, or a sheep.

140. A twice-born man, who is unable to atone by gifts for the slaughter of a
serpent and the other (creatures mentioned), shall perform for each of them,
a Kṛcchra (penance) in order to remove his guilt.

141. But for destroying one thousand (small) animals that have bones, or a
whole cart-load of boneless (animals), he shall perform the penance
(prescribed) for the murder of a Śūdra.

142. But for killing (small) animals which have bones, he should give some
trifle to a Brāhmaṇa; if he injures boneless (animals), he becomes pure by
suppressing his breath (prāṇāyāma).

143. For cutting fruit-trees, shrubs, creepers, lianas, or flowering plants,
one hundred Ṛcas must be muttered.

144. (For destroying) any kind of creature, bred in food, in condiments, in
fruit, or in flowers, the expiation is to eat clarified butter.

145. If a man destroys for no good purpose plants produced by cultivation, or
such as spontaneously spring up in the forest, he shall attend a cow during
one day, subsisting on milk alone.

146. The guilt incurred intentionally or unintentionally by injuring (created
beings) can be removed by means of these penances; hear (now, how) all (sins)
committed by partaking of forbidden food (or drink, can be expiated).

147. He who drinks unintentionally (the spirituous liquor, called) Vāruṇī,
becomes pure by being initiated (again); (even for drinking it) intentionally
(a penance) destructive to life must not be imposed; that is a settled rule.

148. He who has drunk water which has stood in a vessel used for keeping (the
spirituous liquor, called) Surā, or other intoxicating drinks, shall drink
during five (days and) nights (nothing but) milk in which the Śaṅkhapuṣpī
(plant) has been boiled.

149. He who has touched spirituous liquor, has given it away, or received it
in accordance with the rule, or has drunk water left by a Śūdra, shall drink
during three days water in which Kuśa-grass has been boiled.

150. But when a Brāhmaṇa who has partaken of Soma-juice, has smelt the odour
exhaled by a drinker of Surā, he becomes pure by thrice suppressing his
breath in water, and eating clarified butter.

151. (Men of) the three twice-born castes who have unintentionally swallowed
ordure or urine, or anything that has touched Surā, must be initiated again.

152. The tonsure, (wearing) the sacred girdle, (carrying) a staff, going to
beg, and the vows (incumbent on a student), are omitted on the second
initiation of twice-born men.

153. But he who has eaten the food of men, whose food must not be eaten, or
the leavings of women and Śūdras, or forbidden flesh, shall drink barley
(-gruel) during seven (days and) nights.

154. A twice-born man who has drunk (fluids that have turned) sour, or
astringent decoctions, becomes, though (these substances may) not (be
specially) forbidden, impure until they have been digested.

155. A twice-born man, who has swallowed the urine or ordure of a village
pig, of a donkey, of a camel, of a jackal, of a monkey, or of a crow, shall
perform a lunar penance.

156. He who has eaten dried meat, mushrooms growing on the ground, or (meat,
the nature of) which is unknown, (or) such as had been kept in a
slaughter-house, shall perform the same penance.

157. The atonement for partaking of (the meat of) carnivorous animals, of
pigs, of camels, of cocks, of crows, of donkeys, and of human flesh, is a
Tapta Kṛcchra (penance).

158. If a twice-born man, who has not returned (home from his teacher's
house), eats food, given at a monthly (Śrāddha,) he shall fast during three
days and pass one day (standing) in water.

159. But a student who on any occasion eats honey or meat, shall perform an
ordinary Kṛcchra (penance), and afterwards complete his vow (of studentship).

160. He who eats what is left by a cat, by a crow, by a mouse (or rat), by a
dog, or by an ichneumon, or (food) into which a hair or an insect has
fallen, shall drink (a decoction of) the Brahmasuvarcalā (plant).

161. He who desires to be pure, must not eat forbidden food, and must vomit
up such as he has eaten unintentionally, or quickly atone for it by (various)
means of purification.

162. The various rules respecting penances for eating forbidden food have
been thus declared; hear now the law of those penances which remove the guilt
of theft.

163. The chief of the twice-born, having voluntarily stolen (valuable)
property, grain, or cooked food, from the house of a caste-fellow, is
purified by performing Kṛcchra (penances) during a whole year.

164. The lunar penance has been declared to be the expiation for stealing men
and women, and (for wrongfully appropriating) a field, a house, or the water
of wells and cisterns.

165. He who has stolen objects of small value from the house of another man,
shall, after restoring the (stolen article), perform a Saṃtāpana Kṛcchra
for his purification.

166. (To swallow) the five products of the cow (pañcagavya) is the atonement
for stealing eatables of various kinds, a vehicle, a bed, a seat, flowers,
roots, or fruit.

167. Fasting during three (days and) nights shall be (the penance for
stealing) grass, wood, trees, dry food, molasses, clothes, leather, and
meat.

168. To subsist during twelve days on (uncooked) grains (is the penance for
stealing) gems, pearls, coral, copper, silver, iron, brass, or stone.

169. (For stealing) cotton, silk, wool, an animal with cloven hoofs, or one
with uncloven hoofs, a bird, perfumes, medicinal herbs, or a rope (the
penance is to subsist) during three days (on) milk.

170. By means of these penances, a twice-born man may remove the guilt of
theft; but the guilt of approaching women who ought not to be approached
(agamyā), he may expiate by (the following) penances.

171. He who has had sexual intercourse with sisters by the same mother, with
the wives of a friend, or of a son, with unmarried maidens, and with females
of the lowest castes, shall perform the penance, prescribed for the
violation of a Guru's bed.

172. He who has approached the daughter of his father's sister, (who is
almost equal to) a sister, (the daughter) of his mother's sister, or of his
mother's full brother, shall perform a lunar penance.

173. A wise man should not take as his wife any of these three; they must not
be wedded because they are (Sapiṇḍa-) relatives, he who marries (one of
them), sinks low.

174. A man who has committed a bestial crime, or an unnatural crime with a
female, or has had intercourse in water, or with a menstruating woman, shall
perform a Saṃtāpana Kṛcchra.

175. A twice-born man who commits an unnatural offence with a male, or has
intercourse with a female in a cart drawn by oxen, in water, or in the
day-time, shall bathe, dressed in his clothes.

176. A Brāhmaṇa who unintentionally approaches a woman of the Caṇḍāla or of
(any other) very low caste, who eats (the food of such persons) and accepts
(presents from them) becomes an outcast; but (if he does it) intentionally,
he becomes their equal.

177. An exceedingly corrupt wife let her husband confine to one apartment,
and compel her to perform the penance which is prescribed for males in cases
of adultery.

178. If, being solicited by a man (of) equal (caste), she (afterwards) is
again unfaithful, then a Kṛcchra and a lunar penance are prescribed as the
means of purifying her.

179. The sin which a twice-born man commits by dallying one night with a
Vṛṣalī, he removes in three years, by subsisting on alms and daily muttering
(sacred texts).

180. The atonement (to be performed) by sinners (of) four (kinds) even, has
been thus declared; hear now the penances for those who have intercourse with
outcasts.

181. He who associates with an outcast, himself becomes an outcast after a
year, not by sacrificing for him, teaching him, or forming a matrimonial
alliance with him, but by using the same carriage or seat, or by eating with
him.

182. He who associates with any one of those outcasts, must perform, in order
to atone for (such) intercourse, the penance prescribed for that (sinner).

183. The Sapiṇḍas and Samānodakas of an outcast must offer (a libation of)
water (to him, as if he were dead), outside (the village), on an inauspicious
day, in the evening and in the presence of the relatives, officiating
priests, and teachers.

184. A female slave shall upset with her foot a pot filled with water, as if
it were for a dead person; (his Sapiṇḍas) as well as the Samānodakas shall
be impure for a day and a night;

185. But thenceforward it shall be forbidden to converse with him, to sit
with him, to give him a share of the inheritance, and to hold with him such
intercourse as is usual among men;

186. And (if he be the eldest) his right of primogeniture shall be withheld
and the additional share, due to the eldest son; and in his stead a younger
brother, excelling in virtue, shall obtain the share of the eldest.

187. But when he has performed his penance, they shall bathe with him in a
holy pool and throw down a new pot, filled with water.

188. But he shall throw that pot into water, enter his house and perform, as
before, all the duties incumbent on a relative.

189. Let him follow the same rule in the case of female outcasts; but
clothes, food, and drink shall be given to them, and they shall live close to
the (family-) house.

190. Let him not transact any business with unpurified sinners; but let him
in no way reproach those who have made atonement.

191. Let him not dwell together with the murderers of children, with those
who have returned evil for good, and with the slayers of suppliants for
protection or of women, though they may have been purified according to the
sacred law.

192. Those twice-born men who may not have been taught the Sāvitrī (at the
time) prescribed by the rule, he shall cause to perform three Kṛcchra
(penances) and afterwards initiate them in accordance with the law.

193. Let him prescribe the same (expiation) when twice-born men, who follow
forbidden occupations or have neglected (to learn) the Veda, desire to
perform a penance.

194. If Brāhmaṇas acquire property by a reprehensible action, they become
pure by relinquishing it, muttering prayers, and (performing) austerities.

195. By muttering with a concentrated mind the Sāvitrī three thousand times,
(dwelling) for a month in a cow-house, (and) subsisting on milk, (a man) is
freed from (the guilt of) accepting presents from a wicked man.

196. But when he returns from the cow-house, emaciated with his fast, and
reverently salutes, (the Brāhmaṇas) shall ask him, 'Friend, dost thou desire
to become our equal?'

197. If he answers to the Brāhmaṇas, 'Forsooth, (I will not offend again),'
he shall scatter (some) grass for the cows; if the cows hallow that place (by
eating the grass) the (Brāhmaṇa) shall re-admit him (into their community).

198. He who has sacrificed for Vrātyas, or has performed the obsequies of
strangers, or a magic sacrifice (intended to destroy life) or an Ahīna
sacrifice, removes (his guilt) by three Kṛcchra (penances).

199. A twice-born man who has cast off a suppliant for protection, or has
(improperly) divulged the Veda, atones for his offence, if he subsists during
a year on barley.

200. He who has been bitten by a dog, a jackal, or a donkey, by a tame
carnivorous animal, by a man, a horse, a camel, or a (village-) pig, becomes
pure by suppressing his breath (Prāṇāyāma).

201. To eat during a month at each sixth mealtime (only), to recite the
Saṃhitā (of a Veda), and (to perform) daily the Śākala oblations, are the
means of purifying those excluded from society at repasts (Āpaṅktya).

202. A Brāhmaṇa who voluntarily rode in a carriage drawn by camels or by
asses, and he who bathed naked, become pure by suppressing his breath
(Prāṇāyāma).

203. He who has relieved the necessities of nature, being greatly pressed,
either without (using) water or in water, becomes pure by bathing outside
(the village) in his clothes and by touching a cow.

204. Fasting is the penance for omitting the daily rites prescribed by the
Veda and for neglecting the special duties of a Snātaka.

205. He who has said 'Hum' to a Brāhmaṇa, or has addressed one of his
betters with 'Thou,' shall bathe, fast during the remaining part of the day,
and appease (the person offended) by a reverential salutation.

206. He who has struck (a Brāhmaṇa) even with a blade of grass, tied him by
the neck with a cloth, or conquered him in an altercation, shall appease him
by a prostration.

207. But he who, intending to hurt a Brāhmaṇa, has threatened (him with a
stick and the like) shall remain in hell during a hundred years; he who
(actually) struck him, during one thousand years.

208. As many particles of dust as the blood of a Brāhmaṇa causes to
coagulate, for so many thousand years shall the shedder of that (blood)
remain in hell.

209. For threatening a Brāhmaṇa, (the offender) shall perform a Kṛcchra,
for striking him an Atikṛcchra, for shedding his blood a Kṛcchra and an
Atikṛcchra.

210. For the expiation of offences for which no atonement has been
prescribed, let him fix a penance after considering (the offender's) strength
and the (nature of the) offence.

211. I will (now) describe to you those means, adopted by the gods, the
sages, and the manes, through which a man may remove his sins.

212. A twice-born man who performs (the Kṛcchra penance), revealed by
Prajāpati, shall eat during three days in the morning (only), during (the
next) three days in the evening (only), during the (following) three days
(food given) unasked, and shall fast during another period of three days.

213. (Subsisting on) the urine of cows, cowdung, milk, sour milk, clarified
butter, and a decoction of Kuśa-grass, and fasting during one (day and)
night, (that is) called a Saṃtāpana Kṛcchra.

214. A twice-born man who performs an Atikṛcchra (penance), must take his
food during three periods of three days in the manner described above, (but)
one mouthful only at each meal, and fast during the last three days.

215. A Brāhmaṇa who performs a Taptakṛcchra (penance) must drink hot water,
hot milk, hot clarified butter and (inhale) hot air, each during three days,
and bathe once with a concentrated mind.

216. A fast for twelve days by a man who controls himself and commits no
mistakes, is called a Parāka Kṛcchra, which removes all guilt.

217. If one diminishes (one's food daily by) one mouthful during the dark
(half of the month) and increases (it in the same manner) during the bright
half, and bathes (daily) at the time of three libations (morning, noon, and
evening), that is called a lunar penance (Kāndrāyaṇa).

218. Let him follow throughout the same rule at the (Kāndrāyaṇa, called)
yavamadhyama (shaped like a barley-corn), (but) let him (in that case) begin
the lunar penance, (with a) controlled (mind), on the first day of the bright
half (of the month).

219. He who performs the lunar penance of ascetics, shall eat (during a
month) daily at midday eight mouthfuls, controlling himself and consuming
sacrificial food (only).

220. If a Brāhmaṇa, with concentrated mind, eats (during a month daily) four
mouthfuls in the morning and four after sunset, (that is) called the lunar
penance of children.

221. He who, concentrating his mind, eats during a month in any way thrice
eighty mouthfuls of sacrificial food, dwells (after death) in the world of
the moon.

222. The Rudras, likewise the Ādityas, the Vasus and the Maruts, together
with the great sages, practised this (rite) in order to remove all evil.

223. Burnt oblations, accompanied by (the recitation of) the Mahāvyāhṛtis,
must daily be made (by the penitent) himself, and he must abstain from
injuring (sentient creatures), speak the truth, and keep himself free from
anger and from dishonesty.

224. Let him bathe three times each day and thrice each night, dressed in his
clothes; let him on no account talk to women, Śūdras, and outcasts.

225. Let him pass the time standing (during the day) and sitting (during the
night), or if he is unable (to do that) let him lie on the (bare) ground; let
him be chaste and observe the vows (of a student) and worship his Gurus, the
gods, and Brāhmaṇas.

226. Let him constantly mutter the Sāvitrī and (other) purificatory texts
according to his ability; (let him) carefully (act thus) on (the occasion of)
all (other) vows (performed) by way of penance.

227. By these expiations twice-born men must be purified whose sins are
known, but let him purify those whose sins are not known by (the recitation
of) sacred texts and by (the performance of) burnt oblations.

228. By confession, by repentance, by austerity, and by reciting (the Veda) a
sinner is freed from guilt, and in case no other course is possible, by
liberality.

229. In proportion as a man who has done wrong, himself confesses it, even so
far he is freed from guilt, as a snake from its slough.

230. In proportion as his heart loathes his evil deed, even so far is his
body freed from that guilt.

231. He who has committed a sin and has repented, is freed from that sin, but
he is purified only by (the resolution of) ceasing (to sin and thinking) 'I
will do so no more.'

232. Having thus considered in his mind what results will arise from his
deeds after death, let him always be good in thoughts, speech, and actions.

233. He who, having either unintentionally or intentionally committed a
reprehensible deed, desires to be freed from (the guilt of) it, must not
commit it a second time.

234. If his mind be uneasy with respect to any act, let him repeat the
austerities (prescribed as a penance) for it until they fully satisfy (his
conscience).

235. All the bliss of gods and men is declared by the sages to whom the Veda
was revealed, to have austerity for its root, austerity for its middle, and
austerity for its end.

236. (The pursuit of sacred) knowledge is the austerity of a Brāhmaṇa,
protecting (the people) is the austerity of a Kṣatriya, (the pursuit of) his
daily business is the austerity of a Vaiśya, and service the austerity of a
Śūdra.

237. The sages who control themselves and subsist on fruit, roots, and air,
survey the three worlds together with their moving and immovable (creatures)
through their austerities alone.

238. Medicines, good health, learning, and the various divine stations are
attained by austerities alone; for austerity is the means of gaining them.

239. Whatever is hard to be traversed, whatever is hard to be attained,
whatever is hard to be reached, whatever is hard to be performed, all (this)
may be accomplished by austerities; for austerity (possesses a power) which
it is difficult to surpass.

240. Both those who have committed mortal sin (Mahāpātaka) and all other
offenders are severally freed from their guilt by means of well-performed
austerities.

241. Insects, snakes, moths, bees, birds and beings, bereft of motion, reach
heaven by the power of austerities.

242. Whatever sin men commit by thoughts, words, or deeds, that they speedily
burn away by penance, if they keep penance as their only riches.

243. The gods accept the offerings of that Brāhmaṇa alone who has purified
himself by austerities, and grant to him all he desires.

244. The lord, Prajāpati, created these Institutes (of the sacred law) by his
austerities alone; the sages likewise obtained (the revelation of) the Vedas
through their austerities.

245. The gods, discerning that the holy origin of this whole (world) is from
austerity, have thus proclaimed the incomparable power of austerity.

246. The daily study of the Veda, the performance of the great sacrifices
according to one's ability, (and) patience (in suffering) quickly destroy all
guilt, even that caused by mortal sins.

247. As a fire in one moment consumes with its bright flame the fuel that has
been placed on it, even so he who knows the Veda destroys all guilt by the
fire of knowledge.

248. The penances for sins (made public) have been thus declared according to
the law; learn next the penances for secret (sins).

249. Sixteen suppressions of the breath (Prāṇāyāma) accompanied by (the
recitation of) the Vyāhṛtis and of the syllable Om, purify, if they are
repeated daily, after a month even the murderer of a learned Brāhmaṇa.

250. Even a drinker of (the spirituous liquor called) Surā becomes pure, if
he mutters the hymn (seen) by Kutsa, 'Removing by thy splendour our guilt, O
Agni,' &c., (that seen) by Vasiṣṭha, 'With their hymns the Vasiṣṭhas woke
the Dawn,' &c., the Mahitra (hymn) and (the verses called) Śuddhavatīs.

251. Even he who has stolen gold, instantly becomes free from guilt, if he
once mutters (the hymn beginning with the words) 'The middlemost brother of
this beautiful, ancient Hotṛ-priest' and the Śivasaṃkalpa.

252. The violator of a Guru's bed is freed (from sin), if he repeatedly
recites the Haviṣpāntīya (hymn), (that beginning) 'Neither anxiety nor
misfortune,' (and that beginning) 'Thus, verily, thus,' and mutters the hymn
addressed to Puruṣa.

253. He who desires to expiate sins great or small, must mutter during a year
the Ṛk-verse 'May we remove thy anger, O Varuṇa,' &c., or 'Whatever offence
here, O Varuṇa,' &c.

254. That man who, having accepted presents which ought not to be accepted,
or having eaten forbidden food, mutters the Taratsamandīya (Ṛcas), becomes
pure after three days.

255. But he who has committed many sins, becomes pure, if he recites during a
month the (four verses) addressed to Soma and Rudra, and the three verses
(beginning) 'Aryaman, Varuṇa, and Mitra,' while he bathes in a river.

256. A grievous offender shall mutter the seven verses (beginning with)
'Indra,' for half a year; but he who has committed any blamable act in
water, shall subsist during a month on food obtained by begging.

257. A twice-born man removes even very great guilt by offering clarified
butter with the sacred texts belonging to the Śākala-homas, or by muttering
the Ṛk, (beginning) 'Adoration.'

258. He who is stained by mortal sin, becomes pure, if, with a concentrated
mind, he attends cows for a year, reciting the Pavamānī (hymns) and
subsisting on alms.

259. Or if, pure (in mind and in body), he thrice repeats the Saṃhitā of the
Veda in a forest, sanctified by three Parāka (penances), he is freed from
all crimes causing loss of caste (pātaka).

260. But if (a man) fasts during three days, bathing thrice a day, and
muttering (in the water the hymn seen by) Aghamarṣaṇa, he is (likewise)
freed from all sins causing loss of caste.

261. As the horse-sacrifice, the king of sacrifices, removes all sin, even
so the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn effaces all guilt.

262. A Brāhmaṇa who retains in his memory the Ṛg-veda is not stained by
guilt, though he may have destroyed these three worlds, though he may eat the
food of anybody.

263. He who, with a concentrated mind, thrice recites the Ṛksaṃhitā, or
(that of the) Yajur-veda; or (that of the) Sāma-veda together with the
secret (texts, the Upaniṣads), is completely freed from all sins.

264. As a clod of earth, falling into a great lake, is quickly dissolved,
even so every sinful act is engulfed in the threefold Veda.

265. The Ṛcas, the Yajuṣ (-formulas) which differ (from the former), the
manifold Sāman (-songs), must be known (to form) the triple Veda; he who
knows them, (is called) learned in the Veda.

266. The initial triliteral Brahman on which the threefold (sacred science)
is based, is another triple Veda which must be kept secret; he who knows
that, (is called) learned in the Veda.
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