206 Property acquired by learning belongs solely to him who earned it, likewise the gift of a friend, a present received on marriage or a gift received in token of honour.

207 But if one of the brothers, being able to maintain himself by his own occupation, does not desire a share of the family property, he may be made separate by the others, receiving a trifle out of his share to live upon.

208 What one brother may acquire by his labour without using the patrimony, that acquisition, made solely by his own effort, he shall not share unless by his own will with his brothers.

209 But if a father recovers lost ancestral property, he shall not divide it, unless by his own will, with his sons, for it is self-acquired property.

210 If brothers, once divided and living again together as coparceners, make a second partition, the division shall in that case be equal; in such a case there is no right of primogeniture.

211 If the eldest or the youngest brother is deprived of his share, or if either of them dies, his share is not lost to his immediate heirs.

212 His uterine brothers, having assembled together, shall equally divide it, and those brothers who were reunited with him and the uterine sisters.

213 An eldest brother who through avarice may defraud the younger ones, shall no longer hold the position of the eldest, and shall be punished by the king.

214 All brothers who habitually commit forbidden acts, are unworthy of a share of the property, and the eldest shall not make anything his separate property without giving an equivalent to his younger brothers.

215 If undivided brethren, living with their father, together make an exertion for gain, the father shall on no account give to them unequal shares on a division of the estate.

216 But a son, born after partition, shall alone take the property of his father, or if any of the other sons be reunited with the father, he shall share with them.

217 A mother shall obtain the inheritance of a son who dies without leaving issue, and, if the mother be dead, the paternal grandmother shall take the estate.

218 And if, after all the debts and assets have been duly distributed according to the rule, any property be afterwards discovered, one must divide it equally.

219 A dress, a vehicle, ornaments, cooked food, water, property destined for pious uses or sacrifices made for God's sake, and a pasture-ground, they declare to be indivisible.

220 The division of the property and the rules for allotting shares to the sons have been thus declared to you; hear now the laws concerning gambling.

221 Gambling and betting let the king exclude from his realm; those two vices cause the destruction of the kingdoms of princes.

222 Gambling and betting amount to open theft; the king shall always exert himself in suppressing both of them.

223 When inanimate things are used for staking money on them, that is called among men gambling (dyuta); when animate beings are used for the same purpose, one must know that to be betting (samahvaya).

224 Let the king corporally punish all those persons who either gamble and bet or afford an opportunity for it, likewise impostors who assume the distinctive marks of honourable men.

225 Gamblers, cruel men, those following forbidden occupations, and sellers of spirituous liquor, let him instantly banish from his town.

226 If such persons, who are secret thieves, dwell in the realm of a king, they constantly harass his good subjects by their forbidden practices.

227 In former times this vice of gambling has been seen to cause great enmity; a wise man, therefore, should not practise it even for amusement.

228 On every man who addicts himself to that vice either secretly or openly, the king may inflict punishment according to his discretion.

229 But those who are unable to pay a fine shall discharge the debt by labour or by instalments.

231 But those appointed to administer public affairs, who, baked by the fire of wealth, mar the business of suitors, the king shall deprive of their property.

232 Forgers of royal edicts, those who corrupt his ministers, those who slay women, infants, or innocent persons, and those who serve his enemies, the king shall put to death.

233 Whenever any legal transaction has been completed or a punishment been inflicted according to the law, he shall sanction it and not annul it.

234 Whatever matter his ministers or the judge may settle improperly, that the king himself shall re-settle and fine them one thousand panas.

235 The slayer of a righteous scholar, he who drinks spirituous liquor, he who steals, and he who violates the bed of his teacher, must each and all be considered as men who committed mortal sins.

236 On those four even, if they do not repent and make amends, let him inflict corporal punishment and fines in accordance with the law.

243 A virtuous king must not take for himself the property of a man guilty of mortal sin; but if he takes it out of greed, he is tainted by that guilt of the offender.

244 Let him give such a fine in charity for God's sake, or let him bestow it on a learned and virtuous scholar.

245 God, the All-Seeing, Upholder of Law (Varuna), is the lord of punishment, for He holds the sceptre even over kings; a scholar who has learnt the whole scripture is honoured throughout the whole world.

246 In that country, where the king avoids taking the property of mortal sinners, men are born in due time and are long-lived,

247 And the crops of the husbandmen spring up, each as it was sown, and the children die not, and no misshaped offspring is born.

249 When a king punishes an innocent man, his guilt is considered as great as when he sets free a guilty man; but he acquires merit when he punishes justly.

250 Thus the manner of deciding suits falling under the eighteen titles, between two litigant parties, has been declared at length.

251 A king who thus duly fulfils his duties in accordance with justice, may seek to gain countries which he has not yet gained, and shall duly protect them when he has gained them.

252 Having duly settled his country, and having built forts in accordance with the Institutes, he shall use his utmost exertions to remove those men who are noxious like thorns.

253 By protecting those who live righteously and by removing the thorns, kings, solely intent on guarding their subjects, reach the Garden.

254 The realm of that king who takes his share in kind, though he does not punish thieves, will be disturbed and he will lose the Garden.

255 But if his kingdom be secure, protected by the strength of his arm, it will constantly flourish like a well-watered tree.

256 Let the king who sees everything through his spies, discover the two sorts of thieves who deprive others of their property, both those who show themselves openly and those who lie concealed.

257 Among them, the open rogues are those who subsist by cheating in the sale of various marketable commodities, but the concealed rogues are burglars, robbers in forests, and so forth.

258 Those who take bribes, cheats and rogues, gamblers, those who live by teaching the performance of auspicious ceremonies, sanctimonious hypocrites, and fortune-tellers,

259 Officials of high rank and physicians who act improperly, men living by showing their proficiency in arts, and clever harlots,

260 These and the like who show themselves openly, as well as others who walk in disguise, such as impostors who wear the marks of honourable men, he should know to be thorns in the side of his people.

261 Having detected them by means of trustworthy persons, who, disguising themselves, pretend to follow the same occupations, and by means of spies, wearing various disguises, he must cause them to be instigated to commit offences, and bring them into his power.

262 Then having caused the crimes, which they committed by their several actions, to be proclaimed in accordance with the facts, the king shall duly punish them according to their strength and their crimes.

263 For the wickedness of evil-minded thieves, who secretly prowl over this earth, cannot be restrained except by punishment.

264 Assembly-houses, houses where water is distributed or cakes are sold, brothels, taverns and victualler's shops, cross-roads, well-known trees, festive assemblies, and play-houses and concert-rooms,

265 Old gardens, forests, the shops of artisans, empty dwellings, natural and artificial groves,

266 These and the like places the king shall cause to be guarded by companies of soldiers, both stationary and patrolling, and by spies, in order to keep away thieves.

267 By the means of clever reformed thieves, who associate with such rogues, follow them and know their various machinations, he must detect and destroy them.

268 Under the pretext of offering them various dainties, of introducing them to scholars, and on the pretence of showing them feats of strength, the spies must make them meet the officers of justice.

269 Those among them who do not come, and those who suspect the old thieves employed by the king, the king shall attack by force and slay.

270 A just king shall not cause a thief to be put to death, unless taken with the stolen goods in his possession; him who is taken with the stolen goods and the implements of burglary, he may, without hesitation, cause to be slain.

271 All those also who in villages give food to thieves or grant them room for concealing their implements, he shall cause to be put to death.

272 Those who are appointed to guard provinces and his vassals who have been ordered to help, he shall speedily punish like thieves, if they remain inactive in attacks by robbers.

273 Moreover if a man, who subsists by the fulfilment of the law, departs from the established rule of the law, the king shall severely punish him by a fine, because he violated his duty.

274 Those who do not give assistance according to their ability when a village is being plundered, a dyke is being destroyed, or a highway robbery committed, shall be banished with their goods and chattels.

275 On those who rob the king's treasury and those who persevere in opposing his commands, he shall inflict various kinds of capital punishment, likewise on those who conspire with his enemies.

276 But the king shall cut off the hands of those robbers who, breaking into houses, commit thefts at night, and cause them to be impaled on a pointed stake.

277 On the first conviction, let him cause two fingers of a cut-purse to be amputated; on the second, one hand and one foot; on the third, he shall suffer death.

278 Those who give to thieves fire, food, arms, or shelter, and receivers of stolen goods, the ruler shall punish like thieves.

279 Him who breaks the dam of a tank he shall slay by drowning him in water or by some other simple mode of capital punishment; or the offender may repair the damage, but shall be made to pay the highest amercement.

280 Those who break into a royal storehouse, an armoury, or a house of worship, and those who steal elephants, horses, or chariots, he shall slay without hesitation.

281 But he who shall take away the water of a tank, made in ancient times, or shall cut off the supply of water, must be made to pay the first, or lowest, amercement.

282 But he who, except in a case of extreme necessity, drops filth on the king's high-road, shall pay two karshapanas and immediately remove that filth.

283 But a person in urgent necessity, an aged man, a pregnant woman, or a child, shall be reprimanded and clean the place; that is a settled rule.

284 All physicians who treat their patients wrongly shall pay a fine; in the case of animals, the first or lowest; in the case of human beings, the middlemost amercement.

285 He who destroys a bridge, the flag of a royal palace, or a pole, shall repair the whole damage and pay five hundred panas.

286 For adulterating unadulterated commodities, and for breaking gems or for improperly boring them, the fine is the first, or lowest, amercement.

287 But that man who behaves dishonestly to honest customers or cheats in his prices, shall be fined in the first or in the middlemost amercement.

288 Let him place all prisons near a high-road, where the suffering and disfigured offenders can be seen.

289 Him who destroys the wall of a town, or fills up the ditch round a town, or breaks a town-gate, he shall instantly banish.

290 For all incantations intended to destroy life, for magic rites with roots practised by persons not related to him against whom they are directed, and for various kinds of sorcery, a fine of two hundred panas shall be inflicted.

291 He who sells for seed-corn that which is not seed-corn, he who takes up seed already sown, and he who destroys a boundary-mark, shall be punished by mutilation.

292 But the king shall cause a goldsmith who behaves dishonestly, the most noxious of all the thorns, to be cut to pieces with razors.

293 For the theft of agricultural implements, of arms and of medicines, let the king award punishment, taking into account the time of the offence and the use of the object.

294 The king and his minister, his capital, his realm, his treasury, his army, and his ally are the seven constituent parts of a kingdom; hence a kingdom is said to have seven limbs.

295 But let him know that among these seven constituent parts of a kingdom, which have been enumerated in due order, each earlier named is more important and its destruction the greater calamity.

296 Yet in a kingdom, containing seven constituent parts, which is upheld like the triple staff of an ascetic, there is no single part more important than the others, by reason of the importance of the qualities of each for the others.

297 For each part is particularly qualified for the accomplishment of certain objects, and thus each is declared to be the most important for that particular purpose which is effected by its means.

298 By spies, by a display of energy, and by carrying out various undertakings, let the king constantly ascertain his own and his enemy's strength;

299 Moreover, all calamities and vices; afterwards, when he has fully considered their relative importance, let him begin his operations.

300 Though he be ever so much tired by repeated failures, let him begin his operations again and again; for fortune greatly favours the man who strenuously exerts himself in his undertakings.

301 The various ways in which a king behaves resemble the ages of golden prosperity and of decline; hence the character of a king shapes the character of his age.

302 Sleeping, he brings an age of decay; waking, a time of struggle; ready to act, a time of promise; but moving actively, an age of golden prosperity.

303 Let the king emulate the energetic action of the signs of God: the beneficent rain, the sun, the wind, the angel of death, the law that upholds justice, the moon, the fire, and the earth.

304 As the rain, which God sends, falls copiously during the four months of the rainy season, even so let the king shower benefits on his kingdom.

305 As the sun during eight months imperceptibly draws up the water with his rays, even so let him gradually draw his taxes from his kingdom; for that is the office in which he resembles the sun.

306 As the wind moves everywhere, entering all created beings, even so let him penetrate everywhere through his spies; that is the office in which he resembles the wind.

307 As death at the appointed time subjects to its rule both friends and foes, even so all subjects must be controlled by the king; that is the office in which he resembles it.

308 As a sinner is seen bound in the fetters of his own wrongdoing, even so let him punish the wicked; that is his office in which he reflects the justice of God.

309 He is a king, taking upon himself the office of the moon, whose appearance his subjects greet with as great joy as men feel on seeing the full moon.

310 If he is ardent in wrath against criminals and endowed with brilliant energy, and destroys wicked vassals, then his character is said to resemble that of fire.

311 As the earth supports all created beings equally, thus a king who supports all his subjects takes upon himself the office of the earth.

312 Employing these and other means, the king shall, ever untired, restrain thieves both in his own dominions and in those of others.

313 Let him not, though fallen into the deepest distress, wrong the learned and righteous nor seize their property; for the cry of the oppressed rises to God, and the oppressor perishes.

322 Rulers do not prosper without scholars, scholars do not prosper without rulers; scholars and rulers, being closely united, prosper in this world and in the next.

323 But a king who feels his end drawing nigh shall bestow his wealth in charity, make over his kingdom to his son, and strive to the end in the cause of God.

324 Thus conducting himself and ever intent on discharging his royal duties, a king shall order all his servants to work for the good of his people.

325 Thus the eternal law concerning the duties of a king has been fully declared; know that the following rules apply in due order to the duties of merchants and labourers.

326 After a merchant has received instruction and has taken a wife, he shall be always attentive to the business whereby he may subsist and to tending cattle.

329 A merchant must know the respective value of gems, of pearls, of coral, of metals, of cloth made of thread, of perfumes, and of condiments.

330 He must be acquainted with the manner of sowing of seeds, and of the good and bad qualities of fields, and he must perfectly know all measures and weights.

331 Moreover, the excellence and defects of commodities, the advantages and disadvantages of different countries, the probable profit and loss on merchandise, and the means of properly rearing cattle.

332 He must be acquainted with the proper wages of servants, with the various languages of men, with the manner of keeping goods, and the rules of purchase and sale.

333 Let him exert himself to the utmost in order to increase his property in a righteous manner, and let him zealously give food to all created beings.

334 To serve the learned, the householders, and those famous for virtue, honestly and faithfully, is a high duty of the labouring people, which leads to salvation.

335 A labourer who is pure, the servant of his betters, gentle in his speech, and free from pride, and who always seeks refuge with the righteous and learned, attains honour in this world and a high station in the Garden.

336 The excellent law for the conduct of the four classes, when they are not in distress, has been thus promulgated; now hear in order their several duties in times of distress.