1 Him who wishes to marry for the sake of having offspring, him who wishes to perform a sacrifice for God's sake, 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 scripture, and a sick man,

2 These nine one should consider as scholars, 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 learned, food and presents of money must be given; it is declared that food must be given to others outside the place of offering.

4 But a king shall bestow, as is proper, jewels of all sorts, and presents for the sake of offerings on scholars learned in the scripture.

6 One should give, according to one's ability, wealth to scholars learned in the scripture and living simply; thus one obtains after death the bliss of the Garden.

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 make a great offering.

8 But a man who, though possessing less than that amount of property, nevertheless makes such a great offering, does not derive any benefit from that act, though he may have formerly made such offerings.

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.

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 a share of his reward.

25 A scholar who, having begged any property for an offering, does not use the whole for that purpose, shall answer for it with a grievous reckoning.

26 That sinful man, who, through covetousness, seizes the property dedicated to God, or the property of the learned, shall suffer torment in the hereafter.

27 In case the prescribed offerings cannot be performed, let him always make at the change of the year an offering in God's name as a penance for the omission.

28 But a man 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 angels and by the great sages, 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 scholar who knows the law need not bring any offence to the notice of the ruler; by his own steadfastness alone he can restrain those men who injure him.

32 His own strength of knowledge is greater than the strength of the ruler; the scholar, therefore, may overcome his adversaries by his own strength alone.

33 Let him use without hesitation the sacred texts revealed to the righteous of old; speech, indeed, is the weapon of the scholar, with that he may overcome his adversaries.

34 A warrior shall pass through misfortunes which have befallen him by the strength of his arms, a trader and a labourer by their wealth, the foremost of the learned by prayers and by offerings made for God's sake.

35 The scholar is declared to be a teacher, a guide, and 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 young married woman, nor a man of little learning, nor a fool, nor a man in great suffering, nor one uninitiated, shall conduct an Agnihotra, the fire-offering made for God's sake.

37 For such persons offering an oblation sink into hell, as well as he to whom that offering belongs; hence the person who makes offerings for another must be skilled in the performance of the rites, and know the whole of the sacred texts.

38 A scholar who, though wealthy, does not give, as fee for the performance of the rite of kindling the sacred fire, a horse dedicated to God the Creator, becomes as 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 the Garden, 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 great sacrifice.

41 A scholar who, being a keeper of the sacred fire, 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 by wrongful means, and using that, make offerings, are censured among those who recite the scripture.

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 verses of scripture, but that which men in their folly commit intentionally, by various special penances.

47 A man who has become liable to perform a penance, be it by the decree of fate or by an act committed earlier in his 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.

49 He who steals the gold of a scholar has diseased nails; a drinker of the spirituous liquor called Sura, black teeth; the slayer of a scholar, consumption; the violator of a teacher's bed, a diseased skin;

50 An informer who slanders, 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 scripture, 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, as the consequence of crimes, men are afflicted with idiocy, dumbness, blindness, deafness, and deformity, and such wrongdoers are despised by the virtuous.

54 Penances, therefore, must always be performed for the sake of purification, because those whose sins have not been expiated bear disgraceful marks.

55 Killing a scholar, drinking the spirituous liquor called Sura, stealing the gold of a scholar, adultery with a teacher's wife, and associating with such offenders, they declare to be mortal sins (mahapataka).

56 Falsely attributing to oneself high standing, and falsely accusing one's teacher, are offences equal to slaying a scholar.

57 Forgetting the scripture, reviling the sacred texts, giving false evidence, slaying a friend, eating forbidden food, or swallowing substances unfit for food, are six offences equal to drinking Sura.

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 scholar.

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

60 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 scripture, 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 in disregard of the sacred rules, casting off a relative, teaching the scripture for wages, learning it 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, and subsisting on the earnings of one's wife,

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 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, and disbelief in God, are all minor offences, causing loss of standing (Upapataka).

68 Giving pain to a scholar 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 standing (Gatibhramsa).

70 Accepting presents from blamed men and speaking a falsehood make the offender unworthy to receive gifts (Apatra).

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

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 scholar 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;

75 Or he may offer a horse-sacrifice, or one of the great sacrifices, the Svarjit, the Gosava, the Abhijit, the Visvajit, the Trivrt, or the Agnishtut, in God's name alone;

76 Or, in order to remove the guilt of slaying a scholar, he may walk one hundred yojanas, reciting one of the sacred books, eating little, and controlling his organs;

77 Or he may present to a scholar, learned in the sacred texts, 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 Sarasvati; or, restricting his food very much, he may recite thrice the Samhita of a sacred book.

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 cattle and to scholars.

80 He who unhesitatingly gives his life in defence of the learned or of cattle is freed from the guilt of the murder of a scholar, and so is he who saves the life of a cow or of a scholar.

81 If either he fights at least three times in defence of a scholar's property against robbers, or reconquers the whole property of a scholar, 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 scholar.

83 Or he who, after confessing his crime in an assembly of the learned and of the rulers of men, bathes at the close of a sacrifice offered to God, is also freed from guilt.

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

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

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

88 For destroying the embryo of a scholar, the sex of which was unknown, for slaying a righteous man who is engaged in or has offered a sacrifice, or a woman who has bathed after temporary uncleanness (Atreyi), 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 scholar; but for intentionally slaying a scholar no atonement of this kind is ordained.

93 Or, in order to remove the guilt of drinking Sura, 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 Sura, indeed, is the dirty refuse (mala) of grain, and sin is also called dirt (mala); hence a scholar, a ruler, and a trader shall not drink Sura.

95 Sura one must know to be of three kinds, that distilled from molasses, that distilled from ground rice, and that distilled from Madhuka-flowers; as the one named above, even so are all three sorts forbidden to the learned.

96 Sura, all other intoxicating drinks and decoctions, are the food of devils and evil spirits; a scholar who partakes of the remnants of the offerings made for God's sake must not partake of such substances.

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

98 When the knowledge of the scripture which dwells in his body is even once only deluged with spirituous liquor, his learning forsakes him and he falls from his rank.

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

100 A scholar who has stolen the gold of a scholar shall go to the ruler and, confessing his deed, say, "Lord, punish me!"

101 The ruler shall impose on him the penalty ordained; or a scholar may purify himself by austerities.

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

103 By these penances a man may remove the guilt incurred by a theft of gold; but he may atone for connexion with a teacher's wife by the following penances.

106 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 hard penance (Krcchra), ordained of old, 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 teacher's bed.

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

109 He who has committed a minor offence by wrongfully slaying a cow 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, 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 tending them, he shall remain in the posture called virasana.

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 wrongful 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 scholars learned in the sacred texts ten cows and a bull, or, if he does not possess so much property, he must offer to them all he has.

118 Men who have committed other minor offences (Upapataka), except a student who has broken his vow (Avakirnin), 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 at night, at a crossway, make an offering in charity for God's sake, according to the rule.

120 Having made the offerings according to the rule, he shall finally offer four offerings of clarified butter for God's sake, praying to God the Powerful, to God the Guardian, to God the Teacher, and to God the Radiant, reciting the verse "May the angels grant me," and so forth.

121 Those who know the sacred texts declare that a voluntary effusion of semen by a youth who fulfils the vow of studentship constitutes a breach of that vow.

122 The light which the sacred knowledge imparts to the student departs from him, if he breaks his vow, and returns to God, the Mighty, the Teacher, and the Radiant.

123 When this sin has been committed, he shall go begging to seven houses, 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 standing (Gatibhramsakara), the offender shall perform a Santapana Krcchra; for doing it unintentionally, the Krcchra ordained of old.

126 As atonement for deeds which make a man unworthy to receive gifts (Apatra), he shall perform the lunar penance during a month; for acts which render impure (Malinikarana) he shall scald himself during three days with hot barley-gruel.

132 Having killed a cat, an ichneumon, a blue jay, a frog, a dog, an iguana, an owl, or a crow, he shall perform a penance of six months;

133 Or he may drink milk during three days, or walk one hundred yojanas, or bathe in a river, or recite the hymn in praise of the Waters.

134 For killing a snake, a scholar shall give a spade of black iron.

135 For a boar a pot of clarified butter, for a partridge a drona 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 Hamsa, a Balaka, a heron, a peacock, a monkey, a falcon, or a Bhasa, he shall give a cow to a scholar.

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 krishnala.

140 A 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 Krcchra 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 a penance of six months.