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

143 For cutting fruit-trees, shrubs, creepers, lianas, or flowering plants, one hundred verses of scripture must be recited.

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 the sins committed by partaking of forbidden food or drink can be expiated.

147 He who drinks unintentionally the spirituous liquor called Varuni becomes pure by being initiated again; 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 Sura, or other intoxicating drinks, shall drink during five days and nights nothing but milk in which the Sankhapushpi plant has been boiled.

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

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

151 Men who have unintentionally swallowed ordure or urine, or anything that has touched Sura, 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.

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

154 A 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 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, and of human flesh, is a Tapta Krcchra penance.

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 Brahmasuvarcala 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 foremost of the learned, having voluntarily stolen valuable property, grain, or cooked food, from the house of a fellow-man, is purified by performing Krcchra penances during a whole year.

164 The lunar penance has been declared to be the expiation for abducting 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 Santapana Krcchra for his purification.

166 To swallow the five products of the cow (pancagavya) 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 man may remove the guilt of theft; but the guilt of approaching women who ought not to be approached (agamya) 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, or with unmarried maidens, shall perform the penance prescribed for the violation of a teacher's bed.

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 Santapana Krcchra.

175 A man who commits an unnatural offence with a male shall bathe, dressed in his clothes, and repent and make atonement.

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, having been solicited by a man, she is again unfaithful, then a Krcchra and a lunar penance are prescribed as the means of purifying her.

179 The sin which a man commits by dallying one night with a woman who is not lawfully his wife, 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 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 only by sacrificing for him, teaching him, or forming a matrimonial alliance with him, but also 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.

185 But thenceforward it shall be forbidden to converse with him, to sit with him, and to hold with him such intercourse as is usual among men;

187 But when he has performed his penance, they shall bathe with him in a pure pool and receive him back.

188 And he shall 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 men who may not have been taught the Savitri prayer, the prayer to God the Giver of light, at the time prescribed by the rule, he shall cause to perform three Krcchra penances and afterwards initiate them in accordance with the law.

193 Let him prescribe the same expiation when men who follow forbidden occupations or have neglected to learn the scripture desire to perform a penance.

194 If scholars 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 Savitri 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 scholars shall ask him, "Friend, dost thou desire to become our equal?"

197 If he answers to the scholars, "Forsooth, I will not offend again," he shall scatter some grass for the cows; if the cows eat the grass at that place, the scholars shall re-admit him into their community.

198 He who has sacrificed for those who disregard the sacred rules, or has performed the obsequies of strangers, or an Ahina sacrifice, removes his guilt by three Krcchra penances.

199 A man who has cast off a suppliant for protection, or has improperly divulged the sacred texts, 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 (Pranayama).

201 To eat during a month at each sixth meal-time only, to recite the Samhita of a sacred book, and to perform daily the Sakala offerings, are the means of purifying those excluded from society at repasts (Apankteya).

202 A scholar who voluntarily bathed naked becomes pure by suppressing his breath (Pranayama).

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 sacred texts and for neglecting the special duties of a Snataka.

205 He who has said "Hum" to a scholar, 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 respectful salutation.

206 He who has struck a scholar even with a blade of grass, tied him by the neck with a cloth, or conquered him in an altercation, shall appease him by humbly begging his forgiveness.

209 For threatening a scholar, the offender shall perform a Krcchra, for striking him an Atikrcchra, for shedding his blood a Krcchra and an Atikrcchra.

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 sages and the righteous of old, through which a man may remove his sins.

212 A man who performs the Krcchra penance, ordained of old, 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 Kusa-grass, and fasting during one day and night, that is called a Santapana Krcchra.

214 A man who performs an Atikrcchra 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 scholar who performs a Tapta-krcchra 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 Paraka Krcchra, 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 (Candrayana).

218 Let him follow throughout the same rule at the Candrayana 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 scholar, 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, attains after death a high station with his Lord.

222 The righteous of old, together with the great sages, practised this rite in order to remove all evil.

223 Offerings made for God's sake, accompanied by the praise of God, 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 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 honour his teachers and the scholars, worshipping God alone.

226 Let him constantly mutter the Savitri 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 men whose sins are known must be purified, but let him purify those whose sins are not known by the recitation of sacred texts and by the performance of offerings.

228 By confession, by repentance, by austerity, and by reciting the scripture 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 soul 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 angels and of men is declared by the sages to whom the revelation was given 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 scholar, protecting the people is the austerity of a ruler, the pursuit of his daily business is the austerity of a trader, and service the austerity of a labourer.

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 high 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 (Mahapataka) and all other offenders are severally freed from their guilt by means of well-performed 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 God accepts the offerings of that scholar alone who has purified himself by austerities, and grants to him all he desires.

244 God, the Lord, ordained these Institutes of the sacred law; the sages likewise obtained the revelation of the sacred texts through their devotion and austerities.

245 The angels, discerning that blessing flows from devotion, have thus proclaimed the incomparable power of austerity.

246 The daily study of the scripture, 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 scripture 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 (Pranayama) accompanied by the praise of God, if they are repeated daily, purify after a month even the murderer of a learned scholar.

250 Even a drinker of the spirituous liquor called Sura becomes pure, if he mutters the hymn seen by Kutsa, "Removing by Thy splendour our guilt, O God, the Radiant," and so forth, that seen by Vasishtha, "With their hymns the Vasishthas woke the Dawn," and so forth, the Mahitra hymn and the verses called Suddhavatis.

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 Hotri-priest," and the Sivasankalpa.

252 The violator of a teacher's bed is freed from sin, if he repeatedly recites the Havishpantiya hymn, that beginning "Neither anxiety nor misfortune," and that beginning "Thus, verily, thus," and mutters the hymn in praise of God the Creator.

253 He who desires to expiate sins great or small must mutter during a year the verse "May we remove Thy anger, O God, the All-Seeing," and so forth, or "Whatever offence here, O God, the All-Seeing," and so forth.

254 That man who, having accepted presents which ought not to be accepted, or having eaten forbidden food, mutters the Taratsamandiya hymn, 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 God the Provider and God the Healer, and the three verses beginning "O God, the Friend, the All-Seeing, and the Guardian," while he bathes in a river.

256 A grievous offender shall mutter the seven verses beginning with "O God, the Mighty," 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 man removes even very great guilt by offering clarified butter for God's sake with the sacred texts belonging to the Sakala offerings, or by muttering the verse 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 hymns of purification and subsisting on alms.

259 Or if, pure in mind and in body, he thrice repeats the Samhita of the scripture in a forest, sanctified by three Paraka penances, he is freed from all crimes causing loss of standing (pataka).

260 But if a man fasts during three days, bathing thrice a day, and muttering in the water the hymn of Aghamarshana, he is likewise freed from all sins causing loss of standing.

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

263 He who, with a concentrated mind, thrice recites the Rik collection, or that of the Yajur-veda, or that of the Sama-veda, together with the secret texts (the Upanishads), is by God's mercy 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 great mercy of God.

265 The Riks, the Yajus formulas which differ from the former, the manifold Saman songs, must be known to form the threefold scripture; he who knows them is called learned in the scripture.

266 The initial three-lettered word, on which the threefold sacred science is based, is another threefold scripture which must be kept secret; he who knows that is called learned in the scripture.