143 For cutting fruit-trees, shrubs, creepers, lianas, or flowering plants, one hundred Rikas 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) Varuni, 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) 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, or has drunk water left by a Sudra, shall drink during three days water in which Kusa-grass has been boiled.

150 But when a Brahmana who has partaken of Soma-juice, 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 of) the three twice-born castes 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 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 Sudras, 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 Krikkhra (penance).

158 If a twice-born man, who has not returned (home from his teacher's house), eats food, given at a monthly (Sraddha [memorial feast of charity]), 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 Krikkhra (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 Brahmasuvarkala (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 Krikkhra (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 Samtapana Krikkhra for his purification.

166 (To swallow) the five products of the cow (panchagavya) 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 (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, with unmarried maidens, and with females of the lowest castes [callings], 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 (Sapinda-)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 Santapana Krikkhra.

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 Brahmana who unintentionally approaches a woman of the Kandala or of (any other) very low caste [calling], 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 [calling]), she (afterwards) is again unfaithful, then a Krikkhra 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 Vrishali, 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 Sapindas and Samanodakas 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 Sapindas) as well as the Samanodakas 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 Savitri [hymn to GOD the Light-giver] (at the time) prescribed by the rule, he shall cause to perform three Krikkhra (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 Brahmanas 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 Brahmanas) shall ask him, 'Friend, dost thou desire to become our equal?'

197 If he answers to the Brahmanas, '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 (Brahmanas) shall re-admit him (into their community).

198 He who has sacrificed for Vratyas, or has performed the obsequies of strangers, or a magic sacrifice (intended to destroy life) or an Ahina sacrifice, removes (his guilt) by three Krikkhra (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 (Pranayama).

201 To eat during a month at each sixth meal-time (only), to recite the Samhita (of a Veda), and (to perform) daily the Sakala oblations [for GOD's sake], are the means of purifying those excluded from society at repasts (Apankteya).

202 A Brahmana who voluntarily rode in a carriage drawn by camels or by asses, and he who bathed naked, become 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 Veda and for neglecting the special duties of a Snataka.

205 He who has said 'Hum' to a Brahmana, 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 Brahmana) 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 Brahmana, 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 Brahmana causes to coagulate, for so many thousand years shall the shedder of that (blood) remain in hell.

209 For threatening a Brahmana, (the offender) shall perform a Krikkhra, for striking him an Atikrikkhra, for shedding his blood a Krikkhra and an Atikrikkhra.

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 [angels], the sages, and the manes, through which a man may remove his sins.

212 A twice-born man who performs (the Krikkhra penance), revealed by Prajapati [GOD the Creator], 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 Krikkhra.

214 A twice-born man who performs an Atikrikkhra (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 Brahmana who performs a Taptakrikkhra (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 Krikkhra, 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 (Kandrayana).

218 Let him follow throughout the same rule at the (Kandrayana, 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 Brahmana, with concentrated mind, eats (during a month daily) four mouthfuls in a 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 [a rank of the Garden].

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

223 Burnt oblations, accompanied by (the recitation of) the Mahavyahritis, must daily be made (by the penitent) himself [for GOD alone], 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, Sudras, 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 Gurus, the gods [angels], and Brahmanas.

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 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 [for GOD's sake].

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 [angels] 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 Brahmana, protecting (the people) is the austerity of a Kshatriya, (the pursuit of) his daily business is the austerity of a Vaisya, and service the austerity of a Sudra.

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 (Mahapataka) 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 [GOD accepts] the offerings of that Brahmana alone who has purified himself by austerities, and [grants] to him all he desires.

244 The lord, Prajapati [GOD the Creator], created these Institutes (of the sacred law) [by His command]; the sages likewise obtained (the revelation of) the Vedas through their austerities.

245 The gods [angels], 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 (Pranayama) accompanied by (the recitation of) the Vyahritis and of the syllable Om, purify, if they are repeated daily, after a month even the murderer of a learned Brahmana.

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 Agni [GOD the Radiant],' &c, (that seen) by Vasishtha, 'With their hymns the Vasishthas woke the Dawn,' &c, 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 Guru'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 addressed to Purusha [GOD the Creator].

253 He who desires to expiate sins great or small, must mutter during a year the Rik-verse 'May we remove thy anger, O Varuna [GOD the All-Seeing],' &c, or 'Whatever offence here, O Varuna,' &c.

254 That man who, having accepted presents which ought not to be accepted, or having eaten forbidden food, mutters the Taratsamandiya (Rikas), 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 [GOD's provision] and Rudra [GOD the Healer], and the three verses (beginning) 'Aryaman, Varuna, and Mitra [names of GOD],' while he bathes in a river.

256 A grievous offender shall mutter the seven verses (beginning with) 'Indra [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 twice-born man removes even very great guilt by offering clarified butter [for GOD's sake] with the sacred texts belonging to the Sakala-homas, or by muttering the Rik (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 Pavamani (hymns) and subsisting on alms.

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

260 But if (a man) fasts during three days, bathing thrice a day, and muttering (in the water the hymn seen by) Aghamarshana, 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 Aghamarshana hymn effaces all guilt.

263 He who, with a concentrated mind, thrice recites the Riksamhita, or (that of the) Yajur-veda, or (that of the) Sama-veda together with the secret (texts, the Upanishads), is [by GOD's mercy] 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 Riks, the Yajus(-formulas) which differ (from the former), the manifold Saman(-songs), must be known (to form) the triple Veda; he who knows them, (is called) learned in the Veda.

266 The initial triliteral Brahman [GOD's name] 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.