1 The vow (of studying) the three Vedas under a teacher must be kept for thirty-six years, or for half that time, or for a quarter, or until the (student) has perfectly learnt them.

2 (A student) who has studied in due order the three Vedas, or two, or even one only, without breaking the (rules of) studentship, shall enter the order of householders.

3 He who is famous for (the strict performance of) his duties and has received his heritage, the Veda, from his father, shall be honoured, sitting on a couch and adorned with a garland, with (the present of) a cow (and the honey-mixture).

4 Having bathed, with the permission of his teacher, and performed according to the rule the Samavartana (the rite on returning home), an initiated man shall marry a wife of equal class who is endowed with good qualities.

5 A (damsel) who is neither a Sapinda on the mother's side, nor belongs to the same family on the father's side, is recommended to initiated men for wedlock and conjugal union.

6 In connecting himself with a wife, let him carefully avoid the ten following families, be they ever so great, or rich in kine, horses, sheep, grain, or (other) property,

7 (Viz.) one which neglects the sacred rites, one in which no male children (are born), one in which the Veda is not studied, one (the members of) which have thick hair on the body, those which are subject to hemorrhoids, phthisis, weakness of digestion, epilepsy, or white and black leprosy.

8 Let him not marry a maiden (with) reddish (hair), nor one who has a redundant member, nor one who is sickly, nor one either with no hair (on the body) or too much, nor one who is garrulous or has red (eyes),

9 Nor one named after a constellation, a tree, or a river, nor one bearing the name of a low caste, or of a mountain, nor one named after a bird, a snake, or a slave, nor one whose name inspires terror.

10 Let him wed a female free from bodily defects, who has an agreeable name, the (graceful) gait of a Hamsa or of an elephant, a moderate (quantity of) hair on the body and on the head, small teeth, and soft limbs.

11 But a prudent man should not marry (a maiden) who has no brother, nor one whose father is not known, through fear lest (in the former case she be made) an appointed daughter (and in the latter) lest (he should commit) sin.

12 For the first marriage of initiated men (wives) of equal class are recommended.

20 Now listen to (the) brief (description of) the following eight marriage-rites used by the four classes (varna) which partly secure benefits and partly produce evil both in this life and after death.

21 (They are) the rite called Brahma, that called Daiva, that called Arsha, that called Prajapatya, that called Asura, that called Gandharva, that called Rakshasa, and that called Paishacha.

22 Which is lawful for each calling and which are the virtues or faults of each rite, all this I will declare to you, as well as their good and evil results with respect to the offspring.

23 One may know that the first six according to the order followed above are lawful for a scholar, and the four last, excepting the Rakshasa rite, for a warrior, a trader and a labourer.

24 The sages state that the first four are approved in the case of a scholar.

25 But in these Institutes of the sacred law, of the five last, two are lawful and three unlawful; the Rakshasa, the Paisaca and the Asura rites must never be used.

27 The gift of a daughter, after decking her with costly garments and honouring her with presents of jewels, to a man learned in the Veda and of good conduct, whom the father himself invites, is called the Brahma rite.

28 The gift of a daughter who has been decked with ornaments, to a man who duly officiates at a rite of worship, during the course of its performance, they call the Daiva rite.

29 When the father gives away his daughter according to the rule, after receiving from the bridegroom, for the fulfilment of the sacred law, a cow and a bull or two pairs, that is named the Arsha rite.

30 The gift of a daughter by her father, after he has addressed the couple with the words, "May both of you perform together your duties," and has shown honour to the bridegroom, is called in the tradition the Prajapatya rite.

31 When the bridegroom receives a maiden, after having given as much wealth as he can afford, to the kinsmen and to the bride herself, according to his own will, that is called the Asura rite.

32 The voluntary union of a maiden and her lover, by mutual consent, one must know to be the Gandharva rite.

33 The forcible abduction of a maiden from her home, while she cries out and weeps, after her kinsmen have been slain or wounded and their houses broken open, is called the Rakshasa rite.

34 When a man by stealth seduces a girl who is sleeping, intoxicated, or disordered in intellect, that is the eighth, the most base and sinful rite of the Paisacas.

35 The gift of daughters among scholars is most approved, if it is preceded by a pouring out of water; but in other cases it may be performed by the expression of mutual consent.

36 Listen now to me, ye scholars, while I fully declare what quality has been ascribed by Manu to each of these marriage-rites.

37 The son of a wife wedded according to the Brahma rite, if he performs meritorious acts, brings blessing and honour to ten ancestors, ten descendants and himself as the twenty-first.

38 The son born of a wife wedded according to the Daiva rite likewise brings honour to seven ancestors and seven descendants, the son of a wife married by the Arsha rite to three in the ascending and descending lines, and the son of a wife married by the rite of the Prajapatya to six in either line.

39 From the four marriages, enumerated successively, which begin with the Brahma rite, spring sons radiant with knowledge of the Veda and honoured by the good men.

40 Endowed with the qualities of beauty and goodness, possessing wealth and fame, obtaining as many enjoyments as they desire and being most righteous, they will live a hundred years.

41 But from the remaining four blamable marriages spring sons who are cruel and speakers of untruth, who hate the Veda and the sacred law.

42 In the blameless marriages blameless children are born to men, in blamable marriages blamable offspring; one should therefore avoid the blamable forms of marriage.

43 The ceremony of joining the hands is prescribed for marriages with women of an equal calling; know that the following rule applies to weddings with women of a different calling.

44 On marrying a man of a different calling, a warrior's daughter must take hold of an arrow, a trader's daughter of a goad, and a labourer's daughter of the hem of the bridegroom's garment.

45 Let the husband approach his wife in due season, being constantly satisfied with her alone; he may also, being intent on pleasing her, approach her with a desire for conjugal union on any day excepting the Parvans.

46 Sixteen days and nights in each month, including four days which differ from the rest and are censured by the virtuous, are called the natural season of women.

47 But among these the first four, the eleventh and the thirteenth are declared to be forbidden; the remaining nights are recommended.

48 On the even nights sons are conceived and daughters on the uneven ones; hence a man who desires to have sons should approach his wife in due season on the even nights.

49 A male child is produced by a greater quantity of male seed, a female child by the prevalence of the female; if both are equal, a hermaphrodite or a boy and a girl; if both are weak or deficient in quantity, a failure of conception results.

50 He who avoids women on the six forbidden nights and on eight others, is equal in chastity to a student, in whichever order he may live.

51 No father who knows the law must take even the smallest gratuity for his daughter; for a man who, through avarice, takes a gratuity, is a seller of his offspring.

52 But those male relations who, in their folly, live on the separate property of women, and appropriate the beasts of burden, carriages, and clothes of women, commit sin and will sink into hell.

53 Some call the cow and the bull given at an Arsha wedding "a gratuity"; but that is wrong, since the acceptance of a fee, be it small or great, is a sale of the daughter.

54 When the relatives do not appropriate for their use the gratuity given, it is not a sale; in that case the gift is only a token of respect and of kindness towards the maidens.

55 Women must be honoured and adorned by their fathers, brothers, husbands, and brothers-in-law, who desire their own welfare.

56 Where women are honoured, there God is pleased; but where they are not honoured, no sacred rite yields rewards.

57 Where the female relations live in grief, the family soon wholly perishes; but that family where they are not unhappy ever prospers.

58 The houses on which female relations, not being duly honoured, pronounce a curse, perish completely, as if destroyed by a blow.

59 Hence men who seek their own welfare should always honour women on holidays and festivals with gifts of ornaments, clothes, and dainty food.

60 In that family, where the husband is pleased with his wife and the wife with her husband, happiness will assuredly be lasting.

61 For if the wife is not radiant with beauty, she will not attract her husband; but if she has no attractions for him, no children will be born.

62 If the wife is radiant with beauty, the whole house is bright; but if she is destitute of beauty, all will appear dismal.

63 By low marriages, by omitting the performance of sacred rites, by neglecting the study of the Veda, and by irreverence towards scholars, great families sink low.

64 By practising handicrafts, by pecuniary transactions, by trading in cows, horses, and carriages, by the pursuit of agriculture and by taking service under a king,

65 By sacrificing for men unworthy to offer sacrifices and by denying the future rewards for good works, families deficient in the knowledge of the Veda quickly perish.

66 But families that are rich in the knowledge of the Veda, though possessing little wealth, are numbered among the great, and acquire great fame.

67 With the household fire kindled at the wedding, a householder shall perform according to the law the domestic observances and the five great sacrifices, and with that he shall daily cook his food.

68 A householder has five slaughter-houses, as it were, namely the hearth, the grinding-stone, the broom, the pestle and mortar, and the water-vessel, by using which he is bound with the fetters of sin.

69 In order to successively expiate the offences committed by means of all these five, the great sages have prescribed for householders the daily performance of the five great sacrifices.

70 Teaching and studying is the worship offered to God, the offerings of water and food, with prayer for the forgiveness of the departed, are the Tarpana, the burnt oblation is the offering made for God's sake, the Bali offering is that given to living creatures, and the hospitable reception of guests is the offering to men.

71 He who neglects not these five great sacrifices, while he is able to perform them, is not tainted by the sins committed in the five places of slaughter, though he constantly lives in the order of householders.

72 But he who does not give to these five, namely the needy for God's sake, his guests, those whom he is bound to maintain, the departed in charity and prayer, and himself, lives not, though he breathes.

73 They call these five sacrifices also Ahuta, Huta, Prahuta, Brahmya-huta, and Prasita.

74 Ahuta is the recitation of the sacred texts, Huta the burnt oblation offered for God's sake, Prahuta the Bali offering given to living creatures by scattering it on the ground, Brahmya-huta the respectful reception of learned guests, and Prasita the daily offering of food and water with prayer for the departed, called Tarpana.

75 Let every man in this second order, at least, daily apply himself to the private recitation of the Veda, and also to the performance of the offering for God's sake; for he who is diligent in the performance of sacrifices supports both the movable and the immovable creation.

76 An offering made for God's sake and duly given brings blessing; by God's command the sun gives its light, from the sun comes rain, from rain food, and therefrom the living creatures derive their subsistence.

77 As all living creatures subsist by receiving support from air, even so the members of all orders subsist by receiving support from the householder.

78 Because men of the three other orders are daily supported by the householder with gifts of sacred knowledge and food, therefore the order of householders is the most excellent order.

79 The duties of this order, which cannot be practised by men with weak organs, must be carefully observed by him who desires imperishable bliss in the Garden, and constant happiness in this life.

80 The sages, the departed, the needy, living creatures, and guests ask the householders for offerings and gifts; hence he who knows the law must give to them what is due to each.

81 Let him honour, according to the rule, the sages by the private recitation of the Veda, God's cause by offerings made in His name, the departed by funeral offerings of charity and prayer (Sraddha), men by gifts of food, and living creatures by the Bali offering.

82 Let him daily perform a funeral offering of charity with food, or with water, or also with milk, roots, and fruits, and thus remember the departed in prayer.

83 Let him feed even one scholar in memory of the departed at the Sraddha, which belongs to the five great sacrifices; but let him not feed on that occasion any scholar on account of the Vaisvadeva offering.

84 A scholar shall offer, according to the rule of his household manual, a portion of the cooked food destined for the Vaisvadeva in the sacred domestic fire, in God's name, mentioning the following attributes of God:

85 First God the Radiant, and next God the Giver of provision, then both these attributes conjointly, further the Lord of all the angels, and then God the Healer,

86 Further God the Giver of the new month and God the Giver of the full month, God the Creator, the heaven and earth conjointly as His signs, and finally God who perfects the offering.

87 After having thus duly offered the sacrificial food, let him throw Bali offerings in all directions of the compass, proceeding from the east to the south, in the name of God the Mighty, God the Judge, God the All-Seeing, and God the Giver of provision, as well as for the servants of God.

88 Saying, "In the name of God who sends the winds," he shall scatter some food near the door, and some in water, saying, "In the name of God who created the waters"; he shall throw some on the pestle and the mortar, speaking thus, "In the name of God who made the trees."

89 Near the head of the bed he shall make an offering seeking God's bounty, and near the foot of his bed seeking His protection; in the centre of the house let him place a Bali in God's name, the Lord of the dwelling and of all.

90 Let him throw up into the air a Bali for all creatures, and in the day-time one for the creatures roaming about by day, and in the evening one for the creatures that walk at night.

91 In the upper story let him offer a Bali in the name of God, who encompasses all beings with His knowledge; but let him give what remains from these offerings in a southerly direction to the poor, in memory of the departed.

92 Let him gently place on the ground some food for dogs, the despised, the destitute, the sick, crows, and insects.

93 That scholar who thus daily honours all beings goes, endowed with a resplendent body, by a straight road to the highest abode, near God.

94 Having performed this Bali offering, he shall first feed his guest and, according to the rule, give alms to an ascetic and to a student.

95 An initiated householder gains, by giving alms, the same reward for his meritorious act which a student obtains for presenting, in accordance with the rule, a cow to his teacher.

96 Let him give, in accordance with the rule, to a scholar who knows the true meaning of the Veda, even a small portion of food as alms, or a pot full of water, having garnished the food with seasoning, or the pot with flowers and fruit.

97 The offerings made for God's sake and in memory of the departed by men ignorant of the law of gifts are lost, if the givers in their folly present shares of them to scholars who are mere ashes.

98 A gift made to scholars rich in sacred learning and austerities saves from misfortune and from great guilt.

99 But let him offer, in accordance with the rule, to a guest who has come of his own accord a seat and water, as well as food, garnished with seasoning, according to his ability.

100 A scholar who stays unhonoured in the house takes away with him all the spiritual merit even of a man who subsists by gleaning ears of corn, or is devoted to ascetic rites.

101 Grass, room for resting, water, and fourthly a kind word; these things never fail in the houses of good men.

102 But a scholar who stays one night only is declared to be a guest (atithi); for because he stays (sthita) not long (anityam), he is called atithi (a guest).

103 One must not consider as a guest a scholar who dwells in the same village, nor one who seeks his livelihood by social intercourse, even though he has come to a house where there is a wife, and where sacred observances are kept.

104 Those foolish householders who constantly seek to live on the food of others become, in consequence of that baseness, after death abased below those who give them food.

105 A guest who is sent by the setting sun in the evening must not be driven away by a householder; whether he have come at supper-time or at an inopportune moment, he must not stay in the house without entertainment.

106 Let him not eat any dainty food which he does not offer to his guest; the hospitable reception of guests procures wealth, fame, long life, and bliss in the Garden.

107 Let him offer to his guests seats, rooms, beds, attendance on departure and honour while they stay, to the most distinguished in the best form, to the lower ones in a lower form, to equals in an equal manner.

108 But if another guest comes after the Vaisvadeva offering has been finished, the householder must give him food according to his ability, but not repeat the Bali offering.

109 A scholar shall not name his family and lineage in order to obtain a meal; for he who boasts of them for the sake of a meal is called by the wise a foul feeder.

110 But a warrior who comes to the house of a scholar is not called a guest (atithi), nor a trader, nor a labourer, nor a personal friend, nor a relative, nor the teacher.

111 But if a warrior comes to the house of a scholar in the manner of a guest, the householder may feed him according to his desire, after the above-mentioned scholars have eaten.

112 Even a trader and a labourer who have approached his house in the manner of guests, he may feed together with his servants, showing thereby his compassionate disposition.

113 Even to others, personal friends and so forth, who have come to his house out of affection, he may give food, garnished with seasoning according to his ability, at the same time with his wife.

114 Without hesitation he may give food, even before his guests, to the following persons, namely to newly-married women, to infants, to the sick, and to pregnant women.

115 But the foolish man who eats first without having given food to these persons does, while he crams, not know that after death he himself will be devoured by dogs and vultures.

116 After the scholars, the kinsmen, and the servants have dined, the householder and his wife may afterwards eat what remains.

117 Having honoured the sages, men, the departed in prayer, and the household's dependents, the householder shall eat afterwards what remains.

118 He who prepares food for himself alone eats nothing but sin; for it is ordained that the food which remains after the performance of the sacrifices shall be the meal of virtuous men.

119 Let him honour with the honey-mixture a king, an officiating priest, a graduate, the teacher, a son-in-law, a father-in-law, and a maternal uncle, if they come again after a full year has elapsed since their last visit.

120 A king and a scholar learned in the Veda, who come on the performance of a sacrifice, must be honoured with the honey-mixture, but not if no sacrifice is being performed; that is a settled rule.

121 But the wife shall offer in the evening a portion of the dressed food as a Bali-offering, without the recitation of sacred formulas; for that rite which is called the Vaisvadeva is prescribed both for the morning and the evening.

122 After performing the Pitryajna, a scholar who keeps a sacred household fire shall offer, month by month, on the new-moon day, the funeral offering of charity and prayer (Sraddha, called Pindanvaharyaka).

123 The wise call the monthly funeral offering for the departed Anvaharya, and that must be carefully performed with the approved sorts of lawful meat mentioned below.

124 I will fully declare what and how many scholars must be fed on that occasion, who must be avoided, and on what kinds of food they shall dine.

125 One must feed two scholars at the offering made for God's sake, and three at the offering in memory of the departed, or one only on either occasion; even a very wealthy man shall not be anxious to entertain a large company.

126 A large company destroys these five advantages, the respectful treatment of the invited, the propriety of place and time, purity and the selection of virtuous scholar guests; he therefore shall not seek to entertain a large company.

127 Famed is this rite for the departed, called the memorial offering performed on the new-moon day; if a man is diligent in performing that, the reward of the rite for the departed, which is performed according to the traditional rules, reaches him constantly.

128 Offerings made for God's sake and in memory of the departed must be presented by the givers to a scholar learned in the Veda alone; what is given to such a most worthy scholar yields great reward.

129 Let him feed even one learned man at the offering made for God's sake, and one at the offering in memory of the departed; thus he will gain a rich reward, not if he entertains many who are unacquainted with the Veda.

130 Let him make inquiries even regarding the remote ancestors of a scholar who has studied an entire recension of the Veda; if descended from a virtuous race such a man is a worthy recipient of gifts consisting of food offered for God's sake or in memory of the departed, he is declared to procure as great rewards as a guest (atithi).

131 Though a million of men, unacquainted with the Rik verses, were to dine at a funeral offering, yet a single man, learned in the Veda, who is satisfied with his entertainment, is worth them all as far as the production of spiritual merit is concerned.

132 Food given for God's sake or in memory of the departed must be given to a man distinguished by sacred knowledge; for hands smeared with blood cannot be cleansed with blood.

133 As many mouthfuls as an ignorant man swallows at an offering made for God's sake or in memory of the departed, so many red-hot spikes, spears, and iron balls must the giver of the repast swallow after death.

134 Some scholars are devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, and others to the performance of austerities; some to austerities and to the recitation of the Veda, and others to the performance of sacred rites.

135 Offerings in memory of the departed ought to be carefully presented to those devoted to knowledge, but offerings made for God's sake, in accordance with the reason of the sacred law, to men of all the four above-mentioned classes.