1 The sages, having heard the duties of a Snataka thus declared, spoke to the great-souled sage Bhrigu:

2 "How can Death have power over scholars who know the sacred science, the Veda, and who fulfil their duties as they have been explained by thee, O Lord?"

3 Righteous Bhrigu, the son of Manu, thus answered the great sages: "Hear, in punishment of what faults Death seeks to shorten the lives of scholars!"

4 "Through neglect of the Veda-study, through deviation from the rule of conduct, through remissness in the fulfilment of duties, and through faults committed by eating forbidden food, Death becomes eager to shorten the lives of scholars."

5 Garlic, leeks and onions, mushrooms and all plants springing from impure substances, are unfit to be eaten by the initiated.

6 One should carefully avoid red exudations from trees and juices flowing from incisions, the Selu fruit, and the thickened milk of a cow which she gives after calving.

7 Rice boiled with sesamum, wheat mixed with butter, milk and sugar, milk-rice and flour-cakes which are not prepared for a sacrifice, meat over which God's name has not been pronounced, food set aside as an offering for God's sake and sacrificial viands, must not be eaten before the offering has been made.

8 The milk of a cow or other female animal within ten days after her calving, of a cow in heat, or of one that has no calf with her,

9 The milk of all wild animals excepting buffalo-cows, and all substances turned sour must be avoided.

10 Among things turned sour, sour milk, and all food prepared of it may be eaten, likewise what is extracted from pure flowers, roots, and fruit.

11 Let him avoid all carnivorous birds and those living in villages, and one-hoofed animals which are not specially permitted to be eaten, and the Tittibha (Parra Jacana),

12 The sparrow, the Plava, the Hamsa, the Brahmani duck, the village-cock, the Sarasa crane, the Rajjudala, the woodpecker, the parrot, and the starling,

13 Those which feed striking with their beaks, web-footed birds, the Koyashti, those which scratch with their toes, those which dive and live on fish, meat from a slaughter-house and dried meat,

14 The Baka and the Balaka crane, the raven, the Khanjaritaka, animals that eat fish, and village-pigs.

17 Let him not eat solitary or unknown beasts and birds, though they may fall under the categories of eatable creatures, nor any five-toed animals.

18 The porcupine, the hedgehog, the iguana, the rhinoceros, the tortoise, and the hare they declare to be eatable; likewise those domestic animals that have teeth in one jaw only.

19 An initiated man who knowingly eats mushrooms, a village-pig, garlic, a village-cock, onions, or leeks, incurs a grave fault.

20 He who unwittingly partakes of any of these six, shall perform a Samtapana (Krikkhra) or the lunar penance (Kandrayana) of ascetics; in case he has eaten any other kind of forbidden food he shall fast for one day and a night.

21 Once a year a scholar must perform a Krikkhra penance, in order to atone for unintentionally eating forbidden food; but for intentionally eating forbidden food he must perform the penances prescribed specially.

22 Beasts and birds recommended for consumption may be slain by scholars for sacrifices offered for God's sake, and in order to feed those whom they are bound to maintain; for Agastya did this of old.

23 For in ancient times the sacrificial portions were made of the flesh of eatable beasts and birds at the sacrifices offered by scholars and warriors.

24 All lawful hard or soft food may be eaten, though stale, after having been mixed with fatty substances, and so may the remains of sacrificial viands.

25 But all preparations of barley and wheat, as well as preparations of milk, may be eaten by the initiated without being mixed with fatty substances, though they may have stood for a long time.

26 Thus has the food, allowed and forbidden to the initiated, been fully described; I will now propound the rules for eating and avoiding meat.

27 One may eat meat when God's name has been pronounced over it with sacred words, when scholars desire it, when one is engaged in the performance of a rite according to the law, and when one's life is in danger.

28 God, the Creator, created this whole world to be the sustenance of the vital spirit; both the immovable and the movable creation is the food of the vital spirit.

29 What is destitute of motion is the food of those endowed with locomotion; animals without fangs are the food of those with fangs, those without hands of those who possess hands, and the timid of the bold.

30 The eater who daily even devours those destined to be his food commits no sin; for God Himself created both the eaters and those who are to be eaten for those special purposes.

31 "The consumption of meat is befitting for sacrifices," that is declared to be a rule made by God; but to persist in using it on other occasions is said to be a proceeding worthy of the cruel.

32 He who eats meat, when he gives thanks to God and remembers the departed in charity, commits no sin, whether he has bought it, or himself has killed the animal, or has received it as a present from others.

33 An initiated man who knows the law must not eat meat except in conformity with the law; for if he has eaten it unlawfully, he will, unable to save himself, be made to answer after death to his victims.

34 After death the guilt of one who slays deer for gain is not as great as that of him who eats meat for no sacred purpose.

36 A scholar must never eat the flesh of animals over which God's name has not been pronounced; but, obedient to the primeval law, he may eat it, consecrated with the sacred texts.

37 If he has a strong desire for meat he may make an animal of clarified butter or one of flour, and eat that; but let him never seek to destroy an animal without a lawful reason.

38 As many hairs as the slain beast has, so great will be the punishment of him who killed it without a lawful reason.

39 God, the Self-Subsistent, Himself created animals for the sake of sacrifices; sacrifices have been instituted for the good of this whole world; hence the slaughtering of beasts for sacrifices is not slaughtering in the ordinary sense of the word.

41 On offering the honey-mixture to a guest, at a sacrifice and at the rites in memory of the departed, chiefly on these occasions may an animal be slain; that rule Manu proclaimed.

42 An initiated man who, knowing the true meaning of the Veda, slays an animal for these purposes, attains a most blessed state.

43 An initiated man of virtuous disposition, whether he dwells in his own house, with a teacher, or in the forest, must never, even in times of distress, cause an injury to any creature which is not sanctioned by the Veda.

44 Know that the injury to moving creatures and to those destitute of motion, which the Veda has prescribed for certain occasions, is no injury at all; for the sacred law shone forth from the Veda.

45 He who injures innoxious beings from a wish to give himself pleasure, never finds happiness, neither living nor dead.

46 He who does not seek to cause the sufferings of bonds and death to living creatures, but desires the good of all beings, obtains endless bliss.

47 He who does not injure any creature, attains without an effort what he thinks of, what he undertakes, and what he fixes his mind on.

48 Meat can never be obtained without injury to living creatures, and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to the attainment of bliss in the Garden; let him therefore be sparing in the use of meat.

49 Having well considered the disgusting origin of flesh and the cruelty of fettering and slaying corporeal beings, let him abstain from the needless eating of flesh.

50 He who does not eat meat unlawfully, like one of the evil ones, becomes dear to men, and will not be tormented by diseases.

51 He who permits the slaughter of an animal, he who cuts it up, he who kills it, he who buys or sells meat, he who cooks it, he who serves it up, and he who eats it, must all be considered as the slayers of the animal.

52 There is no greater sinner than that man who, though not giving thanks to God nor feeding the needy, seeks to increase the bulk of his own flesh by the flesh of other beings.

53 He who during a hundred years annually offers a horse-sacrifice in God's name, and he who entirely abstains from meat, obtain the same reward for their meritorious conduct.

54 By subsisting on pure fruit and roots, and by eating food fit for ascetics in the forest, one does not gain so great a reward as by entirely avoiding the use of flesh.

55 "Me he (mam sa sah)" will devour in the next world, whose flesh I eat in this life; the wise declare this to be the real meaning of the word "flesh" (mamsa).

56 There is no sin in eating lawful meat and in lawful marital intercourse, for that is the natural way of created beings, but self-restraint brings great rewards.

57 I will now in due order explain the purification for the dead and the purification of things as they are prescribed for the four callings.

58 When a child dies that has teethed, or that before teething has received the sacrament of the tonsure or of the initiation, all relatives become impure, and on the birth of a child the same rule is prescribed.

59 It is ordained that among Sapindas the impurity on account of a death shall last ten days, or until the bones have been collected, or three days or one day only.

60 But the Sapinda-relationship ceases with the seventh person in the ascending and descending lines, the Samanodaka-relationship when the common origin and the existence of a common family name are no longer known.

61 As this impurity on account of a death is prescribed for all Sapindas, even so it shall be held on a birth by those who desire to be absolutely pure.

62 Or while the impurity on account of a death is common to all Sapindas, that caused by a birth falls on the parents alone; or it shall fall on the mother alone, and the father shall become pure by bathing;

63 But a man, having spent his strength, is purified merely by bathing; after begetting a child on a remarried female, he shall retain the impurity during three days.

64 Those who have touched a corpse are purified after one day and night added to three periods of three days; those who give libations of water, after three days.

65 A pupil who performs the Pitrimedha for his deceased teacher, becomes also pure after ten days, just like those who carry the corpse out to the burial-ground.

66 A woman is purified on a miscarriage in as many days and nights as months elapsed after conception, and a menstruating female becomes pure by bathing after the menstrual secretion has ceased to flow.

67 On the death of children whose tonsure has not been performed, the Sapindas are declared to become pure in one day and night; on the death of those who have received the tonsure but not the initiation, the law ordains that the purification takes place after three days.

68 A child that has died before the completion of its second year, the relatives shall carry out of the village, decked with flowers, and bury in pure ground, without collecting the bones afterwards.

69 Such a child shall not be burnt with fire, and no libations of water shall be offered to it; having laid it in the earth, the relatives shall remain impure during three days only.

70 The relatives shall not offer libations to a child that has not reached the third year; but if it had teeth, or the ceremony of naming it had been performed, the offering of water is optional.

71 If a fellow-student has died, the tradition prescribes an impurity of one day; on a birth the purification of the Samanodakas is declared to take place after three days and nights.

72 On the death of females betrothed but not married the bridegroom and his relatives are purified after three days, and the paternal relatives become pure according to the same rule.

73 Let mourners eat food without factitious salt, bathe during three days, abstain from meat, and sleep separate on the ground.

74 The above rule regarding impurity on account of a death has been prescribed for cases where the kinsmen live near the deceased; Sapinda kinsmen and Samanodaka relatives must know the following rule to refer to cases where the deceased lived at a distance from them.

75 He who may hear that a relative residing in a distant country has died, before ten days after his death have elapsed, shall be impure for the remainder of the period of ten days and nights only.

76 If the ten days have passed, he shall be impure during three days and nights; but if a year has elapsed since the occurrence of the death, he becomes pure merely by bathing.

77 A man who hears of a Sapinda relative's death, or of the birth of a son after the ten days of impurity have passed, becomes pure by bathing, dressed in his garments.

78 If an infant that has not teethed, or a grown-up relative who is not a Sapinda, die in a distant country, one becomes at once pure after bathing in one's clothes.

79 If within the ten days of impurity another birth or death happens, a scholar shall remain impure only until the first period of ten days has expired.

80 They declare that, when the teacher (acharya) has died, the impurity lasts three days; if the teacher's son or wife is dead, it lasts a day and a night; that is a settled rule.

81 For a scholar learned in the Veda who resides with him out of affection, a man shall be impure for three days; for a maternal uncle, a pupil, an officiating priest, or a maternal relative, for one night together with the preceding and following days.

82 If the king in whose realm he resides is dead, he shall be impure as long as the light of the sun or stars shines, but for an intimate friend who is not learned in the Veda the impurity lasts for a whole day, likewise for a Guru who knows the Veda and the Angas.

83 A mourner shall be pure after ten days.

84 Let him not unnecessarily lengthen the period of impurity, nor interrupt the rites to be performed with the sacred fires; for he who performs that Agnihotra rite will not be impure, though he be a Sapinda relative.

85 When he has touched a corpse, or one who has touched a corpse, he becomes pure by bathing.

86 He who has purified himself by sipping water shall, on seeing any impure thing or person, always mutter the sacred texts in praise of God the Light-giver, and the Pavamani verses.

87 A scholar who has touched a human bone to which fat adheres, becomes pure by bathing; if it be free from fat, by sipping water and by touching afterwards a cow or looking at the sun.

88 He who has undertaken the performance of a vow shall not pour out libations in memory of the dead until the vow has been completed; but when he has offered water after its completion, he becomes pure in three days only.

89 Libations of water shall not be offered to those who neglect the prescribed rites and may be said to have been born in vain, and to those who have committed suicide,

90 To women who through lust live with many men, who have caused an abortion, have killed their husbands, or drink spirituous liquor.

91 A student does not break his vow by carrying out to the place of burial his own dead teacher (acharya), sub-teacher (upadhyaya), father, mother, or Guru.

93 The taint of impurity does not fall on kings, and those engaged in the performance of a vow, or of a Sattra; for the first are seated on the throne of authority under God, and the last two are ever pure.

94 For a king, on the throne of magnanimity, immediate purification is prescribed, and the reason for that is that he is seated there for the protection of his subjects.

95 The same rule applies to the kinsmen of those who have fallen in a riot or a battle, of those who have been killed by lightning or by the king, and of those who perished fighting for cows and scholars, and to those whom the king wishes to be pure.

96 A king is a ruler appointed under God, entrusted with the qualities that guard the world: the gentleness of the moon, the radiance of fire, the light of the sun, the movement of the wind, might, the care of wealth, the flowing of water, and the restraint of the law.

97 Because the king bears these duties of guardianship by God's appointment, no impurity is ordained for him; for purity and impurity of mortals are caused and removed by God's decree.

98 By him who is slain in battle with brandished weapons according to the law of the warriors, a sacrifice is instantly completed, and so is the period of impurity caused by his death; that is a settled rule.

99 At the end of the period of impurity a man who has performed the necessary rites becomes pure by touching water.

100 Thus the purification required on the death of Sapindas has been explained to you, O best of scholars; hear now the manner in which men are purified on the death of any relative who is not a Sapinda.

101 A scholar, having carried out a dead scholar who is not a Sapinda, as if he were a near relative, or a near relative of his mother, becomes pure after three days;

102 But if he eats the food of the Sapindas of the deceased, he is purified in ten days, but in one day, if he does not eat their food nor dwells in their house.

103 Having voluntarily followed a corpse, whether that of a paternal kinsman or of a stranger, he becomes pure by bathing, dressed in his clothes, by touching fire and eating clarified butter.

105 The knowledge of God, austerities, fire, holy food, earth, restraint of the internal organ, water, smearing with cowdung, the wind, sacred rites, the sun, and time are the purifiers of corporeal beings.

106 Among all modes of purification, purity in the acquisition of wealth is declared to be the best; for he is pure who gains wealth with clean hands, not he who purifies himself with earth and water.

107 The learned are purified by a forgiving disposition, those who have committed forbidden actions by liberality, secret sinners by muttering sacred texts, and those who best know the Veda by austerities.

108 By earth and water is purified what ought to be made pure, a river by its current, a woman whose thoughts have been impure by the menstrual secretion, a scholar who has abandoned the world.

109 The body is cleansed by water, the internal organ is purified by truthfulness, the individual soul by sacred learning and austerities, the intellect by true knowledge.

110 Thus the precise rules for the purification of the body have been declared to you; hear now the decision of the law regarding the purification of the various inanimate things.

111 The wise ordain that all objects made of metal, gems, and anything made of stone are to be cleansed with ashes, earth, and water.

112 A golden vessel which shows no stains, becomes pure with water alone, likewise what is produced in water, as shells and coral, what is made of stone, and a silver vessel not enchased.

113 Gold and silver, the glittering metals, are best purified by water and fire, the elements by which they are refined.

114 Copper, iron, brass, pewter, tin, and lead must be cleansed, as may be suitable for each particular case, by alkaline substances, acids or water.

115 The purification prescribed for all sorts of liquids is by passing two blades of Kusa grass through them, for solid things by sprinkling them with water, for objects made of wood by planing them.

116 At sacrifices the purification of the Soma cups called Camasas and Grahas, and of other sacrificial vessels takes place by rubbing them with the hand, and afterwards rinsing them with water.

117 The Karu and the spoons called Sruk and Sruva must be cleaned with hot water, likewise the wooden sword, called Sphya, the winnowing-basket (Surpa), the cart for bringing the grain, the pestle and the mortar.

118 The manner of purifying large quantities of grain and of cloth is to sprinkle them with water; but the purification of small quantities is prescribed to take place by washing them.

119 Skins and objects made of split cane must be cleaned like clothes; vegetables, roots, and fruit like grain;

120 Silk and woollen stuffs with alkaline earth; blankets with pounded Arishta fruit; Amsupattas with Bel fruit; linen cloth with a paste of yellow mustard.

121 A man who knows the law must purify conch-shells, horn, bone and ivory, like linen cloth, or with a mixture of cow's urine and water.

122 Grass, wood, and straw become pure by being sprinkled with water, a house by sweeping and smearing it with cowdung or whitewash, an earthen vessel by a second burning.

123 An earthen vessel which has been defiled by spirituous liquor, urine, ordure, saliva, pus or blood cannot be purified by another burning.

124 Land is purified by the following five modes, namely by sweeping, by smearing it with cowdung, by sprinkling it with cows' urine or milk, by scraping, and by cows staying on it during a day and night.

125 Food which has been pecked at by birds, smelt at by cows, touched with the foot, sneezed on, or denied by hair or insects, becomes pure by scattering earth over it.

126 As long as the foul smell does not leave an object defiled by impure substances, and the stain caused by them does not disappear, so long must earth and water be applied in cleansing inanimate things.

127 The wise declared three things to be pure for scholars: that on which no taint is visible, what has been washed with water, and what has been commended as pure by the word of a scholar.

128 Water, sufficient in quantity in order to slake the thirst of a cow, possessing the proper smell, colour, and taste, and unmixed with impure substances, is pure, if it is collected on pure ground.

129 The hand of an artisan is always pure, so is every vendible commodity exposed for sale in the market, and food obtained by begging which a student holds in his hand is always fit for use; that is a settled rule.

130 The mouth of a woman is always pure, likewise a bird when he causes a fruit to fall; a calf is pure on the flowing of the milk, and a dog when he catches a deer.

132 All those cavities of the body which lie above the navel are pure, but those which are below the navel are impure, as well as excretions that fall from the body.

133 Flies, drops of water, a shadow, a cow, a horse, the rays of the sun, dust, earth, the wind, and fire one must know to be pure to the touch.

134 In order to cleanse the organs by which urine and faeces are ejected, earth and water must be used, as they may be required, likewise in removing the remaining ones among twelve impurities of the body.

135 Oily exudations, semen, blood, the fatty substance of the brain, urine, faeces, the mucus of the nose, ear-wax, phlegm, tears, the rheum of the eyes, and sweat are the twelve impurities of human bodies.

136 He who desires to be pure, must clean the organ by one application of earth, the anus by applying earth three times, the left hand alone by applying it ten times, and both hands by applying it seven times.

137 Such is the purification ordained for householders; it shall be double for students, treble for hermits, but quadruple for ascetics.

138 When he has voided urine or faeces, let him, after sipping water, sprinkle the cavities, likewise when he is going to recite the Veda, and always before he takes food.

139 Let him who desires bodily purity first sip water three times, and then twice wipe his mouth; but a woman shall perform each act once only.

141 Drops of water from the mouth which do not fall on a limb, do not make a man impure, nor the hair of the moustache entering the mouth, nor what adheres to the teeth.

142 Drops which trickle on the feet of him who offers water for sipping to others, must be considered as equal to water collected on the ground; they render him not impure.

143 He who, while carrying anything in any manner, is touched by an impure person or thing, shall become pure, if he performs an ablution, without putting down that object.

144 He who has vomited or purged shall bathe, and afterwards eat clarified butter; but if the attack comes on after he has eaten, let him only sip water; bathing is prescribed for him who has had intercourse with a woman.

145 Though he may be already pure, let him sip water after sleeping, sneezing, eating, spitting, telling untruths, and drinking water, likewise when he is going to study the Veda.

146 Thus the rules of personal purification for men of all callings, and those for cleaning inanimate things, have been fully declared to you: hear now the duties of women.

147 A girl, a young woman, or even an aged one, should do nothing without taking counsel, even in her own house.

148 In childhood a female is under the protection of her father, in youth of her husband, when her lord is dead of her sons; a woman should never be left without protection.

149 She must not seek to separate herself from her father, husband, or sons without just reason; by leaving them she would make both her own and her husband's families contemptible.

150 She must always be cheerful, clever in the management of her household affairs, careful in cleaning her utensils, and economical in expenditure.

151 Him to whom her father may give her with her consent, or her brother with the father's permission, she shall honour as long as he lives, and when he is dead, she must not insult his memory.

152 For the sake of procuring good fortune to brides, the recitation of benedictory prayers (svastyayana) and the offering to God the Creator are used at weddings; but the marriage contract is the cause of the husband's guardianship over his wife.

153 The husband who wedded her with sacred texts, always gives happiness to his wife, both in season and out of season, in this world and in the next.

154 Though lacking in virtue, or seeking pleasure elsewhere, or devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must be constantly honoured by a faithful wife.

155 No vow or fast should be undertaken by women in disregard of their husbands; if a wife is loyal to her husband, she will for that reason alone be exalted in the Garden.

156 A faithful wife, who desires to dwell after death with her husband, must never do anything that might displease him who took her hand, whether he be alive or dead.

157 At her pleasure let her be modest and restrained in her way of living, subsisting on pure flowers, roots, and fruit, in mourning for her husband.

158 Until death let her be patient of hardships, self-controlled, and chaste, and strive to fulfil that most excellent duty of fidelity.

159 Many thousands of scholars who were chaste from their youth, have gone to the Garden without continuing their race.

160 A virtuous wife who after the death of her husband constantly remains chaste, reaches the Garden, though she have no son, just like those chaste men.

161 But a woman who from a desire to have offspring violates her chastity, brings on herself disgrace in this world, and loses her place with her husband in the Garden.

162 Offspring begotten by a man outside lawful marriage is here not considered lawful, nor does offspring begotten on another man's wife belong to the begetter.

163 She who forsakes her own husband and cohabits with another man will become contemptible in this world.

164 By violating her duty towards her husband, a wife is disgraced in this world, and after death she is tormented for her sin.

165 She who, controlling her thoughts, words, and deeds, never slights her lord, resides after death with her husband in the Garden, and is called a virtuous wife.

166 In reward of such conduct, a female who controls her thoughts, speech, and actions, gains in this life highest renown, and in the next world a place near her husband.

167 A man versed in the sacred law shall lay to rest with honour a wife who conducts herself thus and dies before him.

168 Having thus laid his wife to rest, who dies before him, he may marry again.

169 Living according to the preceding rules, he must never neglect the five great sacrifices, and, having taken a wife, he must dwell in his own house during the second period of his life.