Chapter 11: On Penance and Expiation

1. < ^jIM, who intends to marry for the sake of having issue ; him, who wishes to make a sacrifice ; him, who travels ; him, who has given all his wealth at a sacred rite ; him, who # desires to maintain his preceptor, his father, or his mother ; him, who needs a maintenance for himself, when he first reads the Vidas, and him, who is afflicted with illness ;

2. * These nine Brdhmens let mankind consider- as virtuous mendicants, called sndtacas ; and, to relieve their wants, let gifts of cattle or gold be presented to them in proportion to their learning:

3. ‘To these most excellent Brdhmens must rice also be given with holy presents at oblations to fire and within the consecrated circle ; but the dressed rice, which others are to receive, must be delivered on the outside of the sacred hearth : gold a?id the like may be given anywhere . •

4. ‘ On such Brdhmens , as well know the Vida , let the king bestow, as it becomes him, jewels of all sorts, and the solemn reward for officiating at the sacrifice.

5. ‘ He, who has a wife, and, having begged money to defray his nuptial expenses, marries another woman, shall *have no advantage but sensual enjoyment : the offspring belongs to the bestower of the gift.

6. ‘ Let every man, according to his ability, give wealth to Brdhmens detachedf from the world and learned in scripture : such a giver shall attain heaven aftor this life.

7. ‘He alone is worthy to drink the juice of the moonplant, who keeps a provision of grain sufficient to supply those, whom the law commands him to nourish, for the term of three years or more ;

8. * But a twice-born man, who keeps a less provision of ON PENANCE grain, yet presumes to taste the juice of the moonplant, shall gather no fruit from that sacrament, even though he tastes it^ at the first, or solemn , much less at any occasional ceremony.

9. ‘He, who bestows gifts on strangers with a view to worldly fame , while he suffers his family to live in distress, though he has power to support them , touches his lips with honey, but swallows poison ; such virtue is counterfeit :

10. ‘ Even what he does for the sake of his future spiritual body, to the injury of those, whom he is bound to maintain, shall bring him ultimate misery both in this life and in the next.

11. 4 Should a sacrifice, performed by any twice-born sacri- > ficer, and by a Brdhmen especially, be imperfect from the want of some ingredient, during the reign of a prince who knows the law,

12. ‘ Let him take that article, for the completion of the sacrifice, from the house of any Vaisya} who possesses considerable herds, but neither sacrifices, nor drinks the juice of the moonplant :

13. ‘If such a Vdisya be not near, he may take two or three such necessary articles at pleasure from the house of a Sudra; since a Sudra has no business with solemn rites.

14. ‘ Even from the house of a Brdhmen or a Cshatriyay who possesses a hundred cows, but has no consecrated fire, or a thousand cows, but performs no sacrifice with the moonplanty let a priest without scruple take the articles wanted.

15. ‘ From another Brahmen, who continually receives presents but never, gives, let him take such ingredients of the sacrifice, if not bestowed on request : so shall his fame be spread abroad, and his habits of virtue increase.

16. ‘ Thus, likewise, may a Brdhmen^ who has not eaten at the time of six meals, or has fasted three whole , days, take at the time of the seventh meal yoron the fourth mornings from the man, who behaves basely by not offering him foody enough to supply him till the morrow :

17. ‘ He may take it from the floor, where the grain is trodden out of the husk, or from the field, or from the house, or from any place whatever.; but, if the owner ask ivhy he takes ity the cause of the taking must be declared. AND EXPIATION. *37 1 8. The wealth of a virtuous Brdhmen must at no time be seized by a Cshatriya ; but, having no other means to complete a sacrifice , he may take the goods of any man, who acts wickedly, and of any, who performs not his religious duties : .19. ‘ He, who takes property from the bad for the purpose before-mentioned, and bestows it on the good, transforms himself into a boat, and carries both the good and the bad over a sea of calamities .

20. 4 Wealth, possessed by men for the performance of sacrifices, the wise call the property of the gods ; but the wealth of men, * who perform no sacrifice, they consider as the property of demons.

21. ‘Let no pious king fine the man , who takes by stealth or by force what he wants to make a sacrifice perfect ; since it is the king’s folly, that causes the hunger or wants of a Brdhmen :

22. ‘ Having reckoned up the persons, whom the Brdhmen is obliged to support, having ascertained his divine knowledge and moral conduct, let the king allow him a suitable maintenance from his own household ;

23. 4 And, having appointed him a maintenance, let the king protect him on all sides j for he gains from the Brdhmen} whom he protects, a sixth part of the reward for his virtue.

24. 4 LET no Brdhmen ever beg a gift from a Sitdra ; for, if he perform a sacrifice after such begging, he shall, in the next life, be born a Chanda la.

25. 1 The Brdhmen , who begs any articles for a sacrifice, and disposes not of them all for that purpose, shall become a kite or a Crow for a hundred years.

26. 4 Any evil'hearted wretch, who, through covetousness, shall seize the property of the godj or of Brdhmens , shall feed in another wojjd on the orts of vultures. -

27. 4 The sacrifice Visivdnari must be constantly performed on the first day of the new year, or on the new moon of Chaitra , as an expiation for having omitted through mere forgetfulness the appointed sacrifices of cattle and theVites of the moonplant : »

28. 4 But a twice-born man, who, without necessity, does an ON PENANCE act allowed only in a case of necessity, reaps no fruit from it hereafter : thus has it been decided.

29. ‘ By the Visw/d/vas, by the Sddhyas , and by eminent Ris/us of the sacerdotal class, the substitute was adopted for the principal act, when they were apprehensive of dying in times of eminent peril ;

30. ‘ But no reward is prepared in a future state for that illminded man, who, when able to perform the principal sacrifice, has recourse to the substitute.

31. ‘ A Priest, who well knows the law, needs not complain to the king of any grievous injury ; since, even by his own power, ’ he may chastise those, who injure him :

32. ‘ His own power, which depends on himself alone , is mightier than the royal power, which depends on other men : by his own might, therefore, may a Brahmen , coerce his foes.

33. ‘ He may use, without hesitation, the powerful charms revealed to At’iiarvan, and by him to Angiras ; for speech is the weapon of a Brahmen : with that he may destroy his oppressors.

34. ‘A soldier may avert danger from himself by the strength of his arm ; a merchant and a mechanic, by their property ; but the chief of the twice-born, by holy texts and oblations to fire.

35. ‘A priest, who performs his duties, who justly corrects his children and pupils , who advises expiations for sin, and who loves all animated creatures, is truly called a Brdhnten : to him let no man say any thing unpropitious, nor use any offensive language. 3 6. * Let not a girl, nor a young woman married or unmarried , nor a man with little learning, nor a dunce, perform an oblation to fire ; nor a man diseased, nor one un-invested with the sacrificial string ;

37. ‘ Since any of those persons, who make such an oblation, shall fall into a region of torture, together with him, who suffers his hearth to be used : he alone, who perfectly knows the sacred ordinances, and has read all the Vtdas, must officiate at an oblation to holy fire.

38. ‘A Brdhnten with abundant wealth, who presents not the priest, that hallows his fire, with a horse consecrated to Praja'pati, becomes equal to one who has no fire hallowed. AND EXPIATION. 2 39 39* * Let him, who believes the scripture, and keeps his organs in subjection, perform all other pious acts ; but never in this world let him offer a sacrifice with trifling gifts to the officiating priest :

40. * The organs of sense and action, reputation in this life , a heavenly mansion in the next, life itself a great name after death , children, and cattle, are all destroyed by a sacrifice offered with trifling presents: let no man, therefore, sacrifice without liberal gifts.

41. ‘The priest, who keeps a sacred hearth, but voluntarily neglects the morning and evening oblations to his fires, must perform, in the manner to be described , the penance chdndrdyana for one month ; since that neglect is equally sinful with the daughter of a son.

42. ‘ They, who receive property from a Sudra for* the performance of rites to consecrated fire, are contemned, as ministers of the base, by all such as pronounce texts of the Vdda :

43. * Of those ignorant priests, who serve the holy fire for the wealth of a Sudra , the giver shall always tread on the foreheads, and thus pass over miseries in the gloom of death .

44. ‘ EVERY man, who does not an act prescribed, or does an act forbidden, or is guilty of excess even in legal gratifications of the senses, must perform an expiatory penance.

45. * Some of the learned consider an expiation as confined to involuntary sin ; but others, from the evidence of the Veda, hold it effectual even in the case of a voluntary offence :

46. ‘ A sin, involuntarily committed, is removed by repeating certain texts of the scripture ; but a sin committed intentionally, through strange infatuation, by harsh penances of different sorts.

47. * If a twice-born man, by the will of God in this world, or from his natural birth, have any corporeal mark of an expiable sin committed in this or a former state, he must hold no intercourse wfth the virtuous, while his penance remains unperformed.

48. ‘ Some evil-minded persons, for sins committed in this life, and some for bad actions in a preceding state, suffer a morbid change in their bodies :

49. * A stealer of gold from a Brdhtnen has whitlows on his ON PENANCE nails ; a drinker of spirits, black teeth ; tho slayer of a Brdhmen , a marasmus ; the violator of his guru's bed, a deformity in the generative organs ;

50. ‘A malignant informer, fetid ulcers in his nostrils ; a false detractor, stinking breath ; a stealer of grain, the defect of some limb ; a mixer of bad wares with good \ some redundant member ;

51. ‘A stealer of dressed grain, dyspepsia ; a stealer of holy words, or an unauthorized reader of the scriptures , dumbness ; a stealer of clothes, leprosy ; a horse-stealer, lameness ;

52. ‘The stealer of a lamp, total blindness ; the mischievous extinguisher of it, blindness in one eye ; a delightcr in hurting sentient creatures, perpetual illness ; an adulterer, windy swelling in his limbs :

53. ‘Thus, according to the diversity of actions, are born men despised by the good, stupid, dumb, blind, deaf, and deformed.

54. ‘ Penance, therefore, must invariably be performed for the sake of expiation : since they, who have not expiated their sins, will again spring to birth with disgraceful marks.

55. ‘KILLING a Brdhmen , drinking forbidden liquor, stealing gold from a priest, adultery with the wife of a father, natural or spiritual, and associating with such as commit those offences, wise legislators must declare to be crimes in the highest degree, in respect of those after mentioned, but less than incest in a direct line and some others.

56. * FALSE boasting of a high tribe, malignant information, before the king, of a criminal who must suffer death , and falsely accusing a spiritual preceptor, are crimes in the second degree , and nearly equal to killing a Brdhmen.

57. ‘Forgetting the texts of scripture, showing contempt of the Vida, giving false evidence without* a bad motive , killing a friend without malice , eating things prohibited, or, from their manifest impurity , unfit to be tasted, are six crimes nearly equal to drinking % spirits ; but perjury and homicide require in atrocious cases the harshest expiation.

58. ‘ To appropriate a thing deposited or lent for a time, a and expiation 2^1 human creature, a horse, plecious metals, a field, a diamond, or any other gem, is nearly equal to stealing the gold of a BrdJimen .

59. * Carnal commerce with sisters by the same mother, with little girls, with women of the lowest mixed class, or with the wives of a friend or of a son, the wise must consider as nearly equal to a violation of the paternal bed.

60. * Slaying a bull or cow, sacrificing what ought not to be sacrificed, adultery, selling oneself, deserting a preceptor, a mother, a father, or a son, omitting to read the scripture, and neglect of the fires prescribed by the Dhermasastra only ,

61. ‘The marriage of a younger brother before the elder, and that elder’s omission to marry before the younger, giving a^ daughter to either of them, and officiating at their nuptial sacrifice,

62. * Defining a damsel, usury, want of perfect chastity in a student, selling a holy pool or garden, a wife, or a child,

63. ‘ Omitting the sacred investiture, abandoning a kinsman, teaching the Veda for hire, learning it from a hired teacher, selling commodities, that ought not be sold,

64. ‘ Working in mines of any sort, engaging in dykes , bridges, or other great mechanical works, spoiling medicinal plants repeatedly, subsisting by the harlotry of a wife, offering sacrifices and preparing charms to destroy the innocent ,

65. ‘ Cutting down green trees for firewood, performing holy rites with a selfish view merely, and eating prohibited food once without a previous design ,.

66. ‘ Neglecting to keep up the consecrated fire, stealing any valuable thing besides gold, nonpayment o£ the three debts, application to the books of a false religion, and excessive attention to music or dancing,

67. * Stealing grain, basvj metals, or cattle, familiarity by the twidi-born with women, who have drunk inebriating liquor, killing without malice a woman, a Sudra , a Vaisya , or a Cshatriya , and denying a future state of rewards and punishments, are all crimes in the third degree, but higher or lawer according to circumstances.

68. ‘Giving pain to a Brdhmeny^mQ\\ng at any spirituous 3i ON PENANCE liquor or any thing extremely fetid and unfit to be smelt, cheating, and unnatural practices with a male, are considered as causing a loss of class.

69. ‘To kill an ass, a horse, a camel, a deer, an elephant, a goat, a sheep, a fish, a snake, or a buffalo, is declared an offence, which degrades the killer to a mixed tribe.

70. ‘ ACCEPTING presents from despicable men, illegal traffic, attendance on a Sudra master, and speaking falsehood, must be considered as causes of exclusion from social repasts.

71. ‘ KILLING, an insect, small or large, a worm, or a bird, eating what has been brought in the same basket with spirituous* liquor, stealing fruit, wood, or flowers, and great perturbation of mind on trifling occasions, are offences which cause defilement.

72. * You shall now be completely instructed in those penances, by which all the sins just mentioned are expfable.

73. ‘If a Brdhmen have killed a man of the sacerdotal class, without malice prepense , the slayer being far superior to the slain in good qualities , he must himself make a hut in a forest and dwell in it twelve whole years, subsisting on alms for the purification of his soul, placing near him, as a token of his crime , the skull of the slain , if he can procure it , or, if not, any human skull. The time of penance for the three lower classes must be twenty four, thirty-six, and fortyeight, years.

74. ‘ Or, if the slayer be of the military class, he may voluntarily expose himself as a mark to archers, who know his intention ; or, according to circumstances , may cast himself headlong thrice, or even till he die, into blazing fire.

75. ‘ Or, if he be a kpig, and slew a priest without Malice or knowledge of his class, he may perform, with presents of great wealth , one of the following sacrifices ; an Asivamedha , or a Swerjit or a Gdsava , or an Abhijit, or a Visivajit, <sr a Trivrlt, or an Agnishtut .

76. ‘ Or, to expiate the guilt of killing a priest without Showing him and without design , the killer may walk on a pilgrimage a hundred ySjanas, repeating any one of the Vtdas, eating barely enough to sustain life, and keeping his organs in perfect subjection ; 77' ‘ Or, if in that the slayer be unlearned but rick , he may AND EXPIATION. *43 give all his property to some Brdhmen learned in the Veda or a sufficiency of wealth for his life, or a house and furniture to hold while he lives :

78. * Or, eating only such wild grains as are offered to the gods, he may walk to the head of the river Saraszvatl against the course of the stream ; or, subsisting on very little food, he may thrice repeat the whole collection of Vidas , or the Rich, Yajush , and Sdman .

79. 1 Or, his hair being shorn, he may dwell near a town, or on pastureground for cows, or in some holy place, or at the root # of a sacred tree, taking pleasure in doing good to cows and to Brdhmens;

80. ‘ There, for the preservation of a cow or a Brdhmen , let him instantly abandon life ; since the preserver of a cow or a Brdhmen atorfes for the crime of killing a priest :

81. ‘ Or, by attempting at least three times forcibly to recover from robbers the property of a Brdhmen , or by recovering it in one of his attacks, or even by losing his life in the attempt, he atones for his crime.

82. ‘ Thus, continually firm in religious austerity, chaste as a student in the first order, with his mind intent on virtue, he may expiate the guilt of undesignedly killing a Brdhmen , after the twelfth year has expired.

83. ‘ Or, if a virtuous Brahmen unintentionally kill another , who had no good quality , he may atone for his guilt by proclaiming it in an assembly of priests and military men, at the sacrifice of a horse, and by bathing with other Brdhmens at the close of the sacrifice :

84. ‘ Brdhmens are declared to be the basis, and Cshatriyas the summit, of the legal system : he, therefore, expiates his off>|nce by fully proclaiming it in such an assembly.

85. * From his high birth alone, a Brdhmen is an object of veneration even to deities : his declarations to mankind are decisive evidence ; and the Veda itself confers on him that character.

86. ‘ Three at least, who are learned in the Vida , should be ON PENANCE assembled to declare the proper expiatioh for the sin of a priest , but , for the three other classes , the number must be doubled , tripled \ and quadrupled : what they declare shall be an atonement for sinners ; since the words of the learned give purity.

87. 1 Thus a BrdJimen , who has performed one of the preceding expiations, according to the circumstances of the homicide and the characters of the persons killed and killings with his whole mind fixed on God, purifies his soul, and removes the guilt of* slaying a man of his own class :

88. ‘ He must perform the same penance for killing an embryo, the sex of which was unknown, but whose parents were sacer - dotal ’ or a military or a commercial man employed in a sacrifice, or Brdmlnl woman, who has bathed after temporary uncleanness ;

89. ‘ And the same for giving false evidence in a cause concerning land or gold or precious commodities , and for accusing his preceptor unjustly, and for appropriating a deposit, and for killing the wife of a priest, who keeps a consecrated firei or for slaying a friend.

90. ‘ Such is the atonement ordained for killing a priest without malice ; but for killing a Brdhmen with malice prepense, tips is no expiation : the term of twelve years must be doubled , ory if the case was atrocious , the murderer must actually die in flames or in battle.

91. ‘Any twice-born man, who has intentionally drunk spirit of rice, through perverse delusion of mind, may drink more spirit in flame, and atone for his offence by sevefety burning his body ;

92. ‘ Or he may drink boiling hot, until he die, the urine of a cow or pure water, or milk, or clarified butter, or juice extracted from cowdung :

93. ‘ Or, if he tasted it unknowingly , he may expiate the sin of drinking spirituous liquor, by eatftig only some broken rice or grains, of tila , from which oil has been extracted, once every night for a whole year, wrapped in course vesture of hairs from a cow's tail, or sitting unclothed in his house wearing his locks and beard uncut, and putting out the flag of «a tavern-keeper.

94. ‘ Since the spirit i>f%rice is distilled from the AND EXPIATION. filthy refuse, of the grain, •and since Mala is also a name for sin, let no Brdhmen , Cshatriya, or Vaisya drink that spirit.

95. ‘ Inebriating liquor may be considered as of three principal sorts ; ‘that extracted from drugs of sugar, that extracted from bruised rice, and that extracted from the flowers of the Madhuca : as one, so are all ; they shall not he tasted .by the chief of the twice-born.

96. ‘ Those liquors, and eight other sorts, with the flesh of animals, and A ' sav a, the most pernicious beverage, prepared with narcotic drugs , are swallowed at the juncates of Yacskas , Racshasas , and Pisdchas : they shall not, therefore, be tasted by a Brdhmen , who feeds on clarified butter offered to gods.

97. 1 Brdhmen, stupefied by drunkenness, might fall bn something very impure, or might even, when intoxicated, pronounce a secret phrase of the Veda , or might do some other act, which ought not to be done.

98. * When the divine spirit, or the light of holy knowledge , which has been infused into his body, has once been sprinkled with any intoxicating liquor, even his priestly character leaves him, and he sinks to the low degree of a Sudra.

99. ‘THUS have been promulgated the various modes of expiation for drinking spirits : I will next propound the atonement for stealing the gold of a priest to the amount of a suverna.

100. ‘He, who has purloined the gold of a Brdhmen , must hasten to the king and proclaim his offence ; adding, “ Inflict on me the punishment due to my crime.”

101. ‘Then shall the king himself, taking from him an iron mace, which the criminal must bear on his shoulder , strike him with it once ; and by that stroke, whether he die or be only left as dead , thief is released from sin : a Brdhmen by rigid penance alone can expiate that offence ; another *tzv ice-born man may also perform stick a penance at his election.

102. ‘ The twice-born man, who desires to remove by austere devotion the taint caused by stealing gold, must perform in a forest, covered with a mantle erf rough bark, the penance before ordained for him, who without malice prepense has killed a Brdhmen . ON PENANCE

103. * By these expiations may the twice-born atone for the guilt of stealing gold from a priest; but the sin of adultery with the wife of a father, natural or spiritual \ they must expiate by the following penances.

104. ‘ He, who knowingly arid actually has defiled the wife of his father, she being of the same class , must extend himself on a heated iron bed, loudly proclaiming his guilt ; and, there embracing the red hot iron image of woman, he shall atone for his crime by death ;

105. 4 Or, having himself amputated his penis and scrotum, and holding them in his fingers, he may walk in a direct path toward the southwest, or the region of Nirri'ti, until he fall dead on the ground :

106. ‘ Or, if he had mistaken her for another woman , he may perform for a whole year, with intense application of mind, the penance prdjdpatya, with part of a bed, or a human bone , in his hand, wrapped in vesture of coarse bark, letting his hair and beard grow, and living in a deserted forest :

107. ‘ Or, if she was of a lower class and a corrupt woman, he may expiate the sin of violating the bed of his father, by continuing the penance chdndrdyctna for three months, always mortifying his body by eating only forest herbs, or wild grains boiled in water.

108. * By the preceding penances may sinners of the two higher degrees atone for their guilt ; and the less offenders may expiate theirs by the following austerities.

109. * He, who has committed the smaller offence of killing a cow without malice , must drink for the first month barleycorns boiled soft in water; his head must be shaved entirely; and, covered with the hide of the slain cow , he must fix his abode on her late pasture ground : » no. * He may eat a moderate quantity of wild grains, lJut without any factitious salt, for the next two months at the time of each fourth repast, on the evening of every second day ; regularly bathing in the urine of cows, a»d keeping his members under control : AND EXPIATION. M7 III. * All day he must" wait on the herd, and stand quaffing the dust raised by their hoofs at night, having servilely attended and stroked and saluted them, he must surround them with a fence, and sit near to guard them :

112. 4 Pure and free from passion, he must stand, while they stand ; follow them, when they move together ; and lie down by them, when they lie down :

113. ‘ Should a cow be sick or terrified by tigers or thieves, or fall, or stick in mud, he must relieve her by all possible means :

114. ‘In heat, in rain, or in cold, or while the blast furiously rages, let him not seek his own shelter, without first sheltering the cows to the utmost of his power.

115. ‘ Neither in his own house, or field, or floor for treading out grain, nor in those of any other person, let him say a word of a cow, who eats corn or grass , or a calf, who drinks milk:

116. ‘By waiting on a herd, according to these rules, for three months, the slayer of a cow atones for his guilt ;

117. ‘ But, his penance being performed, he must give ten cows and a bull, or his stock not being so large, must deliver all he possesses, to such as best know the VJda.

118. ‘ THE preceding penances, or that called chdndrdyana, must be performed for the absolution of all twice-born men, who have committed sins of the lower or third degree ; except those, who have incurred the guilt of an avacirna ;

119. ‘But he, who has become Avacirni , must sacrifice a black or a one-eyed ass, by way of a meat-offering to Nirri'ti, patroness of the southwest , by night in a place where four ways meet :

120. ‘Let him daily offer to her in fire the fat of that ass, and, at the close of the cerefnony, let him offer clarified butter, with th#e holy text Sem and so forth, to Pavana, to Indra; to VriHASPATI, and to AGNI, regents of wind , clouds , a planet, and fire.

121. ‘A voluntary effusion, naturally or otherwise , of that which may produce a man, by a twice-born youth during the time of his studentship, or before marnag&\ has been pronounced ava - ON PENANCE cirna , or a violation of the rule prescribed /^ the first order, by sages, who knew the whole system of duty, and uttered the words of the Vida.

122. ‘To the four deities of purification, Ma'ruta, Indra, Vri'haspati, Agni, goes all the divine light, which the Vtda had imparted, from the student, who commits the foul sin avadrna ,

123. ‘ But, this crime having actually been committed, he must go begging to seven houses, clothed only with the hide of the sacrificed ass, and openly proclaiming his act :

124. ‘Eating a single meal begged from them, at the regular time of the day, that is, in the morning or evening , and bathing each day at the three savanas , he shall be absolved from his guilt at the end of one year.

125. ‘He, who has voluntarily committed any sin, which causes a loss of class, must perform the tormenting penance, thence called sdntapana ; or the prajdpatya , if he offended involuntarily.

126. ‘ For sins, which degrade to a mixed class, or exclude from society, the sinner must have recourse to the lunar expiation chdndrdyana for one month : to atone for acts, which occasion defilement, he must swallow nothing for three days but hot barleygruel.

127. ‘For killing intentionally a virtuous man of the military class, the penance must be a fourth part of that ordained for killing a priest ; for killing a Vaisya , only an eighth ; for killing a Sudra , who had been constant in discharging his duties, a sixteenth part :

128. * But, if a Brdhmen kill a Cshatriya without malice, he must, after a full performance of his religious rites, give the priests one bull together with a thousand cows :

129. ‘ Or he may perform for three years the penance for slaying a Brdhmen , mortifying his organs of sensation and action, letting his hair grow long, and living remote from the town, with the root of a tree for his mansion.

130. ‘If he kill without malice a Vaisya , who had a good moral character, he may perform thh same penance for one year, or give the priests a hundred ccws and bull : and expiation. ng *3t< 1 For six months must Mb perform this whole penance, if without intention he kill a Shdra ; or he may give ten white cows and a bull to the priests.

132. ‘Tf he kill by design a cat, or an ichneumon, the’ bird Chdsha , or a frog, a dog, a lizard, an owl, or a crow he must perform the ordinary penance required for the death of a Sudra , that is, the chdndrdyana : 133- ‘ Or, if he kill one of them undesignedly, he may drink nothing but milk for three days and nights, or each night walk a yojan , or thrice bathe in a river, or silently repeat the text on the divinity of water ; that is , if he be disabled by real infirmity from performing the first mentioned penances ; he may have recourse to the next in order .

134. i A Brdhmen , if he kill a snake, must give to some priest a hoe, or iron-headed stick ; if an eunuch, a load of riccstraw, and a mdsha of lead ;

135. ‘ If a boar, a pot of clarified butter ; if the bird tittiri a drona of tila seeds: if a parrot, a steer two years old; if the waterbird crauncha> a steer aged three years :

136. ‘ If he kill a goose> or a phenicoptcros, a heron , or cormo- . rant, a bittern, a peacock, an ape, a hawk, or a kite, he must give a cow to some Brahmen :

137. ‘ If he kill a horse, he must give a mantle: if an elephant, five black bulls ; if a goat or a sheep, one bull ; if an ass, a calf one year old :

138. ‘ If he kill a carnivorous wild beast, he must give a cow with abundance of milk, if a wild beast not carnivorous, a fine heifer ; and a racticd of gold, if he slay a camel :

139. ‘ If he kill a woman of any class caught in adultery, he must give as an expiation, hi the direct order of the four classes, leathern pouch, a bow, a goat, and a sheep,

140. ‘ Should a Brdhmen be unable to expiate by gifts the sin of killing a snake and the rest, he must atone for his guilt by performing, on each occasion, the penance prdjdpatya,

141. ‘For the ^laughter of a thousand small animals which ON PENANCE have bones, or for that of bonel<a|s animals enow to fill a cart, he must perform the chdndrdyana , or common penance for killing a Sudra ; %

142. ‘ But, for killing boned animals, he must also give some trifle, as a pana of copper , to a Brdhmen : for killing those wit hout bones, he may be absolved by holding his breath, at the close of his penance , while he thrice repeats the gdyatri with its head, the pranava, and the vydhrltis .

143. ‘ For cutting once without malice trees yielding fruit, shrubs with many crowded stems, creeping or climbing® plants, or such as grow again when cut, if they were in blossom when he hurt them, he must repeat a hundred texts of the V/da.

144. ‘ For killing insects of any sort bred in rice or other grains, or those bred in honey or other fluids, or those bred in fruit or flowers, eating clarified butter is a full expiation.

145. ‘ If a man cut, wantonly and {ox no good purpose, such grasses as are cultivated, or such as rise in the forest spontaneously, he must wart on a cow for one day ; nourished by milk alone.

146. ‘ By these penances may mankind atone for the sin of injuring sentient creatures, whether committed by design or through inadvertence : hear now what penances are ordained for eating or drinking what ought not to be tasted.

147. * He who drinks undesignedly any spirit but that of rice , may be absolved by a new investiture with the sacrificial string : even for drinking intentionally the weaker sorts of spirit , a penance extending to death must not (as the law is now fixed) be prescribed.

148. ‘ For drinking water which has stood in a vessel, where spirit of rice or any other spirituous liquor had been kept, he must swallow nothing, for five days and nights, but the plant sane , hapushpi boiled in milk :

149. ‘ If he touch any spirituous liquor, or give any away or accept any due form, or with thanks , or drink water left by a Sudra he must swallow nothing, for three days and nights, but cusa-gxa.ss boiled in water.

150. f Should a Brdhmen, who has once tasted the holy juice and expiation. of the moonplant even smell the breath of a mat, who has been “7 T^t ^ rem°VC thC taint by thHcC repeating the ^/;wh,le he suppresses his breath in water, and by eating clarified butter after that ceremony ; If any of the three twice-born classes* have tasted unknowingly human ordure or urine, or any thing that has touched spirituous liquor, they must, after a penance, be girt anew with the sacrificial thread ;

152. ‘But, in such new investiture of the twice-born the partial tonsure, the zone, the staff, the petition of alms, and strict rules of abstinence, need not be renewed. I S3- ‘SHOULD one of them eat the food of those .persons, with whom he ought never tc eat, or food left by a woman or a Siidra, or any prohibited flesh, he must drink barleygruel only for seven days and nights.

154. ‘ If a Brahmen drink sweet liquors turned acid, or astiingent juices from impure fruits, he becomes unclean, as long as those fluids remain undigested.

155. ‘Any twice-born man, who by accident has tasted the dung or urine of a tame boar, an ass, a camel, a shakal, an ape, or a crow, must perform the penance chandrdyana : 15b. ‘ If he taste dried fleshmeat, or mushrooms rising from the ground, or any thing brought from a slaughter-house, though he knew not whence it came, he must perform the same penance.

157. ‘ For knowingly eating the flesh of carnivorous beasts, of townboars, of camels, ol gallinaceous birds, of human creatures, of crows, or of asses, the penance taptacricti lira, or burning severe , is the only atonement.

158. ‘A Brdhineny who, before he has completed his theological studies, eats food at monthly obsequies to one ancestor , must fast three days and nights , an& sit in water a day :

159. ‘ But a student in theology, who at any time unknowingly tastes honey or flesh, must perform the lowest penance, or the prdjdpatya , and proceed to finish his studentship.

160. ‘ Having eaten what has been left by a cat, a crow, a mouse, a dog, or an ichneumon, or what has even been touched ON PENANCE by a louse, he must drink, boiled in watery the plant brahmasuverchald .

161. ‘By the man, who seeks purity of soul, no forbidden food must be tasted : what he has undcsignedly swallowed he must instantly vomit jap, or must purify himself with speed by legal expiation.

162. ‘ Such, as have been declared, are the various penances for eating prohibited food : hear now the law of penance for an expiation of theft.

163. ‘ The chief of the twice-born, having voluntarily stolen such property, as grain, raw or dressed, from the house of another Brdhmepi , shall be absolved on performing the penance prajdpatya for a whole year ;

164. ‘ But the penance chdndrdyana must be performed for stealing a man, woman, or child, for seizing a field, or a house, or for taking the waters of an enclosed pool or well.

165. ‘ Having taken goods of little value from the house of another man, he must procure absolution by performing the penance Sdntapana ; having first restored, as the penitent thief always must , the goods that he stole.

166. ‘ For taking what may be eaten, or what may be sipped, a carriage, a bed, or a scat, roots, flowers, or fruit, an atonement may be made by swallowing the five pure things produced from a cow, or milky curds , buttery urinCy dung :

167. 1 For stealing grass, wood, or trees, rice in the husk, molasses, cloth or leather, fish, or other animal food, a strict fast must be kept three days and three nights.

168. ‘For stealing gems, pearls, coral, copper, silver, iron, brass, or stone, nothing but broken rice must be swallowed for twelve days ;

169. ‘And nothing but milk for three days, if cotton, or ; silk, or wool had been stolen, or a beast either with cloven or uncloven hoofs, or a bird, or perfumes, or medicinal herbs, or cordage.

170. ‘By these penances may a twice-born man atone for the guilt of theft ; but the following austerities only can remove the AND EXPIATION. sin of carnally approaching those, who must not be carnally approached. * I^1, w^° ^las wasted his manly strength with sisters by the same womb, with the wives of his friend or of his son, with girls under the age of puberty, or with women o^thc lowest classes, must perform the penance ordained for defiling the bed of a preceptor :

172. ‘ He, who has carnally known the daughter of his paternal aunt, who is almost cquolI to a sister, or the daughter of his maternal aunt, or the daughter of his maternal uncle, who is a near kinsman, must perform the chdndrdyana, , or lunar penance ;

173. ‘No man of se^se would take one of those thrpe as his wife : they shall not be taken in marriage by reason of their consanguinity ; and *hc, who marries any one of them, falls deep into sin.

174. ‘ He, who has wasted, what might have produced a man, with female brute animals, with a woman during her courses, or in any but the natural part, or in water must perform the penance sdntapana : for a bestial act with a cozu the penance must be far more severe.

175. ‘ A twice-born man, dallying lasciviously with a male in any place or at any time, or with a female in a carriage drawn by bullocks, or in water, or by day, shall be degraded , and must bathe himself publicly with his apparel.

176. ‘ Should a Brdhmen carnally know a woman of the Chanddla or Mttcttha tribes, or taste their food, or accept a gift from them, he loses his own class, if he acted unknowingly, or, if knowingly , sins to a level with them :

177. ‘ A wife* excessively corrupt, let her husband confine to one apartment, and compel her to perforin the penance ordained forf a man, who has committed adultery :

178. ‘ If, having been solicited by a man of her own class, she again be defiled, her expiation must be the penance pidjdpatya added to the chdndrdyana .

179. ‘ The guilt of a Brdhmen* who has dallied a whole night ON PENANCE with a Chanddli woman, he may remove in three years by subsisting on alms, and incessantly repeating the gdyatri with other mysterious texts.

180. ‘These penances have been declared for sinfiers of four sorts, those who h^t sentient creatures , those who eat prohibited foody those who commit theft , and those who are guilty of lasciviousness : hear now the prescribed expiation for such, as hold any intercourse with degraded offenders.

181. ‘ He, who associates himself for one year with a fallen sinner, falls like him ; not by sacrificing, reading the Vdda> or contracting affinity with him, since by those acts he loses his class immediately, but even by using the same carriage or by taking his food at the sa'me board :

182. ‘ That man, who holds an intercourse with any one of those degraded offenders, must perform, as an atonement for such intercourse, the penance ordained for that sinner himself.

183. ‘The sapindas and samdnddacas of a man degraded, /<?>* a crime in the first degree , must offer a libation of water to his manes, as if he were 7iaturally dead , out of the town, in the evening of some inauspicious day, as the ninth of the moon , his paternal kinsmen, his officiating priest, and his spiritual guide being present.

184. ‘A female slave must kick down with her foot an old pot filled with water, which had for that purpose been placed towards the south , as if it were an oblation for the dead ; and all the kinsmen, in the nearer and remoter degrees, must remain impure for a day and a night :

185. ‘ They must thenceforth desist from speaking to him, from sitting in his company, from delivering to him any inherited or other property, and from every civil or usual ‘attention, as inviting him 071 the first day of the year , and the like .

186. * His right of primogeniture, if he was an elder brother , must be withholdcn from him, and whatever perquisites arise from priority of birth : a younger brother, excelling him in virtue, must appropriate the share of the first-born.

187. ‘But, when he* has performed his due penance, his AND EXPIATION. kinsmen and he must throw down a new vessel full of water, after having bathed together in pure pool :

188. Then must he cast that vessel into the water j and? having entered his house, he may perform, as before, all the acts incident to his relation by blood.

189. ‘The same ceremony must be performed by the kindred even of women degraded, for whom clothes, dressed rice, and water must be provided ; and they must dwell in huts near the family house.

190. ‘ With sinners, whose expiations arc unperformed, let not a man transact business of any kind ; but those, who have performed their expiations, let him at no time reproach.

191. ‘Let him not, however, live with those, who have slain children, or injured their benefactors, or killed suppliants for protection, or put women to death, even though such offenders have been legally purified.

192. ‘Those men of the twice-born classes, to whom the gdyatri has not been repeated and explained, according to law, the assembly must cause to perform three prajdpatya penances, and afterwards to be girt with the sacrificial string ;

193. ‘And the same penance they must prescribe to such twice-born men, as are anxious to atone for some illegal act, or a neglect of the Vdda.

194. ‘ If priests have accepted any property from base hands they may be absolved by relinquishing the presents, by repeating mysterious texts, and by act of devotion :

195. ‘ By three thousand repetitions of the gdyatri with intense application of mind, and by subsisting on milk only for a whole month in the pasture of cows, a Brdhmen , who has received any gift from a bad man, or a bad gift from any man may be cleared from sin. « 196. ‘ When he has been mortified by abstinence, and has returned from the pasturage, let him bend low to the other Brdhmens, who must thus interrogate him : “ Art thou really desirous, good man, of readmission to an equality with us ?”

197. ‘ If he answer in the affirmative, let him give some ON PENANCE grass to the cows, and in the place, m'ade pure by their having eaten on it, let the men of his class give their assent to his readmission.

198. ‘ He, who has officiated at a sacrifice for outcasts, or burned the corpse of a stranger, or performed rites to destroy the innocent, or made the impure sacrifice, called Ahina , may expiate his guilt by three prdjdpatya penances.

199. ‘ A TWICE-BORN man, who has rejected a suppliant for his protection, or taught the Veda on a forbidden day, may atone for his offence by subsisting a whole year on barley alone.

200. ‘ He, who has been bitten by a dog, a shakal, or an ass by any carnivorous animal frequenting ^town, by a man, a horse, a camel, or a boar, may be purified by stopping his breath during one repetition of the gdyatri.

201. ‘To eat only at the time of the sixth meal, or on the evening of every third day , for a month, to repeat a Sanhitd of the Vedas , and to make eight oblations to fire, accompanied with eight holy texts, are always an expiation for those, who are excluded from society at repasts.

202. ‘ Should a Brdhmcn voluntarily ascend a carriage borne by camels or drawn by asses, or designedly bathe quite naked, he may be absolved by one suppression of breath, while he repeats in his mind the most holy text.

203. ‘ He, who has made any excretion, being greatly pressed, cither without water near him or in water, may be purified by bathing in his clothes out of town, and by touching a cow.

204. ‘ FOR an omission of the acts, which the Vdda commands to be constantly performed, and for a violation of the duties prescribed to a house-keeper, the atonement is fasting one day .

205. ‘ He, who says hush or pish to a Brdhmen , or thou to a superior , must immediately bathe, eat nothing for the rest of the day, and appease him by clasping his feet with respectful salutation.

206. ‘ For striking a Brdhmen even with a blade of grass, or tying him by the neck with a cloth, or overpowering him in argument, and adding contemptuous words, the offender must soothe him by falling prostrate. * AND EXPIATION.

207. ‘ An assaulter of a Brdhmen , with intent to kill, shall remain in hell a hundred years ; for actually striking him with the like intent , a thousand :

208. <#As many small pellets of dust as the blood of a Brdhmen collects on the ground, for so many thousand years must the shedder of that blood be tormented in hell.

209. ‘ For a simple assault, the first or common penance must be performed ; for a battery, the third or very severe penance ; but for shedding blood, without killings both of those penances.

210. ‘ To remove the sins, for which no particular penance has been ordained, the assembly must award a fit expiation, considering the ability of the sinner to perform it , and the nature (tf the sin.

211. 'TlIOSE penances, by which a man may atone for his crimes, I now will describe to you ; penances, which have been performed by deities, by holy sages, and by forefathers of the human race.

212. ‘WHEN a twice-born man performs the common penance, or that of Praja'pati, he must for three days eat only in the morning ; for three days, only in the evening ; for three days, food unasked but presented to him ; and for three more days, nothing.

213. ‘ Eating for a whole day the dung and urine of cows mixed with curds, milk, clarified butter, and water boiled with ^/a-grass, and then fasting entirely for a day and a night, is the penance called Sdntapana, either from the devout man Santapana, or from tormenting.

214. ‘A twice-born man performing the penance, called very severe, in respect of the common, must eat, as before, a single mouthful, or a ball of rice as large as a hen's egg , for three times three days ; and for the last three days, must wholly abstain from food.

215. *A Brdhmen , performing the ardent penance, must swallow nothing but hot Wcfter, hot milk, hot clarified butter, and hot steam, each of them for three days succesively, performing an ablution and niortifying all his members.

216. ‘A total fast for twelve days and nights , by a penitent with his organs controlled and his mind attentive, is the penance named pardca, which expiates all degries of guilt. *5$ ON PENANCE

217. 4 If he diminish his food by one mouthful each day du* ring the dark fortnight, eating fifteen mouthfuls on the day of the opposition , and increase it in the same proportion , during the bright fortnight, fasting entirety on the day of the conjunction , and perform an ablution regularly at sunrise, noon, and sunset, this is the chdndrdyana, or the lunar penance :

218. 4 Such is the penance called ant-shaped or narrotv in the middle ; but, if he perform the barley-shaped or broad in the middle , he must observe the same rule, beginning with the bright halfmonth, and keeping under command his organs of action and sense.

219. ‘To perform the lunar penance of an anchoret, he must eat only eight mouthfuls of forest grains at noon for a whole month, taking care to subdue his mind.

220. 4 If a Brahmen eat only four mouthfuls at sunrise, and four at sunset, for a month , keeping his organs controlled, he perforins the lunar penance of children.

221. 4 He, who, for a whole month, eats no more than thrice eighty mouthfulls of wild grains, as he happens by any means to meet with them, keeping his organs in subjection, shall attain the same abode with the regent of the moon :

222. 4 The eleven Rudras, the twelve A 'dityas, the eight Vasus, the Maruts, or genii of the winds, and the seven great Rzshis, have performed this lunar penance as a security from all evil.

223. 4 The oblation of clarified hitter to fire must every day be made by the penitent himself, accompanied with the mighty words earth, sky, heaven ; he must perfectly, abstain from injury to sentient creatures, from falsehood, from wrdth, and from all crooked ways.

224. 4 Or, thrice each day and thrice each night for a month, the penitent may plunge into water clothed in his mantle, and at no time conversing with a woman, a Sufra, or an outcast.

225. 4 Let him be always in motion, sitting and rising alternately, or, if unable to be thus restless, let him sleep low on the bare ground; chaste as a student of the Veda, bearing the sacred zone and staff, showing reverence to kis preceptor, to the gods, and to priests ; and expiation. texJt' tlPKP!tUf'y mUSt h£ fePeat and other pure ts to the best of h.s knowledge: thus in all penances for absolution from sin, must he vigilantly employ himself.

227. .By these expiations are twice-born men absolved whose offences are publicly known, and are mischievous by their example; but for sins not public, the assembly of priests must award them penances, with holy texts and oblations to fire.

228. ‘ By open confession, by repentance, by devotion, and by reading the scripture, a sinner may be released from his guilt ; or by almsgiving, in case of his inability to perform the other acts of religion.

229. 1 In proportion as a man, who has committed a sin, shall truly and voluntarily confess it, so far he is disengaged from that offence, like a snake from his slough ;

230. 1 And, in proportion as his heart sincerely loathes his evil deed, so far shall his vital spirit be freed from the taint of it.

231. 4 If he commit sin, and actually repent, that sin shall be removed from him ; but if he merely say, “ I will sin thus no more,” he can only be released by an actual abstinence from guilt.

232. ‘ Thus revolving in his mind the certainty of retribution in a future state, let- him be constantly good in thoughts, words, and action. •" 233. 1 If he desire complete remission of any foul act which he has committed, either ignorantly or knowingly, let him beware of committing it again : for the second fault his penance must be doubled .

234. * If, having performed any expiation, he feel not a perfect satisfaction of conscience, let him repeat the same devout ;act, until his conscience be perfectly satisfied.

235. 4 All the bliss of deities and of men is declared by sages, who discern the sense of the* Vtda, to have in devotion its cause, in Mevotion its continuance, in devotion its fullness.

236. ‘ Devotion is equal to the performance of all duties ; it is divine knowledge in a Brdhmen \ it is defence of the people in a Cskatriya ; devotion is the business of trade and agriculture in a Vaisya ; devotion is dutiful service in a Sudra . 26o ON PENANCE

237. * Holy sages, with subdued passions, feeding only on fruit, roots, and air, by devotion alone are enabled to survey the three worlds, terrestrial \ ethereal , and celestial , peopled with animal creatures, locomotive and fixed.

238. ‘Perfect health, or unfailing medicines, divine learning, and the various mansions of deities, are acquired by devotion alone : their efficient cause is devotion.

239. ‘ Whatever is hard to be traversed, whatever is hard to be acquired, whatever is hard to be visited, whatever is hard to be performed, all this may be accomplished by true devotion ; for the difficulty of devotion is the greatest of all.

240. ‘ Even sinners in the highest degree, and of course the other offenders, are absolved from guilt by austere devotion wellpractised.

241. * Souls , that animate worms, and insects, serpents, moths, beasts, birds, and vegetables, attain heaven by the power of devotion.

242. ‘ Whatever sin has been conceived in the hearts of men, uttered in their speech, or committed in their bodily acts, they speedily burn it all away by devotion, if they preserve devotion as their best wealth.

743. * Of a priest, whom devotion has purified, the divine^ spirits accept the sacrifices, and grant the desires with ample increase.

244. ‘ Even Brahma', lord of creatures, by devotion enacted this code of laws ; and the sages by devotion acquired a knowledge of the Vedas .

245. ‘ Thus the gods themselves, observing in this universe the incomparable power of devotion, have proclaimed aloud the transcendent excellence of pious austerity.

246. ‘ By reading each day as much as possible of the Veda, by performing the five great sacraments, and by forgiving alhinjuries, even sins of the highest degree shall be soon effaced :

247. ‘ As fire consumes in an instant with his bright flame the wood, that has been placed onoit, thus, with the flame of knowledge, a Bidhmen , who understands the Veda, consumes all sin. AND EXPIATION.

248. * Thus has be#en declared, according to law, the mode of atoning for open sins : now learn the mode of obtaining absolution for secret offences.

249. ‘SIXTEEN suppressions of the breath, while the holiest of texts is repeated with the three mighty words, and the triliteral syllable, continued each day for a month, absolve even the slayer of a Brdhmen from his hidden faults.

250. ‘Even a drinker of spirituous liquors is absolved by repeating each day the text apa used by the sage Cautsa, or that beginning with preti used by Vasisht’ha, or that called mdhitra, or that, of which the first word is suddhavatyah.

251. ‘By repeating each day for a month the text dsyavdmiya , or the hymn Sivasanca/pa, the stealer of gold from 'a priest becomes instantly pure.

252. ‘ He, who has violated the bed of his preceptor, is cleared from secret faults by repeating sixteen times a day the text kavishyantiya , or that beginning with na tamanhah, or by revolving in his mind the sixteen holy verses, called P an r us ha.

253. ‘ The man, who desires to expiate his hidden sins great and small, must repeat once a day for a year the text avai or the text yatcinchida.

254. ‘ He, who has accepted an illegal present, or eaten prohibited food, may be cleansed in three days by repeating the text taratsamandiya .

255. ‘Though he have committed many secret sins, he shall be purified by repeating for a month the text somdraudra or the three'tcxts dryamuay while he bathes in a sacred stream.

256. ‘A grievous offender must repeat the seven verses, beginning with INDRA, £or half a year ; and he, who has defiled water with any impurity, must sit a whole year subsisting by alms. » 257. ‘A twice-born man, who shall offer clarified butter for a year, with eight texts appropriated to eight several oblations, or with the text na me] shall efface a sin even of an extremely high degree.

258. ‘ He, who had committed a crime of the first degree, ON PENANCE shall be absolved, if he attend a herd of lvine for a year, mortify his organs, and continually repeat the texts beginning with pdvamdnt , living solely on food given in charity :

259. * Or, if he thrice repeat a Sanhitd of the Vidas , or a large portion of them zvith all the mantras and brahmanas, dwelling in a forest with subdued organs, and purified by three pardcas^' he shall be set free from all sins how heinous soever.

260. ‘Or he shall be released from all deadly sins, if he fast three days, with his members mortified, and twice a day plunge into water, thrice repeating the text aghamarshana :

261. ‘ As the sacrifice of a horse, the king of sacrifices, removes all sins, thus the text aghamarshana destroys all offences.

262. * A priest, who should retain in his memory the whole Rigvida , would be absolved from guilt, even if he had slain the inhabitants of the three worlds and had eaten food from the foulest hands.

263. ‘ By thrice repeating the mantras and Brdhmanas of the Rich, or those of the Yajush or those of the Sdman with the npanishads , he shall perfectly be cleansed from every possible taint :

264. ‘ As a clod of earth, cast into a great lake, sinks in it, thus is every sinful act submerged in the triple Vida.

265. ‘ The divisions of the Rich, the several branches of th^ Yajush , and the manifold strains of the Sdman must be considered as forming the triple Vida : he knows the Vida> who knows them collectively.

266. ‘The primary triliteral syllable, in which the three Vidas themselves are comprised, must be kept secret, as auother triple Vida : he knows the Vida , who distinctly knows the mystic sense of that word.’