The Laws of Manu

by The Laws of Manu (retail) (epub)

  [158] If a twice-born man who has not returned home (from his time of study) eats the food given at the monthly (funeral ceremony), he should fast for three days and spend one day in water. [159] But if a man who is carrying out a vow should ever eat meat or honey, he should carry out an ordinary ‘Painful’ vow before he completes the rest of his own vow. [160] Anyone who has eaten the leavings of a cat, crow, rat, dog, or mongoose, or food in which a hair or a bug has fallen, should drink (a decoction of) holy rue. [161] Anyone who wishes to keep himself clean should not eat food that is not to be eaten, but he should vomit up anything that he eats unknowingly or quickly make himself clean by the means of cleansing.

  [162] The varied rule for the vows for eating what should not be eaten has thus been described; now learn the rule for the vows that steal away the fault of theft.

  [163] If a priest has intentionally stolen grain, food, or property right out of the house of someone of the same caste, he is cleaned by carrying out the ‘Painful’ vow for a year. [164] For stealing men or women, a field or a house, or the water from a well or a long pond, the ‘Moon-course’ vow is traditionally regarded as the cleansing. [165] If someone steals articles of little value from someone else’s house, he should return them and carry out the ‘Painful Heating’ vow to make himself clean. [166] For stealing raw or cooked food, a carriage, bed, or seat, flowers, roots, or fruits, the cleansing is (swallowing) the five cow-products. [167] For (stealing) grass, wood, trees, dry food, sugar, clothing, leather, or meat, one should go without food for three nights. [168] For (stealing) gems, pearls, coral, copper, silver, iron, brass, or stone, one’s only food for twelve days should be dry grains. [169] For (stealing) cotton, silk, wool, an animal with cloven hooves or one with a whole hoof, a bird, perfume, medicinal herbs, or a rope, (one should live) on milk for three days.

  [170] With these vows a twice-born man may dispel the evil caused by theft; with the following vows he may dispel (the evil of) having sex with women that one should not have sex with.

  [171] If a man has shed his semen in women born of the same womb as himself, with the wife of his friend or his son, with virgins or women of the lowest castes, he should carry out the vow for (violating) the guru’s marriage-bed. [172] If he has sex with the ‘sister’ who is the daughter of his father’s sister, or with the daughter of his mother’s sister or of his mother’s full brother, he should carry out the ‘Moon-course’ vow. [173] An intelligent man should not take any of these three for his wife; he should not have sex with them because they are relatives, and if he had sex with them he would fall low. [174] If a man has shed his semen in non-human females, in a man, in a menstruating woman, in something other than a vagina, or in water, he should carry out the ‘Painful Heating’ vow.

  [175] If a twice-born man unites sexually with a man or a woman in a cart pulled by a cow, or in water, or by day, he should bathe with his clothes on. [176] If a priest unknowingly has sex with ‘Fierce’ Untouchable women or very low-caste women, eats (their food) or accepts (gifts from them), he falls if knowingly, he becomes their equal. [177] If a woman has been corrupted by a priest, her husband should imprison her in a single room and have her carry out the vow for a man who has slept with another man’s wife. [178] But if she is seduced by a man of the same class (as hers) and badly corrupted again, the purification for her is traditionally said to be the ‘Painful’ and the ‘Moon-course’ vow. [179] A twice-born man who spends a single night having sex with a servant woman dispels that (guilt) by eating food that he has begged for and chanting (the Veda) constantly for three years.

  [180] The redemption for four kinds of evil-doers has thus been described; now learn the following redemptions for people who associate with those who have fallen.

  [181] A man falls himself if he associates with a fallen man for a year by performing sacrifices for him, teaching him, or forming a marriage alliance with him, but not (just) by sharing a carriage, a seat, or a meal with him. [182] A man who forms a connection with any of these fallen men should carry out the same vow as his in order to clean up that connection. [183] The co-feeding relatives and maternal relatives of a fallen man should make a funeral libation of water to him outside (the village) on the evening of an inauspicious day, in the presence of a paternal relative, an officiating priest, and a guru. [184] A female slave should overturn a pot full of a water with her foot, as if it were for a dead person; they and the relatives remain polluted for a day and a night. [185] They should no longer converse or sit with him, or give him his inheritance and so forth, or have any ordinary casual contact with him. [186] His primogeniture must cease, along with the wealth that should belong to the eldest, and a younger brother who excels him in qualities should get his share that belongs to the eldest.

  [187] But when the restoration has been carried out, they should overturn a new pot full of water and bathe together with him in an excellent pool of water. [188] And he should throw that pot into the water and enter his own house and perform all the duties of a relative, just as before. [189] This same rule should also be applied to fallen women, but they should be given clothes, food, and water, and they should live near the house. [190] One should have nothing to do with people who have committed errors and have not been washed, but one should in no way have disgust for those who have been washed. [191] And one should not live with ingrates or with people who have killed children, women, or those who have come to them for refuge, even if they have been cleaned in accordance with the law.

  [192] If twice-born men have not been taught the verse to the sun-god in accordance with the rule, they should be made to carry out three ‘Painful’ vows and be initiated in accordance with the rule. [193] And if twice-born men persist in the wrong activities and wish to carry out a restoration, or if they have given up learning the Veda, they too should be taught to carry out the same (vow). [194] Priests who have acquired property by a despicable activity are cleaned by giving it up, chanting (the Veda), and generating inner heat. [195] A man is freed from (the guilt of) receiving a gift from a bad person when he has chanted the verse to the sun-god three thousand times with a concentrated mind and lived for a month in the cowpen, drinking milk. [196] But when he comes back from the cowpen, emaciated from his fast, and bows low, they should ask him, ‘My dear sir, do you wish to be (our) equal?’ [197] He should tell the priests the truth and scatter fodder for the cows; and in that watering place established by the cows they should receive him back.

  [198] A man who has sacrificed for outlaws or performed the final ritual for strangers, or a magic spell, or the several-day sacrifice, may dispel (the guilt) by three ‘Painful’ vows. [199] A twice-born man who has deserted someone who came to him for refuge, or who has publicly spread the Veda, dissipates that evil by eating barley for a year. [200] A man who has been bitten by a dog, a jackal, a donkey, or by village carnivores, by a man, a horse, a camel, or a pig, is cleaned by suppressing his breath. [201] Those who do not belong in the rows may be cleaned by eating only at every sixth mealtime for a month, or by chanting an entire collection of a Veda and making the ‘fragmentary’ oblations every day. [202] If a priest intentionally rides in a carriage drawn by camels or by donkeys, or if he bathes wearing nothing but sky, he is cleaned by suppressing his breath. [203] If a man who is physically distressed should void a bodily substance without using water, or into water, he is cleaned by plunging into water outside (the village) with his clothes on and touching a cow. [204] If a man neglects the daily rituals prescribed by the Veda or fails to fulfil the vows of a Vedic graduate, fasting is the restoration.

  [205] If a man says ‘Hush!’ to a priest, or uses the familiar form of ‘you’ to someone more important, he should bathe, fast for the rest of the day, and appease the person by addressing him with reverence. [206] If he strikes (a priest), even if it is only with a blade of grass, or ties him around the neck with a cloth, or wins against him in an argument, he should appease him by prostrating himself before him. [207] But a man who has
threatened a priest with intent to injure him goes to hell for a hundred years; if he strikes him, a thousand years. [208] As many grains of dust as the blood coagulates on the ground, for so many thousands of years will the man who shed it live in hell. [209] For threatening a priest, a man should carry out a ‘Painful’ vow; for knocking him down, an ‘Extra-painful’ vow; for shedding his blood, a ‘Painful’ and an ‘Extra-painful’ vow. [210] But in order to dispel evils for which no redemption has been declared, one should devise a restoration taking into consideration the evil and the ability (of the evil-doer).

  [211] I will tell you the methods used by the gods, sages, and ancestors, by which methods a human being drags away guilt.

  [212] A twice-born man who carries out (the ‘Painful’ vow, which is called the vow of) the Lord of Creatures, should eat in the morning for three days, then in the evening for three days; for three days (he should eat) food that he has not asked for, and for the next three days he should not eat. [213] The ‘Painful Heating’ vow is traditionally said to consist of cow’s urine, cowdung, milk, yogurt, melted butter, water infused with sacrificial grass, and a fast of one night. [214] A twice-born man who carries out an ‘Extra-Painful’ vow should eat for three periods of three days as stated before, but only one mouthful at each meal, and he should fast for the last three days. [215] A priest who carries out a ‘Hot Painful’ vow should drink, for three days each, hot water, hot milk, hot clarified butter, and hot air, and bathe once with a concentrated mind. [216] If a man goes without food for twelve days, controlling himself and making no careless mistakes, it is the ‘Painful’ vow called ‘Distancing’, which dispels all evils. [217] When a man decreases his food by one ball every day of the dark (lunar fortnight), and increases it during the bright (lunar fortnight), and washes at sunrise, noon, and sunset, that is traditionally regarded as the ‘Moon-course’ vow. [218] A man should follow the same rule of the ‘Moon-course’ vow throughout in the ‘Barley-middle’ vow, but begin his restraint in the bright lunar fortnight. [219] A man who carries out the ‘Ascetic’s Moon-course’ vow should restrain himself and eat nothing but food fit for an oblation, eight balls at every noon. [220] When a priest with concentrated mind eats four balls of food at dawn and four when the sun sets, that is traditionally regarded as the ‘Child’s Moon-course’ vow.

  [221] A man who, with concentrated mind, eats thrice eighty balls of food fit for an oblation in any manner over the course of a month, shares the world of the moon (when he dies). [222] Thé Rudras, Ādityas, Vasus, and Maruts, together with the great sages, practised this vow to be freed from everything inauspicious. [223] He himself should make an oblation every day, accompanied by the three great exclamations, and live with non-violence, truth, lack of anger, and straightforwardness. [224] He should submerge himself in water with his clothes on three times a day and three times a night, and he should never talk with women, servants, or fallen people. [225] He should pass the time by standing and sitting, or, if he cannot do that, he may lie down; he should remain chaste and keep his vow, revering his guru, the gods, and the twice-born. [226] He should constantly chant the verse to the sun-god and the purifying texts, to the best of his ability, carefully and in the same way in every single vow for the purpose of restoration.

  [227] Twice-born men whose errors have been revealed should be cleaned by these vows; but those whose evils have not been revealed should be cleaned by Vedic verses and oblations. [228] An evil-doer is freed from his evil by declaring (the act), by remorse, by inner heat, by recitation (of the Veda), and, in extremity, by giving gifts. [229] The more a man of his own accord declares the wrong that he has done, the more he is freed from that wrong, like a snake from its skin. [230] The more his mind-and-heart despises the evil action that he has committed, the more his body is freed from that wrong. [231] For a man who has done evil and felt remorse is set free from that evil, but he is purified by ceasing (to do it, with the resolution), ‘I will not do that again.’ [232] When he has considered in this way in his mind-and-heart what fruits will spring forth from the effects of his past actions when he has died, he should constantly engage in auspicious actions in his mind-and-heart, speech, and physical form. [233] If a man who has knowingly or unknowingly committed a despicable action wishes to be freed from it, he should not do it a second time.

  [234] If his mind-and-heart is heavy because of some act that he has committed, he should generate the inner heat (prescribed) for it until he is satisfied. [235] The intelligent men whose vision was the Veda said that all this happiness of gods and humans has inner heat as its root, inner heat as its middle, and inner heat as its end. [236] Knowledge is a priest’s inner heat, protection a ruler’s inner heat, business a commoner’s inner heat, and service a servant’s inner heat. [237] The self-controlled sages who eat fruits, roots, and air look over the triple world, with everything moving and still, by means of inner heat alone. [238] Medicinal herbs, sound health, learning, and the various divine statuses are achieved by inner heat alone, for inner heat is the way to achieve them. [239] Whatever is hard to pass over, hard to get, hard to reach, or hard to do, all of that can be achieved by inner heat, for inner heat is hard to surpass. [240] Those who have committed major crimes and all the rest who have done what should not be done are freed from that guilt by well-generated inner heat. [241] Worms, snakes, moths, livestock, and birds, as well as living beings that are stationary, go to heaven by the strength of their inner heat. [242] Whatever guilt people incur in mind-and-heart, speech, or action, they quickly burn all that away with inner heat alone, for inner heat is their wealth. [243] The gods who live in heaven accept the sacrificial offerings of the priest who has been cleaned by inner heat alone, and they fulfil his desires. [244] By inner heat alone the god who is the Lord of Creatures emitted this teaching, and in the very same way the sages obtained the Vedas by generating inner heat. [245] Seeing that the excellent origin of this entire (universe) was from inner heat, the gods have proclaimed that this great good fortune comes from inner heat.

  [246] Daily study of the Veda, performance of the great sacrifices according to one’s ability, and patience quickly de stroy evils, even those caused by the major crimes. [247] Just as fire instantly burns up the fuel that it touches with its brilliant energy, so a man who knows the Veda burns up all evil with the fire of his knowledge.

  [248] The restoration for (revealed) errors in accordance with the rules has thus been described; after that, learn the restoration for secret (errors).

  [249] Even the killer of an embryo is purified after a month by suppressing his breath sixteen times together with (recitation of) the three great exclamations and the syllable ‘Om’, repeated day after day. [250] Even a man who has drunk liquor is cleaned by chanting the hymn of Kutsa that begins, ‘Burn away our error’, the hymn of Vasistha that begins, ‘With hymns of praise they woke the dawn’, the hymn that begins, ‘Great is the help of the three’, and the verses that contain the word, ‘clean’. [251] Even a man who has stolen gold becomes instantly free of defilement by once chanting the hymn that begins, ‘This beloved grey priest’, and the ‘Auspicious Intention’. [252] A man who has violated his guru’s marriage-bed is freed by reciting the hymns that begin, ‘Drink the oblation’, ‘Let no anxiety’, and ‘This, yes, this is my thought: have I not drunk Soma?’ and reciting the ‘Hymn of Man’. [253] A man who wishes to dispel gross or subtle errors should chant for a year the verse that begins ‘Let us dispel your rage’, or (the one that begins) ‘If we humans have committed some offence’. [254] A man who has received gifts from someone whose gifts should not be received or has eaten despicable food is purified by chanting the verses that begin, ‘Swiftly this exhilarating stream flows’, for three days. [255] But a man who has committed many errors is cleaned by repeating for a year the verses to Soma and Rudra and the verses that begin, ‘Aryaman, Varuṇa, and Mitra’, while bathing in a flowing stream. [256] A man who has erred should chant for a year the seven verses that begin, ‘
We call to Indra for help’; but a man who has done something forbidden in water should sit for a month, eating food that he has begged for. [257] A twice-born man dispels even a very grave error by offering an oblation of clarified butter with the Vedic verses of the ‘fragmentary’ oblations for a year or by chanting the verse that begins, ‘Bowing low is powerful’.

  [258] A man who has committed a major crime is cleaned if he follows after cows for a year with a concentrated mind, reciting the hymns to purified Soma and eating food that he has begged for. [259] Or he is freed from all crimes if, purified, he recites an entire collection of the Veda three times in the wilderness and is cleaned by three ‘Distancing’ vows. [260] But if a man fasts diligently for three days and goes down into the water three times a day, chanting the ‘Error-erasing Hymn’, he is freed from all crimes. [261] Just as the horse-sacrifice, the king of sacrifices, dispels all evil, even so the ‘Error-erasing Hymn’ dispels all evil.

  [262] A priest who retains the ṛg Veda in his memory incurs no guilt at all, even if he destroys these three worlds or eats food taken from anyone whatever. [263] Anyone who, with a concentrated mind, recites three times the collection of the ṛg Veda, or of the Yajur Veda or the Sāma Veda, together with the secret texts, is freed from all evils. [264] Just as a clod of earth disintegrates when it is thrown into a great lake, even so all evil-doing sinks away in the three-fold Veda. [265] The verses, the other formulas, and the various chants – this should be known as the three-fold Veda, and a man who knows this is a man who knows the Veda. [266] The primary, ultimate reality, consisting of three sounds, on which the triple (Veda) is based, is another three-fold Veda which must be kept secret, and a man who knows that is a man who knows the Veda.