Chapter 1

To Yama, residing in his hermitage, seated comfortably, a master of the Vedas and Śāstras, / the sages approached and asked, their minds held in check. // YSS_1.1 //

The Sages: Those who have committed great sins, and minor sinners as well, / by which vows they are purified—tell that to us, O great sage. // YSS_1.2 //

Yama: Touched by the wind and sun during the day, by the stars and breezes at night, / or by the two twilights, water is always purifying. // YSS_1.3 //

In its natural state, not pervaded by any impure substance (amedhya), it is always pure; / whether in a vessel or on the ground, drinkable water is a purifier of men. // YSS_1.4 //

A twice-born who is touched by an impure substance, by night or by day, / should immediately bathe and touch fire; and at the two twilights, he is always pure. // YSS_1.4A //

A man bitten by beasts of prey, camels, horses, and the like, but not by humans, / becomes pure immediately by bathing, at twilight and during the night. // YSS_1.5 //

Having unknowingly eaten the food of an outcaste, or by chance the food of a Chandala, / one is purified in ten nights by a diet of barley gruel mixed with cow's urine. // YSS_1.6 //

Those who have fallen from their vows by threatening suicide by water, fire, or hanging; those who have lapsed from asceticism or a fast unto death; / those who have attempted suicide by poison, falling from a height, or fasting; and those who have attempted suicide with a weapon; // YSS_1.7 //

these nine are apostates, excluded from all religious duties. / They are purified by a Cāndrāyaṇa (a lunar penance regulated by the moon's phases), or by two Taptakṛcchras (a 'heated' penance involving hot substances). // YSS_1.8 //

Sinners who reside in both worlds, who have fallen into 'black and variegated' sins, / are purified by two Aindava vows (a type of lunar penance) and by giving a cow and a bull. // YSS_1.9 //

For cremating one killed by a cow or a Brahmin, or one who died by hanging, / and for cutting the noose of such a person, one should perform a Sāṃtapana kṛcchra (a penance involving a diet of cow products and kuśa-water). // YSS_1.10 //

One afflicted by worms born from wounds or by flies and the like should perform a yearly kṛcchra penance; / for deluded intercourse, one should perform a Parāka (a twelve-day fast). // YSS_1.11 //

For each single sin that is committed, the wise know a penance; / but when all sins converge, no penance is known. // YSS_1.12 //

When all sins converge, taking up the skull-bowl is prescribed; / that Kāpālika vow is considered its ultimate penance by the wise. // YSS_1.13 //

For those who eat the food of a Kāpālika, and likewise for those who have intercourse with their women, / a year-long kṛcchra penance is prescribed if done knowingly; if unknowingly, two Aindava vows. // YSS_1.14 //

For drinking surā (a type of liquor) or other intoxicating drink, or for eating beef, / one who has undergone the hardship of a Taptakṛcchra is purified by a fire-offering with muñja grass. // YSS_1.15 //

If, having resolved upon a penance, the performer should die before its completion, / he becomes pure on that very day, in this world and in the next. // YSS_1.16 //

As long as one member of an undivided family performs a penance, / the others, by touching him, become impure and reprehensible. // YSS_1.17 //

They may not dine with others, receive gifts, be studied with, or be married; / when that vow is completed, they are all purified and become heirs to the property. // YSS_1.18 //

One who is eighty years of age, or a child under sixteen, / as well as women and the sick, are eligible for half a penance. // YSS_1.19 //

For a child who is over four but under sixteen years of age, / a brother, father, or another kinsman should perform the penance. // YSS_1.20 //

For one younger than this, there is no offense and no sin; / there is no royal punishment for him, and no penance is required. // YSS_1.21 //

For killing a person of mixed-caste birth, one should perform a Sāṃtapana kṛcchra; / for killing a Sūta, an Atikṛcchra penance is prescribed, and the same for a Kuṇḍa or a Golaka (types of children born of adultery). // YSS_1.22 //

For killing women in general, one should perform the Cāndrāyaṇa vow; / for killing a cow, a Kshatriya, a Vaishya, a Shudra, or one born of a regular-order union, // YSS_1.23 //

and for dining with them, having intercourse with their women, or accepting gifts from them, / one should properly perform a year-long kṛcchra penance for purification. // YSS_1.23A //

One who causes the death of other living beings should give a gift according to his ability; / he should also always perform a Prājāpatya penance (a penance sacred to the Lord of Creatures); this is the established rule. // YSS_1.24 //

The four perpetrators of great sins, without distinction, / are purified by entering fire, or by bathing at the conclusion of a horse sacrifice. // YSS_1.25 //

But those who commit these sins in secret / are purified in the month of Māgha by reciting the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn while standing submerged in water. // YSS_1.26 //

For having intercourse with another's wife, a man, a eunuch, or with horses, goats, sheep, and other animals—/ but not with a cow—one should recite the Pāvamānī hymns for three days. // YSS_1.27 //

Those who have intercourse with women of the Chandala and other such castes, or with cows, / are purified by reciting the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn for a fortnight while observing a vow of subsisting on milk. // YSS_1.28 //

For having intercourse with one's mother, guru's wife, sister, or daughter, / one must enter fire; no other purification is ordained. // YSS_1.29 //

For having intercourse with one's father's sister, mother's sister, maternal uncle's daughter, or son's wife, / one should perform a kṛcchra penance for six months. // YSS_1.30 //

For having intercourse with women within the prohibited degrees of kinship on the father's or mother's side, / or with a woman of one's own gotra (patrilineal clan), one should perform the Parāka penance. // YSS_1.31 //

A washerman, a leatherworker, an actor, a bamboo-worker, / a fisherman, a dancer, a wrestler, and an Antyāvasāyin (a type of outcaste); // YSS_1.32 //

for eating or drinking with them, secretly associating with them even once, / or performing oral intercourse, one should perform a Taptakṛcchra. // YSS_1.32A //

Chandalas and Mushtikas, and likewise those of mixed-caste birth; // YSS_1.32 B //

for eating with them, having intercourse with their women, or accepting gifts from them, / a year-long kṛcchra is prescribed if done knowingly; if unknowingly, an Aindava vow is prescribed. // YSS_1.33 //

Those whose family custom is said to include the drinking of liquor by their women, / and those born from the 'field' (wife) of a fallen man, are known as people without proper family conduct. // YSS_1.34 //

Those who are outside the four varṇas yet consider themselves Brahmins, / who are of mixed origin through generations, are to be carefully avoided. // YSS_1.35 //

One born from a fallen ascetic, and one born to a Brahmin woman from a Shudra man— / both of these should be known as Chandalas, as should one born from a woman of the same gotra. // YSS_1.36 //

A child born of adultery with a woman of the same caste is a Kuṇḍa if her husband is alive; / if the husband is dead, he is named a Golaka. Both are likewise devoid of caste status. // YSS_1.37 //

Children produced by twice-born men with the wives of other men, / whether of the same caste or not, are all known as Kuṇḍas and Golakas. // YSS_1.37A //

They are not said to be of their mother's caste, nor are they considered to be of their father's caste; / such sons are unmarriageable by the relatives of either the father or the mother. // YSS_1.38 //

Testimony given by those dependent on women, by royal associates, by the young and the very old, or by those oppressed by the king, is not valid evidence; / neither a legal reply nor a deed performed by them is considered valid. // YSS_1.39 //

A killer of a horse, a killer of a man, a feller of tended trees, / and those who are attached to another's wife—they are to be killed with a weapon and not receive a lesser punishment. // YSS_1.40 //

He who with malicious intent harms another's wife, children, and household, / or his field, grain, wealth, and person—the king should have him killed with blows from a club. // YSS_1.41 //

The perpetrator, the consenter, the advisor, the instigator, the retaliator, / the planner, the helper, and the accomplice living with him are all to be killed; a man must clear himself of suspicion. // YSS_1.42 //

If a dependent, refugee, or servant commits a crime, he is the perpetrator; / the one who enjoys the fruit offered by him is not to be punished, and the one who merely provided the food is also released. // YSS_1.43 //

Others and yet others, destroyed by greed, and from that, the high and the low, and also others and yet others. // YSS_1.44 //

At sacrifices, weddings, and festivals, whether for men of equal or unequal status, / in these cases, they say there is no fault for one who is engaged in preparing food for others. // YSS_1.45 //

One who gives a weapon, poison, or fire to another incurs sin for a month; / however, if the action is motivated by the pursuit of righteousness, wealth, or desire, and not by the wish to harm another, there is no fault. // YSS_1.46 //

He who, without malicious intent, takes a vehicle or an elephant from its owner and goes away, / in that case the experts say there is no sin; he is ritually pure, yet still subject to punishment. // YSS_1.47 //

A wife, daughter, a kinswoman, or a daughter-in-law, a brother, son, servant, or dependent— / whoever among them is tainted by a crime is to be punished by the king. The master, if not the perpetrator, is not punished; this is the law. // YSS_1.48 //

One who helps another by giving wealth, by employing him in work, or by fighting for him, / and who thus abides in that man's heart, should be known as a companion in happiness and sorrow. // YSS_1.49 //

If someone, un-instigated, kills a large wild animal, a bird, a domestic animal of the same or another species, / or a man or a woman, his master is not liable for the penalty. // YSS_1.50 //

Whatever caste is born from the classes of the twice-born, sinners are not to be punished for performing sacrifices and the like; / confined and bound during the offering of planets, snakes do not bite if they are not frightened by others. // YSS_1.51 //

The king, having made him pay the owner, he is to be released by his master upon payment of the value of the animal. // YSS_1.52 //

If, in legal disputes, cows and other animals die due to their own willfulness or carelessness, / those who know the law do not declare a fault in that case, nor a fine equivalent to the animal's value. // YSS_1.53 //

If cows are killed by wild, fanged animals, and they were not protected, / they do not declare a sin for the one who set a trap to prevent harm, but for the one whose hand held the weapon. // YSS_1.54 //

When one person is killed by many acting together, and it is not known by whose blow he died, / the killer among them, having been identified by divine ordeal, should be punished by those appointed by the king. // YSS_1.55 //

Sometimes a person, in the act of purifying his sin, gives up his life and dies sinless. // YSS_1.55A //

Some, having argued with counter-arguments and proofs, say this is the authority; / that sometimes a person whose life is at its end simply dies—this is sung by the Vedas and the sages who were consulted. // YSS_1.56 //

When sinners wish to perform purifying penances like the Cāndrāyaṇa for their own good, / they should desire association with the good, and the result will be like a lamp of knowledge in blinding darkness. // YSS_1.57 //