Chapter 2

Listen now to the punishment and vow that are successively ordained / for those men who, having fallen into a state requiring penance, do not perform the vow. // YSS_2.1 //

For one who confesses his sin himself and undertakes the vow, / no fine should be applied to him; the vow is taken as the punishment. // YSS_2.2 //

There is no monetary fine for a great sin, but for an equivalent offense, there is punishment; / for one who does not perform the vow in that case, the king should impose a fine of one thousand. // YSS_2.3 //

A man guilty of a minor sin who does not perform the vow / should always be fined the first amercement; the penance is for purification. // YSS_2.4 //

For killing a blue jay, a frog, a cat, an owl, or a crow, / a Brahmin shall be fined one hundred paṇas, and the same for a mongoose. // YSS_2.5 //

For killing a peacock, a swan, a Bhāsa bird, a hawk, or a cockerel, / one shall be fined thirty paṇas, and the same for a wild peacock. // YSS_2.6 //

A Brahmin who has abandoned his sacred fire, who has neglected his twilight prayers, / or who acts as a servant to a Shudra, the king should banish from the kingdom. // YSS_2.7 //

A Brahmin who has given up his fire, who does not bathe, who does not recite mantras, / or who does not worship the sun at dawn and dusk by performing his twilight prayers, // YSS_2.8 //

who does not perform the daily sacrifices, who eats the food of a Shudra, / or who lives by the sword, shall be fined one paṇa each day. // YSS_2.9 //

A Brahmin who casts his seed in Shudra women, or who lusts after a Shudra woman, / the king should confiscate all his property and brand his forehead with a vulva. // YSS_2.10 //

A vulva-mark, a liquor-mark, a surā-mark on the forehead; / for one who casts his seed on prostitutes, the king, having confiscated everything, [should do this]. // YSS_2.11 //

One who bathes at the wrong time, bathes during the day, eats another's food or his own [improperly], / such a man has lost his rites; his wealth is declared to belong to the king. // YSS_2.12 //

For a Brahmin who has abandoned the prescribed duties and partakes of a Shudra's food, / the king should confiscate all his property annually and present it to those learned in the Veda. // YSS_2.13 //

Wearing a lower or upper garment improperly is a wrongful amercement; / for a woman doing the same, he should impose a double fine. // YSS_2.14 //

But no punishment is ordained for children, the blind, the sick, or the elderly. / A man who urinates on a public road incurs a fault. // YSS_2.15 //

Likewise, it is ordained that feces and vomit should not be on a path; / one who urinates while standing incurs a double fine. // YSS_2.16 //

Urinating while facing the eastern or western direction, / and likewise discharging feces, shall incur a double fine. // YSS_2.17 //

A thief, a slanderer, a perpetrator of violence, and a Brahmin cohabiting with a Shudra woman (vṛṣalīpati), / and one who abandons his dependents—these five are known as thorns in the side of the village. // YSS_2.18 //

The king, having identified these thorns in his kingdom, should remove them; / for if not removed, they create a dark falsehood for the people. // YSS_2.19 //

A thief, nourished by his thievery, adorned with bloody garlands, / and wrapped in filth—the king shall have him killed. // YSS_2.20 //

Placing the mark of a dog's foot on his face, wrapping him in a donkey's skin, / mounting the slanderer on a donkey, the king should banish him after confiscating his stolen wealth. // YSS_2.21 //

The king should banish from the kingdom the violent man who breaks into houses, steals property, and makes it his own, / having him cast out by a Chandala. // YSS_2.22 //

For breaking a vow and possessing a liquor vessel, two things are bound to him; / with his heart smeared with excrement, the king should cast out the vṛṣalīpati. // YSS_2.23 //

With his body smeared with ashes and fumigated with the hair and bones of a corpse, / the king, having confiscated all his property, should banish from the kingdom the one who has abandoned his sacred fire. // YSS_2.24 //

Being fanned with the hair of a corpse, his head adorned with a garland of it, / the king should make the man who violates convention go naked. // YSS_2.25 //

A wretch of a Brahmin who has begotten a child on a Shudra woman, / the king should make that man, guilty of the sin of contact, live outside the village. // YSS_2.26 //

He who, mixing with good men, makes such a man eat in the same row, / shall incur the first fine. // YSS_2.27 //

Wealth given improperly, and knowledge acquired by twice-borns and others, / all becomes fruitless through conversation with slanderous men. // YSS_2.28 //

One who reveals a flaw in or deceives regarding the property of gods or Brahmins / shall suffer bodily mutilation, and a Brahmin shall have all his wealth confiscated. // YSS_2.29 //

One who points out a flaw for thieves is called a thief himself; / having confiscated all his property, one should brand the mark of a dog's foot on his face. // YSS_2.30 //

A man knows by a sign one born at night from a [certain] mark; / likewise, having identified a speaker of falsehoods by his signs, the king should banish him. // YSS_2.31 //

Having punished a witness who speaks falsely in a dispute, the king / should prescribe a vow of twenty [days] for one who conceals sins. // YSS_2.32 //

One observing a vow, begging for alms, who eats without having offered to the fire, / shall receive a mouthful [of food] at the proper time, if he is not ill. // YSS_2.33 //

A man who does not rise to greet his teacher, father, brother, father-in-law, or the king / shall be made to pay a fine of three paṇas. // YSS_2.34 //

A Shudra sitting on a high seat while a superior is present / shall be fined six paṇas, and for not rising when the superior is leaving. // YSS_2.35 //

He in whose possession a false weight or measure, whether heavy or light, is seen, / his property should be considered as belonging to the king. // YSS_2.36 //

Ghee sold mixed with sesame oil under the name of ghee, / the merchant shall be made to pay four times the value; or oil mixed with ghee. // YSS_2.37 //

Pepper with stone fragments, salt with earth, / and asafoetida with tree resin—he shall likewise be made to pay four times the value. // YSS_2.38 //

A seller who mixes grain with chaff or stones / shall be made to pay an equal amount, and shall give the mixed goods to the buyer. // YSS_2.39 //

For mixing goods with similar or dissimilar substances and selling them to men, / a fourfold fine is declared; one should always act thus. // YSS_2.40 //

One who scatters sweepings from a funeral, filth, a skull, or chaff on a village path / shall be fined ..... paṇas. // YSS_2.41 // [five syllables indiscernible]

A householder who lets out water from leftover food / shall incur a double fine, and the one who releases it shall be punished with a silver coin. // YSS_2.42 //

For killing a partridge during the day, a Brahmin shall be fined three paṇas; / for killing a hare, a tortoise, an iguana, or a ram, sixteen. // YSS_2.43 //

A Brahmin who sells milk, milk products, salt, or oil, / or lac, shall incur the middlemost fine. // YSS_2.44 //

A Brahmin who sells cakes, cooked food, meat, soma, bones, or honey, / or hides, shall incur the middlemost fine. // YSS_2.45 //

A superintendent of markets who uses false weights and measures, / shall be fined one paṇa, as shall the one who uses them to buy. // YSS_2.46 //

A Brahmin who begets a child on a Shudra woman and then marries her, / shall be fined one thousand if it is her first delivery. // YSS_2.47 //

A Brahmin who eats the cooked food of a vṛṣalīpati / shall be fined fourteen paṇas; double that during a period of impurity after birth. // YSS_2.48 //

For eating at a śrāddha (ancestral rite) in his house, he shall be fined the same amount; / he shall incur the first amercement, especially if there is no valid reason. // YSS_2.49 //

One who eats at the house of a vṛṣalīpati during the Anvaṣṭakā or Aṣṭakā rites / shall be fined fourteen paṇas, and the same for eating at a monthly rite. // YSS_2.50 //

One who accepts the order of precedence for the Aṣṭakā rites from a Shudra's house / shall be fined half of ninety-six, and the same for having previously eaten in that house. // YSS_2.51 //

For consuming forbidden things like liquor, a Brahmin shall be fined sixteen paṇas; / for pressed juices, double that; for fish, he shall be fined one hundred. // YSS_2.52 //

Thus, for these offenses, the fine should be doubled for Soma-drinkers; / for eating the flesh of donkeys, horses, pigs, and the like, one is considered fallen. // YSS_2.53 //

A twice-born who strikes his wife or dependent with wood, bone, horn, or stone, / shall be fined one thousand, and must also undergo a shaving of the head. // YSS_2.54 //

He who inflicts a wound with his fingernails on his wife's exposed limbs, / the perpetrator, or one who has it done with his own limbs, shall be liable for the first fine. // YSS_2.55 //

A twice-born who engages in oral sex with a woman, or makes her do so, / or who makes another do so, shall be fined the first amercement. // YSS_2.56 //

A Brahmin who excessively sells the Veda becomes fallen, / as does one who mounts a woman like a horse, or kisses her private parts. // YSS_2.57 //

A Brahmin who intentionally emits his seed shall be fined fifty paṇas; / for having intercourse with cows, he shall be fined one hundred. // YSS_2.58 //

For having intercourse in an unnatural orifice, one incurs the first amercement; / one incurs the middlemost fine for going into the yoni of a she-buffalo. // YSS_2.59 //

A man who goes into the yoni of a cow shall be fined one thousand; / thus the fines are doubled for those observing a vow. // YSS_2.60 //

To one who is weary on the road, one should give way, or offer shelter; / the giver of shelter gets the merit of a sacrifice, while the non-giver is without refuge. // YSS_2.61 //

A Brahmin who serves a Shudra woman is considered lower than a Shudra; / by the very act of intercourse with a Shudra woman, he becomes fallen. // YSS_2.62 //

By the very act of intercourse with a Shudra woman, a twice-born begets a child of her nature; / the mother of that Shudra child is said to cause his fallen state. // YSS_2.63 //

Therefore, a Brahmin who casts his seed into a dark woman, whether for sacrificial or domestic purposes, / awaits the loss of his sacred fire. // YSS_2.64 //

Seeing offspring from a Shudra woman, they fall into great misfortune; / a Vaishya's wealth by policy .. if the twice-born himself does not. // YSS_2.65 // [two syllables indiscernible]

A Brahmin who cohabits with a Shudra woman will see his ancestors look upon / the beautiful tooth of a dog, even of impure ones. // YSS_2.66 //

Therefore, in śrāddha rites, a twice-born must certainly shun the vṛṣalīpati / and dogs, and then feed the Brahmins. // YSS_2.67 //

All food that is touched, seen, or mixed with that of a vṛṣalīpati / becomes inedible; this applies to cooked food. // YSS_2.68 //

Even a worthy twice-born who sits in the same row as unworthy, inauspicious men, / and the vṛṣalīpati in the mire, should forfeit his ripened harvest. // YSS_2.69 //

Food touched by a fee or by silver / can be purified by the wise, but if touched during a śrāddha, it is ruined. // YSS_2.70 //

A Brahmin touched by a Kshatriya or a Vaishya woman / can be purified by certain means, but not one who has gone to a Shudra woman. // YSS_2.71 //

A king who tolerates a vṛṣalīpati in a village / is unworthy of receiving good things, and his own interests and the village's are forfeit. // YSS_2.72 //

Of all thorns, the perpetrator of violence is the most powerful; / therefore, the king should devise a punishment of degradation for the violent. // YSS_2.73 //

He who commits a minor act of violence, and in time becomes a major perpetrator, / thinking "it is only a small sin," the king should punish him. // YSS_2.74 //

Thus, the king should remove the five kinds of thorns from his kingdom; / his righteousness, wealth, lifespan, fame, and kingdom will increase. // YSS_2.75 //

What has been said about thorns according to the first principle, / the fourfold procedure is declared, and it succeeds through the proper path. // YSS_2.76 //

Clans and others are authorized to hear disputes according to tradition; / even in a corner, this is understood by a wise Brahmin through the scriptures. // YSS_2.77 //