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1. 'Anybody but a Brâhmana shall suffer corporal punishment for adultery.' 1
2. 'The wives (of men) of all castes must be guarded more carefully than wealth.' 2
3. 'But corporal punishment (shall) not (be inflicted) for (adultery with) the wives of minstrels and with those who appear on the stage. For (the husbands) carry them (to other men), or, lying concealed (at home), permit them to hold culpable intercourse.' 3
4. 'Women (possess) an unrivalled means of purification; they never become (entirely) foul. For month by month their temporary uncleanness removes their sins.' 4
5. 'Soma gave them cleanliness, the Gandharva their melodious voice, and Fire purity of all (limbs); therefore women are free from stains.' 5
6. 'Let him abandon a barren (wife) in the tenth year, one who bears daughters (only) in the twelfth, one whose children (all) die in the fifteenth, but her who is quarrelsome without delay.' 6
7. A widow shall avoid during a year (the use of) honey, meat, spirituous liquor, and salt, and sleep on the ground. 7
8. Maudgalya (declares that she shall do so) during six months.
9. After (the expiration of) that (time) she may, with the permission of her Gurus, bear a son to her brother-in-law, in case she has no son. 9
10. Now they quote also (the following verse): One whose appointment can have no result, (viz.) a barren woman, one who has borne sons, one who is past child-bearing, one whose children are (all) dead, and one who is unwilling must not be appointed.' 10
11. The sister of a maternal uncle and of the father, a sister, a sister's daughter, a daughter-in-law, a maternal uncle's wife, and the wife of a 11
friend are females who must never be approached (agamyâ).
12. For intercourse with females who must not be approached (agamyâ), a Krikkhra and an Atikrikkhra (and) a Kândrâyana are the penances prescribed for all.
13. Thereby (the rule regarding) intercourse with a female of the Kandâla caste has been declared. 13
14. Now they quote also (the following verses): A Brâhmana who unintentionally approaches a female of the Kandâla caste, eats (food given by a Kandâla) or receives (presents from him), becomes an outcast; but (if he does it) intentionally, he becomes equal (to a Kandâla). 14
15. 'He who approaches his father's, his teacher's, or a king's wife, is guilty of the crime of violating a Guru's bed; the penance ordained for him has been declared above.' 15
16. (A Brâhmana) who is unable (to subsist) by teaching, sacrificing for others, or the acceptance of gifts, shall maintain himself by following the duties of Kshatriyas, because that is the next following (caste). 16
17. Gautama (declares that one shall) not (act thus). For the duties of Kshatriyas are too cruel for a Brâhmana. 17
18. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'Out of regard for the sacred law a Brâhmana and a Vaisya may take up arms for (the protection of) cows or Brâhmanas, or when a confusion of the castes (threatens to take place). 18
19. (Or) the livelihood of a Vaisya should be adopted, because that is the one following (next): 19
20. (If he lives by agriculture) he shall plough before breakfast, 20
21. With two bulls whose noses have not been pierced, not striking them with the goad, (but) frequently coaxing them.
22. The (sacred domestic) fire (shall be kindled) at the wedding; the religious ceremonies up to the Agnyâdheya (shall be) performed in that. 22
23. Now, beginning with the Agnyâdheya, follow these (rites in an) uninterrupted (series), as, for instance, the Agnyâdheya, the Agnihotra, the new and full moon sacrifices, the Âgraya.a at the winter and summer solstices, the animal sacrifice, the Kâturmâsyas at the beginning of each season, the Shaddhotri in spring, the Agnishtoma. Thus the attainment of bliss (is secured). 23
24. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'Neither he who is accustomed to sleep in the day-time, nor he who eats the food of anybody, nor he who falls from a height to which he has climbed, can reach heaven as he desires.' 24
25. Let him avoid meanness, hard-heartedness, and crookedness. 25
26. Now they quote also with reference to this (subject the following) verse in the dialogue between the daughters of Usanas and Vrishaparvan: 'Thou, forsooth, art the daughter of one who praises (others), who begs and accepts (gifts); but I am the child of one who is praised, who gives gifts and does not accept them.' 26
233:1 4. Âpastamba II, 10, 26, 20; 10, 27, 11. Govinda thinks that non-Brâhmanical offenders should be burned, in accordance with Vasishtha XXI, 2-3. But mutilation may also be intended. Samgrahana, 'adultery,' probably includes all those acts mentioned Manu VIII, 354-358.
233:2 Manu VIII, 359.
233:3 Manu VIII, 362. I read conjecturally, 'samsargayanti tâ hyetâ niguptâs kâlayantyapi,' basing my emendations on Manu's text. The MSS. and Govinda have, samsargayanti tâ hyetân niguptâms kâlayanty api, which gives no good sense. Govinda explains kâranadârâh, 'the wives of minstrels,' by devadâsyah, 'temple-slaves.'
233:4 Vasishtha XXVIII, 4.
233:5 Vasishtha XXVIII, 6.
234:6 Manu IX, 81.
234:7-8. Vasishtha XVII, 55. The word madya, 'spirituous liquor,' occurs in M. and the I. O. copy of the commentary. The MSS. from the Dekhan and Gugarât, including K., read maggana or maddâna, the compound letter being very indistinct.
234:9 Vasishtha XVII, 56, where the term 'Gurus' is fully explained.
234:10 Vasishtha XVII, 57-59. M. and the two copies of the commentary read pisâkotpannaputrâ ka instead of vasâ kotpannaputrâ ka, 'a barren woman and one who has borne sons.' I follow the Dekhan and Gugarât MSS., which undoubtedly give the genuine reading. Perhaps the term avasâm, Vasishtha XVII, 57, should be corrected to vasâm.
234:11-12. These two Sûtras are additions to II, 1, 2, 13. See also Nârada XII, 73-74; Vasishtha XXI, 16.
235:13 Vasishtha XXIII, 41; Vishnu LIII, 5-6.
235:14 Manu XI, 176.
235:15 Govinda thinks that the penance intended is that mentioned in Sûtra 12. Probably a severer one is meant. The verse is interesting, as it clearly is a quotation from some metrical work on law, not merely of traditional detached slokas.
235:16 Vasishtha II, 22. The Sûtra 'adhyâpanayâganapratigrahair asaktah kshatradharmena gîvet pratyanantaratvât' occurs in the two copies of the commentary only. The I. O. copy of the commentary has, however, before it the following words: [dharmya] svâdhyâyapravakane evety adhikânâm [kâram] darsayati pratigrihîtâ tâdrik pratigrahîtâram gridhnuvanti [târa ridhnu°] ritvigyagamânâ yâginau p. 236[°gane] tadasaktau kshatradharmau. M. reads, dharmanasvâdhyâyapravakana [ne] ityadhikâran darsayati pratigrahîtâdrik pratigrahîtâra ridhnuvanti ritvigyagamâna yâganau tadasaktau svâdhyâyadhyâ [°yâdhya] panayagñayâganapratigrahair asaktama [tah] kshatradharmmena gîvet. The Dekhan and Gugarât MSS. read, dhârmye svâdhyâyapravakane ityadhikâram darsayati | pratigrahe dâtâ pratigrahîtâ[ra] ridhnuvanti | ritvigyagamânâ yâgane | tadasaktau kshatradharmena gîvayet, or have corruptions of this passage. I cannot come to any other conclusion than that the passage which precedes the words translated by me are a very ancient interpolation, caused by the embodiment of a portion of an old Bhâshya with the text, and that all our MSS., however much they may differ, go back to one codex archetypus.
236:17 Gautama Introduction, p. lii.
236:18 Gautama VII, 25.
236:19 Vasishtha II, 24.
236:20-21. Vasishtha II, 32.
236:22 Vasishtha VIII, 3. The religious ceremonies to be performed with the sacred domestic fire, which, according to Baudhâyana, p. 237 should be kindled at the wedding, not on the division of the paternal estate (Gautama V, q), are the so-called Grihya ceremonies (Gautama V, 8-9).
237:23 Vasishtha XI, 46. The sacrifices enumerated in this Sûtra require three fires, and belong to the srauta or vaitânika yagñas. The Shaddhotri mentioned here seems to be the animal sacrifice mentioned in the commentary on Kâtyâyana Srauta-sûtra VI, 1, 36.
237:24 An ârûdhapatita, 'he who falls from a height to which he has climbed,' is, according to Govinda, an ascetic who slides back into civil life.
237:25 Vasishtha VI, 40; X, 30. Govinda explains sâthyam, 'hard-heartedness,' by saktau satyâm api paropakârâkaranam, 'not doing a kindness to others though one is able to do so.'
237:26 The dialogue mentioned is that between Sarmishthâ and p. 238 Devayânî, which occurs Mahâbhârata I, 78. The verse quoted is the tenth of that Adhyâya, and agrees with ours, except that sutâham is read for athâham in the beginning of the second half verse.