(excerpts with highlighted repetitions on the right)
Chapter II
33. The names of women should be easy to pronounce, not
imply anything
213. It is the nature of women to seduce men in this (world);
for that
Chapter III 51. No father who knows (the law) must take even the smallest
gratuity for his
55. Women must be honoured and adorned by their fathers,
brothers,
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It is the nature
of women to seduce men in this (world); for that
(male) relations who, in their folly, live on the separate
Women must be honoured and adorned
Where the female relations live in grief,
If the wife is radiant with beauty, the whole house is bright;
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Chapter IV
205. A Brahmana must never eat (a dinner given) at a sacrifice
that is offered
217. Nor (the food given) by those who knowingly bear
with paramours
Chapter V 89. Libations of water shall not be offered to those who
(neglect the prescribed
146. Thus the rules of personal purification for men of
all castes, and those for
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A Brahmana must never eat (a dinner given) at a sacrifice
that is offered by .. a woman .. Nor .. by those who in all matters are ruled by women
Libations of water shall not be offered to those ..
In childhood a female must be subject to her father,
She must always
be cheerful, clever in (the management of her)
Though
destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure (elsewhere),
If a wife obeys her husband,
Until death let her be patient (of hardships),
self-controlled, and chaste
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162. Offspring begotten by another man is here not (considered
lawful), nor
(does offspring begotten) on another man's wife (belong to the begetter), nor is a second husband anywhere prescribed for virtuous women. 163. She who cohabits with a man of higher caste, forsaking her own husband who belongs to a lower one, will become contemptible in this world, and is called a remarried woman (parapurva). 164. By violating her duty towards her husband, a wife is disgraced in this world, (after death) she enters the womb of a jackal, and is tormented by diseases (the punishment of) her sin. 165. She who, controlling her thoughts, words, and deeds, never slights her lord, resides (after death) with her husband (in heaven), and is called a virtuous (wife). 166. In reward of such conduct, a female who controls her thoughts, speech, and actions, gains in this (life) highest renown, and in the next (world) a place near her husband. 167. A twice-born man, versed in the sacred law, shall burn a wife of equal caste who conducts herself thus and dies before him, with (the sacred fires used for) the Agnihotra, and with the sacrificial implements. 168. Having thus, at the funeral, given the sacred fires to his wife who dies before him, he may marry again, and again kindle (the fires). 169. (Living) according to the (preceding) rules, he must never neglect the five (great) sacrifices, and, having taken a wife, he must dwell in (his own) house during the second period of his life. Chapter VII 46. For a king who is attached to the vices springing
from love of pleasure,
148. That king whose secret plans other people, (though)
assembled
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By violating her duty towards her husband,
a king who is attached to the vices springing from love
particularly women betray secret council
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Chapter VIII
27. The king shall protect the inherited (and other) property
of a minor, until he
68. Women should give evidence for women... 70. On failure (of qualified witnesses, evidence) may
be given (in such cases)
77. One man who is free from covetousness may be (accepted
as a) witness;
89. (Saying), 'Whatever places (of torment) are assigned
(by the sages) to the
111. Let no wise man swear an oath falsely, even in a
trifling matter; for he who
348. Twice-born men may take up arms when (they are) hindered
(in the
361. Let no man converse with the wives of others after
he has been forbidden
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care must be taken of barren women, of those who have no
Women should give evidence for women ..
On failure (of qualified witnesses, evidence) may
One man who is free from covetousness may be
Let
no wise man swear an oath falsely, even in a trifling matter;
Twice-born men may take up arms ..
in order to protect women
Let no man converse with the wives of others after he
He who violates an unwilling maiden
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Chapter IX.
1. I will now propound the eternal laws for a husband
and his wife who keep to
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Day and night woman must be kept
a woman is never fit for independence Reprehensible is the father who gives
not (his daughter in marriage)
Women must
particularly be guarded against evil inclinations,
No man can completely guard women by force; but they
can be guarded
(When creating them) Manu allotted to women
(a love of their) bed,
thus the law is settled;
women (who are) destitute of strength and
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22. Whatever be the qualities of the man with whom a
woman is united
according to the law, such qualities even she assumes, like a river (united) with the ocean 23. Akshamala, a woman of the lowest birth, being united to Vasishtha and Sarangi, (being united) to Mandapala, became worthy of honour. 24. These and other females of low birth have attained eminence in this world by the respective good qualities of their husbands. 25. Thus has been declared the ever pure popular usage (which regulates the relations) between husband and wife; hear (next) the laws concerning children which are the cause of happiness in this world and after death. 26. Between wives (striyah) who (are destined) to bear children, who secure many blessings, who are worthy of worship and irradiate (their) dwellings, and between the goddesses of fortune (sriyah, who reside) in the houses (of men), there is no difference whatsoever. 27. The production of children, the nurture of those born, and the daily life of men, (of these matters) woman is visibly the cause. 28. Offspring, (the due performance on religious rites, faithful service, highest conjugal happiness and heavenly bliss for the ancestors and oneself, depend on one's wife alone. 29. She who, controlling her thoughts, speech, and acts, violates not her duty towards her lord, dwells with him (after death) in heaven, and in this world is called by the virtuous a faithful (wife, sadhvi) 30. But for disloyalty to her husband a wife is censured among men, and (in her next life) she is born in the womb of a jackal and tormented by diseases, the punishment of her sin. 31. Listen (now) to the following holy discussion, salutary to all men, which the virtuous (of the present day) and the ancient great sages have held concerning male offspring. 32. They (all) say that the male issue (of a woman) belongs to the lord, but with respect to the (meaning of the term) lord the revealed texts differ; some call the begetter (of the child the lord), others declare (that it is) the owner of the soil. 33. By the sacred tradition the woman is declared to be the soil, the man is declared to be the seed; the production of all corporeal beings (takes place) through the union of the soil with the seed. 34. In some cases the seed is more distinguished, and in some the womb of the female; but when both are equal, the offspring is most highly esteemed. 35. On comparing the seed and the receptacle (of the seed), the seed is declared to be more important; for the offspring of all created beings is marked by the characteristics of the seed. 36. Whatever (kind on seed is sown in a field, prepared in due season, (a plant) of that same kind, marked with the peculiar qualities of the seed, springs up in it. |
females of low birth have attained eminence in this world by
the respective good qualities of their husbands. The production of children, the nurture of those
born, and the daily life
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37. This earth, indeed, is called the primeval womb of
created beings; but the
seed develops not in its development any properties of the womb. 38. In this world seeds of different kinds, sown at the proper time in the land, even in one field, come forth (each) according to its kind. 39. The rice (called) vrihi and (that called) sali, mudga-beans, sesamum, masha- beans, barley, leeks, and sugar-cane, (all) spring up according to their seed. 40. That one (plant) should be sown and another be produced cannot happen; whatever seed is sown, (a plant of) that kind even comes forth. 41. Never therefore must a prudent well-trained man, who knows the Veda and its Angas and desires long life, cohabit with another's wife. 42. With respect to this (matter), those acquainted with the past recite some stanzas, sung by Vayu (the Wind, to show) that seed must not be sown by (any) man on that which belongs to another. 43. As the arrow, shot by (a hunter) who afterwards hits a wounded (deer) in the wound (made by another), is shot in vain, even so the seed, sown on what belongs to another, is quickly lost (to the sower). 44. (Sages) who know the past call this earth (prithivi) even the wife of Prithu; they declare a field to belong to him who cleared away the timber, and a deer to him who (first) wounded it. 45. He only is a perfect man who consists (of three persons united), his wife, himself, and his offspring; thus (says the Veda), and (learned) Brahmanas propound this (maxim) likewise, 'The husband is declared to be one with the wife.' 46. Neither by sale nor by repudiation is a wife released from her husband; such we know the law to be, which the Lord of creatures (Pragapati) made of old. 47. Once is the partition (of the inheritance) made, (once is) a maiden given in marriage, (and) once does (a man) say,' I will give;' each of those three (acts is done) once only. 48. As with cows, mares, female camels, slave-girls, buffalo-cows, she-goats, and ewes, it is not the begetter (or his owner) who obtains the offspring, even thus (it is) with the wives of others. 49. Those who, having no property in a field, but possessing seed-corn, sow it in another's soil, do indeed not receive the grain of the crop which may spring up. 50. If (one man's) bull were to beget a hundred calves on another man's cows, they would belong to the owner of the cows; in vain would the bull have spent his strength. 51. Thus men who have no marital property in women, but sow their seed in the soil of others, benefit the owner of the woman; but the giver of the seed reaps no advantage. 52. If no agreement with respect to the crop has been made between the owner of the field and the owner of the seed, the benefit clearly belongs to the owner of the field; the receptacle is more important than the seed. 53. But if by a special contract (a field) is made over (to another) for sowing, then the owner of the seed and the owner of the soil are both considered in this world as sharers of the (crop). 54. If seed be carried by water or wind into somebody's field and germinates (there), the (plant sprung from that) seed belongs even to the owner of the field, the owner of the seed does not receive the crop. 55. Know that such is the law concerning the offspring of cows, mares, slave-girls, female camels, she-goats, and ewes, as well as of females of birds and buffalo-cows. 56. Thus the comparative importance of the seed and of the womb has been declared to you; I will next propound the law (applicable) to women in times of misfortune. 57. The wife of an elder brother is for his younger (brother) the wife of a Guru; but the wife of the younger is declared (to be) the daughter-in-law of the elder. 58. An elder (brother) who approaches the wife of the younger, and a younger (brother who approaches) the wife of the elder, except in times of misfortune, both become outcasts, even though (they were duly) authorised. 59. On failure of issue (by her husband) a woman who has been authorised, may obtain, (in the) proper (manner prescribed), the desired offspring by (cohabitation with) a brother-in-law or (with some other) Sapinda (of the husband). 60. He (who is) appointed to (cohabit with) the widow shall (approach her) at night anointed with clarified butter and silent, (and) beget one son, by no means a second. 61. Some (sages), versed in the law, considering the purpose of the appointment not to have been attained by those two (on the birth of the first), think that a second (son) may be lawfully procreated on (such) women. 62. But when the purpose of the appointment to (cohabit with) the widow has been attained in accordance with the law, those two shall behave towards each other like a father and a daughter-in-law. 63. If those two (being thus) appointed deviate from the rule and act from carnal desire, they will both become outcasts, (as men) who defile the bed of a daughter-in-law or of a Guru. 64. By twice-born men a widow must not be appointed to (cohabit with) any other (than her husband); for they who appoint (her) to another (man), will violate the eternal law. 65. In the sacred texts which refer to marriage the appointment (of widows) is nowhere mentioned, nor is the re-marriage of widows prescribed in the rules concerning marriage. 66. This practice which is reprehended by the learned of the twice-born castes as fit for cattle is said (to have occurred) even among men, while Vena ruled. 67. That chief of royal sages who formerly possessed the whole world, caused a confusion of the castes (varna), his intellect being destroyed by lust. 68. Since that (time) the virtuous censure that (man) who in his folly appoints a woman, whose husband died, to (bear) children (to another man). 69. If the (future) husband of a maiden dies after troth verbally plighted, her brother-in-law shall wed her according to the following rule. 70. Having, according to the rule, espoused her (who must be) clad in white garments and be intent on purity, he shall approach her once in each proper season until issue (be had). |
Never therefore must a prudent well-trained
man, who knows the Veda
and its Angas and desires long life, cohabit with another's wife. .. seed must not be sown by (any) man on that
which belongs to another.
He only is a perfect
man who consists (of three persons united),
Neither by sale nor by repudiation is
a wife released from her husband
it is not the begetter .. who obtains the offspring,
Thus men who have no marital property in women,
but sow their seed
On failure of issue (by her husband) a woman
who has been authorised,
to .. beget one son ..
Some sages .. think that a second (son) may
those two shall behave towards each
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71. Let no prudent man, after giving his daughter to
one (man), give her again to
another; for he who gives (his daughter) whom he had before given, incurs (the guilt of) speaking falsely regarding a human being. 72. Though (a man) may have accepted a damsel in due form, he may abandon (her if she be) blemished, diseased, or deflowered, and (if she have been) given with fraud. 73. If anybody gives away a maiden possessing blemishes without declaring them, (the bridegroom) may annul that (contract) with the evil-minded giver. 74. A man who has business (abroad) may depart after securing a maintenance for his wife; for a wife, even though virtuous, may be corrupted if she be distressed by want of subsistence. 75. If (the husband) went on a journey after providing (for her), the wife shall subject herself to restraints in her daily life; but if he departed without providing (for her), she may subsist by blameless manual work. 76. If the husband went abroad for some sacred duty, (she) must wait for him eight years, if (he went) to (acquire) learning or fame six (years), if (he went) for pleasure three years. 77. For one year let a husband bear with a wife who hates him; but after (the lapse of) a year let him deprive her of her property and cease to cohabit with her. 78. She who shows disrespect to (a husband) who is addicted to (some evil) passion, is a drunkard, or diseased, shall be deserted for three months (and be) deprived of her ornaments and furniture. 79. But she who shows aversion towards a mad or outcast (husband), a eunuch, one destitute of manly strength, or one afflicted with such diseases as punish crimes, shall neither be cast off nor be deprived of her property. 80. She who drinks spirituous liquor, is of bad conduct, rebellious, diseased, mischievous, or wasteful, may at any time be superseded (by another wife). 81. A barren wife may be superseded in the eighth year, she whose children (all) die in the tenth, she who bears only daughters in the eleventh, but she who is quarrelsome without delay. 82. But a sick wife who is kind (to her husband) and virtuous in her conduct, may be superseded (only) with her own consent and must never be disgraced. 83. A wife who, being superseded, in anger departs from (her husband's) house, must either be instantly confined or cast off in the presence of the family. 84. But she who, though having been forbidden, drinks spirituous liquor even at festivals, or goes to public spectacles or assemblies, shall be fined six krishnalas. 85. If twice-born men wed women of their own and of other (lower castes), the seniority, honour, and habitation of those (wives) must be (settled) according to the order of the castes (varna). |
Though (a man) may have accepted a damsel
in due form, he may
A man who has business (abroad)
may depart after securing a
For one
year let a husband bear with a wife who hates him;
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86. Among all (twice-born men) the wife of equal caste
alone, not a wife of a
different caste by any means, shall personally attend her husband and assist him in his daily sacred rites. 87. But he who foolishly causes that (duty) to be performed by another, while his wife of equal caste is alive, is declared by the ancients (to be) as (despicable) as a Kandala (sprung from the) Brahmana (caste). 88. To a distinguished, handsome suitor (of) equal (caste) should (a father) give his daughter in accordance with the prescribed rule, though she have not attained (the proper age). 89. (But) the maiden, though marriageable, should rather stop in (the father's) house until death, than that he should ever give her to a man destitute of good qualities. 90. Three years let a damsel wait, though she be marriageable; but after that time let her choose for herself a bridegroom (of) equal (caste and rank). 91. If, being not given in marriage, she herself seeks a husband, she incurs no guilt, nor (does) he whom she weds. 92. A maiden who choses for herself, shall not take with her any ornaments, given by her father or her mother, or her brothers; if she carries them away, it will be theft. 93. But he who takes (to wife) a marriageable damsel, shall not pay any nuptial fee to her father; for the (latter) will lose his dominion over her in consequence of his preventing (the legitimate result of the appearance of) her enemies. 94. A man, aged thirty years, shall marry a maiden of twelve who pleases him, or a man of twenty-four a girl eight years of age; if (the performance of) his duties would (otherwise) be impeded, (he must marry) sooner. 95. The husband receives his wife from the gods, (he does not wed her) according to his own will; doing what is agreeable to the gods, he must always support her (while she is) faithful. 96. To be mothers were women created, and to be fathers men; religious rites, therefore, are ordained in the Veda to be performed (by the husband) together with the wife. 97. If, after the nuptial fee has been paid for a maiden, the giver of the fee dies, she shall be given in marriage to his brother, in case she consents. 98. Even a Sudra ought not to take a nuptial fee, when he gives away his daughter; for he who takes a fee sell his daughter, covering (the transaction by another name). 99. Neither ancients nor moderns who were good men have done such (a deed) that, after promising (a daughter) to one man, they have her to another; 100. Nor, indeed, have we heard, even in former creations, of such (a thing as) the covert sale of a daughter for a fixed price, called a nuptial fee. 101. 'Let mutual fidelity continue until death,' this may be considered as the summary of the highest law for husband and wife. 102. Let man and woman, united in marriage, constantly exert themselves, that (they may not be) disunited (and) may not violate their mutual fidelity. 103. Thus has been declared to you the law for a husband and his wife, which is intimately connected with conjugal happiness, and the manner of raising offspring in times of calamity; learn (now the law concerning) the division of the inheritance. 104. After the death of the father and of the mother, the brothers, being assembled, may divide among themselves in equal shares the paternal (and the maternal) estate; for, they have no power (over it) while the parents live. 105. (Or) the eldest alone may take the whole paternal estate, the others shall live under him just as (they lived) under their father. 106. Immediately on the birth of his first-born a man is (called) the father of a son and is freed from the debt to the manes; that (son), therefore, is worthy (to receive) the whole estate. 107. That son alone on whom he throws his debt and through whom he obtains immortality, is begotten for (the fulfilment of) the law; all the rest they consider the offspring of desire. 108. As a father (supports) his sons, so let the eldest support his younger brothers, and let them also in accordance with the law behave towards their eldest brother as sons (behave towards their father). 109. The eldest (son) makes the family prosperous or, on the contrary, brings it to ruin; the eldest (is considered) among men most worthy of honour, the eldest is not treated with disrespect by the virtuous. 110. If the eldest brother behaves as an eldest brother (ought to do), he (must be treated) like a mother and like a father; but if he behaves in a manner unworthy of an eldest brother, he should yet be honoured like a kinsman. 111. Either let them thus live together, or apart, if (each) desires (to gain) spiritual merit; for (by their living) separate (their) merit increases, hence separation is meritorious. 112. The additional share (deducted) for the eldest shall be one-twentieth (of the estate) and the best of all chattels, for the middlemost half of that, but for the youngest one-fourth. 113. Both the eldest and the youngest shall take (their shares) according to (the rule just) stated (each of) those who are between the eldest and the youngest, shall have the share (prescribed for the) middlemost. 114. Among the goods of every kind the eldest shall take the best (article), and (even a single chattel) which is particularly good, as well as the best of ten (animals). 115. But among (brothers) equally skilled in their occupations, there is no additional share, (consisting of the best animal) among ten; some trifle only shall be given to the eldest as a token of respect. 116. If additional shares are thus deducted, one must allot equal shares (out of the residue to each); but if no deduction is made, the allotment of the shares among them shall be (made) in the following manner. 117. Let the eldest son take one share in excess, the (brother) born next after him one (share) and a half, the younger ones one share each; thus the law is settled. 118. But to the maiden (sisters) the brothers shall severally give (portions) out of their shares, each out of his share one-fourth part; those who refuse to give (it), will become outcasts. |
To a distinguished, handsome suitor (of)
equal (caste) should (a father)
If, being
not given in marriage, she herself seeks a husband,
A man, aged
thirty years, shall marry a maiden of twelve who
The husband receives his wife from the
gods, (he does not wed her)
'Let mutual fidelity continue until death' this
may be considered as the
learn (now the law concerning) the division of the inheritance .. the brothers, being assembled, may divide among
themselves in equal
(Or) the eldest alone may take the whole paternal
estate, the others
to the maiden (sisters) the brothers shall
severally give (portions) out
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127. He who has no son may make his daughter in the following
manner an
appointed daughter (putrika, saying to her husband), 'The (male) child, born of her, shall perform my funeral rites.' 128. According to this rule Daksha, himself, lord of created beings, formerly made (all his female offspring) appointed daughters in order to multiply his race. 129. He gave ten to Dharma, thirteen to Kasyapa, twenty-seven to King Soma, honouring (them) with an affectionate heart. 130. A son is even (as) oneself, (such) a daughter is equal to a son; how can another (heir) take the estate, while such (an appointed daughter who is even) oneself, lives? 131. But whatever may be the separate property of the mother, that is the share of the unmarried daughter alone; and the son of an (appointed) daughter shall take the whole estate of (his maternal grandfather) who leaves no son. 132. The son of an (appointed) daughter, indeed, shall (also) take the estate of his (own) father, who leaves no (other) son; he shall (then) present two funeral cakes to his own father and to his maternal grandfather. 133. Between a son's son and the son of an (appointed) daughter there is no difference, neither with respect to worldly matters nor to sacred duties; for their father and mother both sprang from the body of the same (man). 134. But if, after a daughter has been appointed, a son be born (to her father), the division (of the inheritance) must in that (case) be equal; for there is no right of primogeniture for a woman. 135. But if an appointed daughter by accident dies without (leaving) a son, the husband of the appointed daughter may, without hesitation, take that estate. 136. Through that son whom (a daughter), either not appointed or appointed, may bear to (a husband) of equal (caste), his maternal grandfather (has) a son's son; he shall present the funeral cake and take the estate. 137. Through a son he conquers the worlds, through a son's son he obtains immortality, but through his son's grandson he gains the world of the sun. 138. Because a son delivers (trayate) his father from the hell called Put, he was therefore called put-tra (a deliverer from Put) by the Self-existent (Svayambhu) himself. 139. Between a son's son and the son of a daughter there exists in this world no difference; for even the son of a daughter saves him (who has no sons) in the next world, like the son's son. 140. Let the son of an appointed daughter first present a funeral cake to his mother, the second to her father, the funeral to his father's father. 141. Of the man who has an adopted (Datrima) son possessing all good qualities, that same (son) shall take the inheritance, though brought from another family. 142. An adopted son shall never take the family (name) and the estate of his natural father; the funeral cake follows the family (name) and the estate, the funeral offerings of him who gives (his son in adoption) cease (as far as that son is concerned). 143. The son of a wife, not appointed (to have issue by another), and he whom (an appointed female, already) the mother of a son, bears to her brother-in-law, are both unworthy of a share, (one being) the son of an adulterer and (the other) produced through (mere) lust. 144. Even the male (child) of a female (duly) appointed, not begotten according to the rule (given above), is unworthy of the paternal estate; for he was procreated by an outcast. 145. A son (legally) begotten on such an appointed female shall inherit like a legitimate son of the body; for that seed and the produce belong, according to the law, to the owner of the soil. 146. He who takes care of his deceased brother's estate and of his widow, shall, after raising up a son for his brother, give that property even to that (son). 147. If a woman (duly) appointed bears a son to her brother-in-law or to another (Sapinda), that (son, if he is) begotten through desire, they declare (to be) incapable of inheriting and to be produced in vain. 148. The rules (given above) must be understood (to apply) to a distribution among sons of women of the same (caste); .. 232. Forgers of royal edicts, those who corrupt his ministers,
those who slay
Chapter X 62. Dying, without the expectation of a reward, for the
sake of Brahmanas and
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There is no right of primogenture for a woman
those who slay women, infants, or Brahmanas, ..
Dying, without the expectation of a reward ..
in the defence of women
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