LISTENING to the injunctions of Shambhu relating to the different castes and stages of life, Aparna was greatly pleased, and questioned Shangkara thus (1):

Shri Devi said:

Thou hast, O Lord! out of Thy kindness for Me and in Thy omniscience, spoken of the customs and the rules of religious conduct and sacraments for the well-being of the world (2). But the men of the Kali Age, being wicked, and blinded by anger and lust, atheists, of wavering minds and addicted to the gratification of their senses, will not in their ignorance and folly follow the way laid down by Thee; it behoves Thee, O Ishana! to say what will be the means of their liberation (3-4).

Shri Sadashiva said:

Thou hast asked well, O Devi! Thou who art the Benefactress of the world, the Mother of the world, Thou art Durga, Thou liberatest people from the bonds of birth and the toils of this world (5). Thou art the Primordial One, Thou fosterest and guardest this world, Thou art beyond the most excellent; Thou, O Devi! supportest the moving and the motionless Universe (6). Thou art Earth, Thou art Water, Thou art Fire, Thou art Air,

Thou art the Void, Thou art consciousness itself, Thou art the mahat-tattva (7). Thou art life in this world;

Thou art the knowledge of self, and Thou art the Supreme Divinity. Thou art the senses; Thou art the mind, Thou art the intellect; Thou art the motion and existence of the Universe (8).

Thou art the Vedas, Thou art the Pranava, Thou art the Smritis, the Sanghitas, the Nigamas, the Agamas, and the Tantras, Thou pervadest all the Shastras, and art the Abode of all that is good (9). Thou art Mahakali,

Mahalakshmi, Maha-nila-sarasvati, Mahodari, Mahamaya, Maharaudri, and Maheshvari; Thou art Omniscient and full of knowledge, there is nothing which Thou knowest not; yet, O Wise One! since Thou askest Me, I will speak of it for Thy pleasure (10-11).

Thou hast truly spoken, O Devi! of the ways of men, who, knowing what is for their welfare, yet, maddened by sinful desire for things which bring immediate enjoyment, and devoid of the sense of right and wrong, will desert the True Path. I speak now of that which will contribute to their salvation (12-13).

In the doing of what is forbidden and in the omitting of what is enjoined men sin, and sins lead to pain, sorrow, and disease (14).

O Kula-nayika! know that there are two kinds of sin, that which contributes merely to the injury of one's own self, and that which causes injury to others (15). Man is released of the sin of injuring others by the punishment inflicted by the King, and from other sins by expiatory rites and Samadhi (16).

Those sinful men who are not purified by either punishment or expiation cannot but go to hell, and are despised both in this world and the next (17).

O Adya! I shall first of all speak of the Rules relating, O Maheshvari! to punishment by the King. The King who deviates from these himself goes upon the downward path (18).

In the administration of justice, servants, sons, mendicants, friends, and foes should all be treated alike (19).

If the King is guilty of any sin himself, or if he should have wronged one who is not guilty, then he may purify himself by fasting and by placating those he has wronged by gifts (20). If the King should consider that he is guilty of any sin which is punishable by death, he should then abdicate his kingdom and go to a forest, and there labour for his liberation and penances (21). The King should not, without sufficient reason, inflict heavy punishment on persons guilty of a light offence, nor should he inflict light punishment on persons guilty of a great offence (22). But the punishment by which many offenders may be deterred from ill-doing, and (punishment) in the case of an offender who is fearless of crimes, should be heavy, although the offence be a light one (23).

In the case of one who has committed the offence but once only and is ashamed of his ill-deed, or of one who fears crime and is a respectable man, a light punishment should be inflicted, even if the offence be a grave one (24).

If a Kaula or a Brahmana is guilty of a slight offence, they should even, though highly honourable, be punished by the King by a rebuke (25).

The King who does not bestow adequate rewards and punishments after consultation with his ministers is a great sinner (26).

A son should not leave his mother and father, the subjects should not leave their King, nor the wife her husband, even though they are greatly guilty (27).

The subjects should actively protect the kingdom, property, and life of the just King; otherwise they will go upon the downward path (28).

Shiva! those who knowingly go with their, mother, daughter, or sister, those who have killed their Maha-gurus, those who have, after having taken refuge in the Kula Faith, abandoned it, and those who have broken the trust placed in them, are great sinners (29-30).

Shiva! the punishment of those that go with their mother, sister, and daughter is death, and if the latter are wilful participants the same punishment should be inflicted upon them (31).

The sinful man who with a lustful mind goes to the bed of his mother or father's sister, or daughters-in-law, or mothers-in-law (wife's mother), the wife of his preceptor, the wife of his maternal or paternal grandfather, the daughter or wife of his mother or father's brother, the wife or daughter of his brother, the sister's daughter, the master's wife or daughter, or with an unmarried girl, should be punished by castration, and these women also if they are wilful participants in the crime should be punished by the cutting of their noses and turning them out of the house that they may be released from sin (32-34).

The punishment of the man who goes with the wife or daughter of a sapinda, or with the wife of a man who has trusted him, is to be deprived of all his property and to have his head shaved (35).

If through mistake (by ignorance) one should happen to marry any of these, either in Brahma or Shaiva form, then she should at once be disespoused (36).

A man who goes with the wife of another man of the same caste as himself, or of a caste inferior to his own, should be punished by the imposition of a fine and by being kept on a diet of grains for one month (37).

If a Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, or Samanya, O Thou of Beauteous Face! goes with a Brahmana woman knowing her to be such, then his punishment is castration, and the Brahmana woman should be disfigured and banished from his kingdom by the King. For such as go with the wives of Viras, and for such wives, the punishment should be the same (38-39).

The wicked man who enjoys the wife of one of a higher caste should be heavily fined, and kept on a diet of grains for three months (40).

And if the woman is a wilful party, she should be punished as above mentioned. If the wife is the victim of a rape, then she should be separated from, but maintained by, her husband (41).

A wife, whether married according to Brahma or Shaiva form, should in all cases be renounced if she has gone with another even if it be only once, and then whether of her own desire or against it (42).

Those who have intercourse with public women, or with cows or other animals, should, O Deveshi! be purified by being kept on a diet of grains for three nights (43).

The punishment of those wicked men who have unnatural intercourse with a woman is death; this is the injunction of Shambhu (44).

A man who ravishes a woman, even if she be the wife of a Chandala, should be punished by death, and should never be pardoned (45).

A man should consider as wife only that woman who has been married to him according to Brahma or Shaiva form. All other women are the wives of others (46).

A man who with lust looks at another man's wife should fast for a day to purify himself. He who accosts her in a secret place should fast for two days. He who touches her should fast for four days; and he who embraces her should fast for eight days to purify himself (47).

And the woman who with a lustful mind behaves in the same manner should purify herself by following the same rules of fasting (48).

The man who uses offensive language towards a woman, who sees the private parts of a woman who is not his wife, and laughs derisively at her, should fast for two days to purify himself (49).

A man who shows his naked body to another, or who makes another person naked, should cease eating for two days to purify himself (50).

If the husband proves that his wife has had intercourse with another, then the King should punish her and her paramour according to the injunction laid down (51).

If the husband (has good cause to believe and yet) is unable to prove the faithlessness of his wife, then he should separate from her, but he should maintain her if she remains under his control (52).

If the husband, on seeing his wife enjoying with her paramour, kills her with her paramour, then the King should not punish him with death (53).

If the husband prohibits the wife to go to any place or to talk with anyone, then the wife should neither go to that place nor talk with that person (54).

If, on the death of the husband, the widow lives with the relatives of the husband under their control, following the customs of a widow's life, or in their absence she lives with the relatives of her father, then she deserves to inherit her husband's property (55).

The widow should not eat twice a day, nor should she eat food cooked by one who is not her husband's Agnate; she should renounce sexual enjoyment, animal food, jewels, sleeping on soft beds, and coloured clothes (56).

The widow faithful to her Dharma should not anoint herself with fragrant ointments, she should avoid village gossip, and should spend her time in the worship of the Deities and in the performance of Vratas (57).