Garudapurana 1.93

The glorious Garuḍa Purāṇa — 93
Maheśvara said: / How was dharma proclaimed formerly by Yājñavalkya, O Hari? / Tell me that in truth, O slayer of Keśin, O Mādhava!

Hari said: / Having bowed to Yājñavalkya residing in Mithilā, / the sages went and questioned him about the duties of castes and the rest in full; / to them he spoke, having meditated on Viṣṇu with subdued senses.

Yājñavalkya said: / Learn dharmas in the land where the black antelope roams, / comprising the Purāṇas, Nyāya, Mīmāṃsā, and the limbs of the Dharmaśāstras;

the Vedas are the fourteen sources of knowledge and of dharma. / The proclaimers of the Dharmaśāstras are Manu, Viṣṇu, Yama, Aṅgiras,

Vasiṣṭha, Dakṣa, Saṃvarta, Śātātapa, Parāśara, / Āpastamba, Uśanas, Vyāsa, Kātyāyana, Bṛhaspati,

Gautama, Śaṅkha-Likhita, Hārīta, Atri, and myself: / these, having worshipped Viṣṇu, became teachers of dharma.

Whatever material thing is given with faith according to place and time, by proper means / unto a worthy recipient—that is the comprehensive definition of dharma.

Sacrifice, right conduct, self-restraint, non-injury, charity, study of the Veda, and rite: / this is the supreme dharma, namely, the vision of the Self through yoga.

An assembly of four knowledgeable in the dharma of the Vedas, or one learned in the three Vedas, / whatever that assembly proclaims is one's duty, or [whatever is proclaimed by] a single person foremost in knowledge of the Self.

The castes are Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya, and Śūdra; the first three are the twice-born. / Their rites, beginning with insemination and ending at the cremation ground, are performed with sacred mantras:

insemination during the season; the rite for conceiving a male before the quickening; / the parting of hair in the sixth or eighth month; and the birth rite upon delivery;

naming on the eleventh day; taking the child out in the fourth month; / the first feeding of solid food in the sixth month; and one should perform tonsure according to the custom of the family.

In this way the sin arising from seed and womb is quieted. / These rites are performed silently for women, but marriage is accompanied by mantras.

Thus ends the ninety-third chapter, entitled “The Determination of the Duties of Castes Taught by Yājñavalkya,” in the section on conduct, in the first part called the first section of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.