[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Purāṇas](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana) › [Skandapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt) › 4.38 # Skandapurana 4.38 English (machine translation) 4.38 - **Language:** English ### [4.38.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.1) Skanda said: ### [4.38.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.2) The marriages are the Brāhma, Daiva, and Ārṣa, as well as the Prājāpatya and Āsura; ### [4.38.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.3) the Gāndharva, the Rākṣasa, and the Paiśāca is said to be the eighth. (1) ### [4.38.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.4) That is the Brāhma \[marriage\] where, having summoned the groom, a well-adorned maiden ### [4.38.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.5) is given away; the son born of it purifies twenty-one generations. ### [4.38.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.6) The Daiva is \[given\] to an officiating priest engaged in a sacrifice; one born of that protects fourteen \[generations\]. ### [4.38.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.7) The Ārṣa is \[conducted\] having received a pair of cattle from the groom; one born of that purifies six \[generations\]. (3) ### [4.38.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.8) Having said, 'May both of you practice righteousness together,' she is given to the suitor— ### [4.38.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.9) where a maiden \[is so given\], that is Prājāpatya; the son born of it purifies six lineages. (4) ### [4.38.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.10) These four marriages are remembered as righteous for brahmins. ### [4.38.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.11) The Āsura is through purchasing with wealth; the Gāndharva is through mutual affection. ### [4.38.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.12) The Rākṣasa is through violently abducting the maiden; it is condemned by the virtuous. ### [4.38.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.13) The Paiśāca, the eighth, is despised, being through the abduction of a maiden by deceit. (6) ### [4.38.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.14) The Gāndharva, Āsura, and Rākṣasa are generally stated for Kṣatriyas and Vaiśyas. ### [4.38.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.15) This eighth \[form\], however, is the most sinful, and occurs among the most sinful. ### [4.38.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.16) The hand should be grasped with a woman of the same class; an arrow should be held by a Kṣatriya woman; ### [4.38.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.17) A goad should be held by a Vaiśya woman, and the hem of a garment by a Śūdra woman. ### [4.38.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.18) This rule, handed down by tradition, is observed in marriage when the parties are not of the same class. ### [4.38.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.19) With all women of the same class, however, the hand is to be taken: this is the rule. ### [4.38.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.20) From righteous marriages are born righteous \[children\], living a hundred years; ### [4.38.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.21) From unrighteous ones \[are born those\] devoid of righteousness, with little fortune, wealth, or lifespan. ### [4.38.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.22) Approaching \[one's wife\] during the fertile period is the supreme duty of a householder; ### [4.38.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.23) Or, bearing in mind the boon granted to women, he may approach her as she desires. ### [4.38.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.24) Approaching her by day is considered by men to be highly destructive to lifespan; ### [4.38.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.25) The day of an ancestral rite and all holy festivals must be avoided with effort by the wise man. ### [4.38.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.26) Approaching a woman at such times out of delusion, he falls from the highest virtue. ### [4.38.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.27) He who approaches \[his wife\] only during the fertile period, and he who is devoted to his own wife, ### [4.38.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.28) Is to be known as a perpetual celibate student and a true dweller in the householder stage. ### [4.38.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.29) The fertile season consists of sixteen nights; the \[first\] four among them are severely condemned. ### [4.38.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.30) Among those, sons are born on the even nights, and on odd nights, female offspring. ### [4.38.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.31) Avoiding an ill-placed moon, and having avoided Maghā and Pauṣṇa, ### [4.38.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.32) Being pure, he should unite with his wife, especially under a constellation with a masculine name; ### [4.38.33](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.33) She will give birth to a pure son who achieves the aims of human life. ### [4.38.34](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.34) The pair of cattle prescribed in the ārṣa marriage is not praised; ### [4.38.35](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.35) Even a minute bride-price for a maiden makes one guilty of the sin of selling a maiden. ### [4.38.36](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.36) The seller of an offspring shall dwell for an eon feeding on excrement and worms; ### [4.38.37](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.37) Therefore, a father must not live on even the slightest wealth belonging to his daughter. ### [4.38.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.38) Those kinsmen who here out of delusion live on a woman's property, ### [4.38.39](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.39) Not only do they go to hell, but their ancestors do as well. ### [4.38.40](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.40) Where the wife is pleased with her husband, and where the husband is pleased with his wife, ### [4.38.41](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.41) There Great Lakṣmī, delighted, dwells with the Enemy of the Dānavas. ### [4.38.42](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.42) Commerce, serving the king, not teaching the Vedas, ### [4.38.43](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.43) A bad marriage, and omission of prescribed rites are causes for the fall of a family. ### [4.38.44](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.44) In the domestic fire, the householder should perform the domestic rites every day, ### [4.38.45](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.45) As well as the performance of the five sacrifices and the daily cooking. ### [4.38.46](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.46) For a man in the householder stage, there are five slaughterhouses of daily work: ### [4.38.47](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.47) The mortar, the grinding stone, the hearth, the water jar, and the broom. ### [4.38.48](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.48) To neutralize these five slaughterhouses, ### [4.38.49](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.49) Five sacrifices have been prescribed, which increase the welfare of the householder. ### [4.38.50](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.50) Teaching is the sacrifice to Brahman, libation is the sacrifice to the ancestors, ### [4.38.51](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.51) Burnt offering is for the gods, food-offering is for living beings, and honoring guests is the sacrifice to men, in order. ### [4.38.52](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.52) Desiring the satisfaction of the ancestors, the householder should perform a śrāddha daily ### [4.38.53](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.53) With cooked food, water, milk, roots, or fruits. ### [4.38.54](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.54) And whatever merit is obtained by the gift of a cow to a worthy recipient according to the rule, ### [4.38.55](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.55) He shall attain that fruit by respectfully giving alms to a beggar. ### [4.38.56](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.56) An oblation offered into the fire of a brahmin's mouth, blazing with austerity and sacred knowledge, ### [4.38.57](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.57) Rescues one from a multitude of obstacles and even from the impassable ocean of sins. ### [4.38.58](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.58) From whose house a guest departs unhonored and disappointed in hope, ### [4.38.59](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.59) He instantly becomes excluded from all the merit accumulated since birth. ### [4.38.60](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.60) Words preceded by consolation, ground for resting, grass, and water— ### [4.38.61](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.61) Even these must always be given to satisfy an arriving guest. ### [4.38.62](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.62) A householder who eats food cooked by another becomes that person's domestic animal after death; ### [4.38.63](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.63) For the giver of food takes the welfare of the one nourished on another's food. ### [4.38.64](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.64) A guest brought by the setting sun in the evening must be honored with effort; ### [4.38.65](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.65) Departing elsewhere unhonored, he passes on extensive sin. ### [4.38.66](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.66) Eating the food left over from a guest, he partakes of longevity and wealth in this world; ### [4.38.67](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.67) A householder who eats his meal after turning away a guest is a sinner. ### [4.38.68](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.68) A guest is defined as one who arrives at the end of the vaiśvadeva sacrifice, or brought by the sun, ### [4.38.69](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.69) Who has not come at an earlier time, and has never been seen before. ### [4.38.70](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.70) If another guest arrives while the food-offering vessel is in the brahmin's hand, ### [4.38.71](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.71) Without giving that offering, he should provide food to him according to his capacity. ### [4.38.72](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.72) Young children, married daughters staying in the home, pregnant women, and the afflicted: ### [4.38.73](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.73) These should be fed even before the guest; on this matter there is no doubt. ### [4.38.74](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.74) Having given to the ancestors, the gods, and men, the householder partakes of nectar. ### [4.38.75](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.75) cooking for his own sake, he eats \[only\] sin, merely filling his own belly. // 37 ### [4.38.76](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.76) The householder should perform the midday Vaiśvadeva \[offering\] himself; ### [4.38.77](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.77) in the evening, his wife should offer the bali offering with cooked food, without mantras. // 38 ### [4.38.78](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.78) This is known as the evening Vaiśvadeva in the householder order of life; ### [4.38.79](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.79) Vaiśvadeva must indeed take place evening and morning with diligent effort. // 39 ### [4.38.80](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.80) Those who are devoid of the Vaiśvadeva, destitute of hospitality, ### [4.38.81](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.81) are all to be known as outcasts, even if they are twice-born who have acquired the Vedas. // 4.1.38.40 ### [4.38.82](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.82) The lowest of the twice-born who eat without having performed the Vaiśvadeva ### [4.38.83](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.83) become deprived of food in this world, and then go to the womb of a crow. // 41 ### [4.38.84](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.84) Unwearied, one should constantly perform one's own duty declared in the Veda; ### [4.38.85](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.85) for performing that according to one's ability, one attains the supreme good destination. // 42 ### [4.38.86](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.86) On the sixth and eighth \[lunar days\], sin always resides in oil and meat; ### [4.38.87](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.87) and likewise on the fifteenth and the fourteenth, \[sin resides\] in sexual intercourse and sugarcane. // 43 ### [4.38.88](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.88) One should not gaze upon the sun rising, nor setting, nor at midday, ### [4.38.89](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.89) nor seized by Rāhu, nor reflected in water. // 44 ### [4.38.90](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.90) One should not look at one's own image \[in water\]; one should not run fast when it rains; ### [4.38.91](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.91) one should not step over a calf-rope; one should not enter water naked. // 45 ### [4.38.92](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.92) A temple of a deity, a brahmin, a cow, honey, clay, clarified butter, ### [4.38.93](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.93) one senior in caste, senior in age, senior in learning, an ascetic, ### [4.38.94](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.94) a sacred fig tree, a caitya-tree, an elder, a water-filled jar, ### [4.38.95](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.95) cooked food, curd, and white mustard seeds—passing \[these\], one should make a clockwise circumambulation. // 47 ### [4.38.96](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.96) One should not consort with a menstruating woman; one should not eat together with one's wife; ### [4.38.97](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.97) one should not eat wearing a single garment; one should not eat on an elevated seat. // 48 ### [4.38.98](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.98) An excellent twice-born desiring splendour should not look at a woman who is eating; ### [4.38.99](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.99) without gratifying the ancestors and the gods, one should never eat new grain. // 49 ### [4.38.100](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.100) \[Nor should one eat\] cooked food \[kept\] a long time, nor meat, if one desires to live long. ### [4.38.101](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.101) One should not pass urine in a cattle-pen, nor on an anthill, nor on ashes, // 4.1.38.50 ### [4.38.102](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.102) nor in cavities containing living creatures, nor standing, nor even walking. ### [4.38.103](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.103) Cows, brahmins, the sun, wind, fire, the moon, stars, water, and teachers— ### [4.38.104](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.104) facing towards them, one should not discharge faeces or urine. ### [4.38.105](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.105) Having covered the ground with clods of earth, pieces of wood, leaves, grass, and the like, // 52 ### [4.38.106](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.106) \[and\] having covered the head with a garment, silent, one should discharge faeces and urine; ### [4.38.107](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.107) facing comfortably at night, and in the day in shade or darkness. // 53 ### [4.38.108](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.108) In dangers and in peril to life, one may discharge bodily waste \[in any way\]. ### [4.38.109](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.109) One should not blow on fire with the mouth; one should not gaze at a naked woman. // 54 ### [4.38.110](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.110) One should not warm one's feet in fire; one should not cast an impure object \[into fire\]; ### [4.38.111](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.111) one should not commit harm to living beings; one should not eat at the two twilights. // 55 ### [4.38.112](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.112) One should not lie down at twilight, even with head towards the west or the north; ### [4.38.113](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.113) one who desires to live long should not discharge faeces, urine, or phlegm into water. // 56 ### [4.38.114](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.114) One should not announce a suckling cow; one should not point out a rainbow; ### [4.38.115](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.115) one should not sleep alone anywhere in an empty place; one should not awaken someone who is sleeping. // 57 ### [4.38.116](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.116) One should not travel a road alone; one should not drink water with folded hands; ### [4.38.117](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.117) and one should not consume curd at night whose essence arose during the day. // 58 ### [4.38.118](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.118) One should not speak to a menstruating woman; one should not eat to full satiety at night; ### [4.38.119](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.119) one should not be fond of the triple symphony; one should not wash one's feet in a bell-metal vessel. // 59 ### [4.38.120](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.120) He who, having performed a śrāddha, eats at another's śrāddha, devoid of discernment, ### [4.38.121](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.121) for the giver there is no fruit of the śrāddha, and the eater becomes a consumer of sin. // 4.1.38.60 ### [4.38.122](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.122) One should not wear clothing or shoes used by another; ### [4.38.123](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.123) one should not eat from a broken vessel, nor sit \[where\] defiled by fire and the like. // 61 ### [4.38.124](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.124) Riding on the back of cattle, the smoke of a corpse, swimming across a river, ### [4.38.125](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.125) the morning sun, and daytime sleep—one who desires to live long should avoid. // 62 ### [4.38.126](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.126) Having bathed, one should not wipe one's body; one should not unloose one's topknot on the road; ### [4.38.127](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.127) one should not shake one's hands or head; one should not drag a seat with one's foot. // 63 ### [4.38.128](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.128) One should never pull out hair or nails with one's teeth; ### [4.38.129](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.129) one should avoid cutting nails with nails, and cutting grass. // 64 ### [4.38.130](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.130) That action which does not lead to auspiciousness in the future, one should diligently avoid; ### [4.38.131](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.131) one should not enter one's own house or another's house through an improper entrance. // 65 ### [4.38.132](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.132) One should not play with dice; one should not sit with destroyers of dharma nor with diseased persons; ### [4.38.133](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.133) one should never sleep naked, and one should never eat from the palm of the hand. // 66 ### [4.38.134](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.134) Eating with wet feet, hands, and mouth, one lives for a long time. ### [4.38.135](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.135) He should not go to sleep with wet feet, nor should he go anywhere impure from food \[with unwashed hands and mouth\]. ### [4.38.136](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.136) Lying in bed, a twice-born man should not eat, / nor should he drink, nor should he recite sacred texts. ### [4.38.137](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.137) Wearing shoes, he should not perform ācamana, nor should he drink from a stream while standing. ### [4.38.138](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.138) Desiring well-being, he should not eat anything made of sesame in the evening. ### [4.38.139](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.139) He should not gaze at feces and urine, nor touch his head when impure from food. ### [4.38.140](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.140) He should not step upon chaff, burning coals, ashes, hair, or potsherds. ### [4.38.141](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.141) Dwelling together with fallen men leads only to falling. ### [4.38.142](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.142) He should never recite a Vedic mantra to a Śūdra. ### [4.38.143](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.143) The brahmin falls from brahminhood, and the Śūdra falls from dharma. ### [4.38.144](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.144) Instructing Śūdras in dharma strikes down one's own welfare. ### [4.38.145](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.145) For serving the twice-born is considered the highest dharma of Śūdras. ### [4.38.146](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.146) Scratching the head with both hands is not considered auspicious, ### [4.38.147](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.147) nor striking \[oneself\] with both hands, shouting, or tearing one's hair. ### [4.38.148](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.148) By accepting a gift from a king who acts against the scriptures and is greedy, ### [4.38.149](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.149) a brahmin, along with his family, goes to the twenty-one hells. ### [4.38.150](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.150) During unseasonal lightning and thunder, in the rainy season when dust rains down, ### [4.38.151](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.151) and in the roaring of a great wind at night, times of non-recitation are proclaimed. ### [4.38.152](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.152) During the fall of meteors, earthquakes, an eerie glow on the horizons, at midnight, ### [4.38.153](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.153) at the two twilights, in the presence of a Śūdra, during the pollution from birth or death of a king or during an eclipse \[by Rāhu\], ### [4.38.154](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.154) on the new-moon day, on the Aṣṭakās, on the fourteenth tithi, and having received gifts from an ancestral rite, ### [4.38.155](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.155) on the first tithi, on the full-moon day, when an elephant or a camel comes between \[teacher and student\], ### [4.38.156](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.156) at the braying of a donkey, camel, or jackal, in a crowd, and while someone weeps, ### [4.38.157](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.157) at the Upākarma and the Utsarga, on a boat, on a path, in a tree, in water, ### [4.38.158](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.158) having studied the Āraṇyaka, and at the sound of the flute and the singing of Sāmans, ### [4.38.159](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.159) at these times of non-recitation, a twice-born man should never study. ### [4.38.160](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.160) Interrupted by a frog, a mouse, a dog, a snake, or a mongoose, he should not recite; / on the fourteenth, eighth, and fifteenth tithis, he should always remain celibate. ### [4.38.161](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.161) \[Combined with segment 26 in verse count 80\] ### [4.38.162](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.162) Approaching another man's wife shortens one's lifespan; ### [4.38.163](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.163) therefore, it must be avoided from afar, as well as serving enemies. ### [4.38.164](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.164) Deprived of former wealth, he should not despise himself; ### [4.38.165](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.165) for to those who are ever energetic, prosperity and knowledge are not difficult to obtain. ### [4.38.166](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.166) He should speak truth, he should speak pleasantly; he should not speak an unpleasant truth; ### [4.38.167](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.167) nor should he speak a pleasant falsehood: this is the eternal law, O pot-born \[Agastya\]. ### [4.38.168](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.168) He should always speak only what is auspicious; he should contemplate only what is auspicious. ### [4.38.169](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.169) Here, association should only be with the virtuous, never with the unvirtuous. ### [4.38.170](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.170) A wise man should not insult men devoid of beauty, wealth, or good birth. ### [4.38.171](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.171) When impure, he should not look upon the sun and moon, nor upon the host of luminaries. ### [4.38.172](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.172) He should check the impulse of speech, the impulse of the mind, and the impulse of the tongue. ### [4.38.173](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.173) He should shun from afar wealth \[gotten from\] bribery, gambling, or the distress of an envoy. ### [4.38.174](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.174) He should never touch cows, brahmins, or fire with hands impure from food; ### [4.38.175](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.175) when healthy, he should not touch his own nails without a reason. ### [4.38.176](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.176) Nor should he touch pubic hairs; from touching them he becomes impure. ### [4.38.177](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.177) Water used for washing the feet, urine, water and leftover food, ### [4.38.178](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.178) spittle, and phlegm he should throw far from the house. ### [4.38.179](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.179) From day and night recitation of the Veda, from following pure conduct, ### [4.38.180](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.180) and with a mind devoid of malice, a twice-born man remembers his previous birth. ### [4.38.181](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.181) He should diligently bow to the elderly and give them his own seat; ### [4.38.182](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.182) with humbled senses, he should then follow behind them. ### [4.38.183](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.183) Of the Veda, brahmins, the gods, kings, virtuous men, ascetics, ### [4.38.184](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.184) and chaste wives, he should never make censure. ### [4.38.185](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.185) He should not flatter mortals, nor should he demean himself; ### [4.38.186](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.186) he should not turn away one who comes for help, nor disclose another's secrets. ### [4.38.187](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.187) By unrighteousness a man prospers at first, and even conquers his enemies; ### [4.38.188](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.188) having attained auspiciousness on all sides, he is then destroyed along with his family. ### [4.38.189](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.189) Taking out five lumps of clay, he should bathe in another's body of water; ### [4.38.190](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.190) not taking \[them\] out, he partakes of a fourth of the sin of its maker. ### [4.38.191](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.191) Whatever wealth is given with faith, having found a worthy recipient, ### [4.38.192](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.192) in a proper place and time according to the rule, leads to endless merit. ### [4.38.193](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.193) The giver of land becomes a ruler of a realm; givers of food are happy everywhere; ### [4.38.194](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.194) the giver of water is ever satisfied; the giver of silver becomes handsome. ### [4.38.195](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.195) The giver of a lamp possesses clear eyes; the giver of a cow attains the world of Aryaman. ### [4.38.196](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.196) The giver of gold attains long life, while the giver of sesame seeds will have good offspring. ### [4.38.197](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.197) The giver of a house becomes the master of lofty mansions; the giver of clothing attains the world of the moon. ### [4.38.198](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.198) The giver of a horse attains a divine conveyance; the giver of an ox becomes possessed of fortune. ### [4.38.199](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.199) The giver of a palanquin obtains a good wife, and the giver of an excellent bed also \[obtains one\]. ### [4.38.200](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38.200) The giver of grain is ever endowed with prosperity; the giver of fearlessness becomes a ruler. _First 200 of 234 passages. [Read on](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38)_ ## Linked texts (1) - [Skandapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda.4.38.1) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.skanda~en-mt.4.38) · Pramāṇa