Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.71

c8.71

Usury condemned. On the other hand, similarly from a religious standpoint, the trade of a money-lender and particularly of the usurer (vārdhuṣin) is regarded as immoral. Even in the extremity of distress a Brahman should not practise usury (Nār. 1,111); the usurer is placed on the same footing as the thief (Y. 1,132) and in a future existence he is reborn as an epileptic (Vi. 45, 26).