History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.311

v7.c95.311

Manu states (XII. 54-69, with which Yāj. III. 206-208 and 212-215 agree in many places) 'those guilty of mortal sins (Mahāpātakas), having gone through terrible hells during a large numbers of years, come after the expiration (of hell punishment) to the following births. The slayer of a Brāhmaṇa passes through the births of dog, pig, ass, camel, cow (or ox), goat, sheep, deer, a bird, a cāṇḍāla and a pukkasa, a brāhmaṇa who drinks the liquor called Surā enters the bodies of worms and (large) insects, of moths (or locusts), of birds feeding on ordure and of carnivorous animals; a brāhmaṇa (who steals gold of a brāhmaṇa) shall pass a thousand times through the births of spiders, snakes, lizards, aquatic animals and of destructive goblins; the violator of his guru's bed passes a hundred times through (the form of) grasses, shrubs, creepers, carnivorous animals and of beasts with fangs and of those (animals) like tigers doing cruel acts. Those men who are given to injuring others become animals that eat raw flesh, those who eat forbidden food become worms, those that thieve become creatures consuming their own kind (such as fishes) and those who have intercourse with women of the lowest classes become pretas (ghostly spirits), one who has associated with outcasts (for certain specified periods), he who approaches the wives of other men and he who has deprived a brāhmaṇa of his property (other than gold) becomes Brahmarākṣasa (an evil demon); a man who has on account of greed stolen gems, pearls or coral or any of the other kinds of precious stones is born among goldsmiths; for stealing grain a brāhmaṇa becomes a rat, for stealing bell-metal a man becomes a haṁsa bird, for depriving another of water he becomes the bird called Plava, for stealing honey a stinging insect, for stealing milk a cow, for stealing sweet juice (sugar-cane &c) a dog, for stealing clarified butter an ichneumon, for stealing meat a vulture, for stealing fat a cormorant, for stealing oil a bird called Tailapaka, for stealing salt a cricket, for stealing curds a bird called Balākā (crane); for stealing silk a partridge, for stealing linen a frog; for stealing cloth of cotton threads Krauñca bird, for stealing a cow an iguana, for stealing molasses a bird called vāgguda (a bat?), for stealing fine perfume a musk-rat, for stealing vegetables consisting of leaves a peacock, for stealing cooked food of various kinds a porcupine and for stealing uncooked food a hedgehog; for stealing fire a person becomes a heron, for stealing household utensils a mason-wasp, for stealing dyed garments a cakora bird; for stealing a deer or an elephant a wolf, for stealing a horse a tiger, for stealing fruits and roots a monkey, for stealing a woman a bear, for stealing drinking water a *cātaka*, for stealing vehicles a camel, for stealing cattle a he-goat, that man who has forcibly taken away any kind of property belonging to another or who eats sacrificial food of which no part has been offered in sacrifice certainly becomes a lower animal, women also who in like manner committed theft shall incur guilt; they become the females of those same creatures (enumerated above).