Hear now the ancient wisdom regarding justice, commerce, and punishment, as set forth in the Agni Purana. In the realm of duties and laws, it is declared that if a physician acts wrongly, he must pay a fine: the smallest for harm to animals, a greater sum for harm to humans, and the highest penalty if his error affects those of royal stature. Justice extends further: anyone who unlawfully binds one who should not be bound, or releases one who is rightfully bound, or engages in unauthorized litigation, must also pay the highest penalty. Fairness in trade is carefully weighed. If a person, by weight or measure, takes away even an eighth part unjustly, he must pay a fine of twenty-two paṇas, with the amount increasing or decreasing according to the extent of the wrong. Those who adulterate medicines, oils, salt, perfumes, grains, or other goods are fined sixteen paṇas for their deceit. Artisans and craftsmen are not exempt from scrutiny. Should they collude to fix prices or restrict trade, causing artificial loss or gain, the penalty is a thousand. The king’s authority is paramount: whatever price he sets daily is the lawful rate for sale or purchase, and merchants who make profit beyond this limit are deemed to have acted unlawfully. When merchants trade, they may take a profit of five out of every hundred for goods from their own country, and ten for foreign goods, provided the transaction is immediate. The actual cost of goods should be included in the price, and a reasonable profit ensured for both buyer and seller. If someone, having received payment, fails to deliver the goods, he must repay with interest; if the buyer is from another region, he must also cover the loss due to distance. Goods not yet taken into possession may be resold to another buyer, but if loss occurs due to the first buyer’s fault, that loss is his alone. If goods are damaged by royal authority or by fate before delivery, the loss falls upon the seller, unless the goods were specially ordered and undelivered. If a sold item is found to be defective, or is treated as such, the seller must pay a penalty twice the value of the item. If someone unknowingly buys goods whose value is depreciated or appreciated, he is not to be blamed; but if he acts knowingly, he must pay a fine of one-sixth. When merchants join together for profit, gain and loss should be divided according to each one’s share of the capital or as previously agreed. If something entrusted is lost through negligence, the responsible person must pay for it; but if lost due to calamity, he is liable only for one-tenth. From the declared profit, the king is entitled to a twentieth part as tax. Goods that are prohibited or especially suitable for the king, when sold, must be given to him. Those who give false measurements, evade taxes, or buy and sell with deceit must pay a penalty eight times the value of the goods. If someone dies in a foreign land, his property should be taken by heirs or relatives present; if none are there, the king shall take it. All are urged to abandon crookedness and greed; if one cannot, another should do so in his stead. This rule is declared for priests, farmers, and workers alike. Justice pursues thieves with vigilance. A thief may be apprehended by buyers, by following his footprints, by his repeated offenses, or by his unclean appearance. Others may also be seized on suspicion—those who conceal their caste or name, gamblers, drunkards, those with dry or broken voices, those who enter others’ houses, questioners, wanderers, those who roam aimlessly, spend excessively, or sell lost goods. If someone is apprehended on suspicion of theft, he should clear himself by oath; if found guilty, he must restore the stolen property and suffer the thief’s penalty. A thief must restore what was stolen and then face execution by various punishments; if the thief is a Brahmin, he should be exiled from his own land. If a killing or theft occurs, the village headman is held responsible if present; if absent, the entire village or locality must pay the fine. The law also extends to those from neighboring villages, those who seize travelers, horse thieves, and deer stealers. Those who commit murder by force are to be impaled on a stake; those who throw victims down, break their joints, or injure hands with pincers face severe penalties. For a second offense, the punishment is the cutting off of a hand or foot, and the expenses for food, shelter, fire, water, and ritual implements must also be paid. The highest penalty is reserved for thieves and killers whose crimes are known, and also for those who cause miscarriage or abortion by weapon. Regardless of status, if a man kills another man or woman, or if a woman is guilty of murder or poisoning, she is to be tied to a stone and cast into the water, or, if she has given poison or fire, killed her own teacher or child, or mutilated others, she is to be trampled to death by cows. Those who set fire to fields, houses, forests, villages, threshing floors, or granaries, or who approach the king’s wife, are to be burned with a bundle of reeds. A man caught with another’s wife is to be seized by the hair. If she is of the same caste, the highest fine is imposed; if the union is within social order, the middle fine applies. In a union against social order, the man is to be executed, and the woman’s ears are to be cut off, her waistband, breast-covering, navel, and hair crushed. For speaking together at the wrong place or time, a woman pays a fine of one hundred coins, a man double. If they persist despite prohibition, they suffer the penalty for being caught together; for pursuing cattle, the fine is one hundred coins; for relations with a woman of lower status, the middle fine and cows are imposed. For intercourse with detained female slaves, female servants, or women of easy virtue, a man must pay a fine of fifty paṇas. If he forces himself on a female slave, the penalty is ten paṇas; for intercourse with a woman marked with a brand, an outcaste, or a renunciant, he is to be paraded in disgrace. Whoever writes the king’s order for less or more than it is, deals in counterfeit gold, or sells what has been pledged, is subject to severe punishment. One who pollutes a Brahmin with forbidden food is liable to the highest fine; so too one who deals in counterfeit gold or sells what has been pledged. Thus, the laws of conduct and the measures of justice are set forth, that order and righteousness may prevail in the land.