Listen, O wise one, to the sacred teachings on purity as set forth in the scriptures. When gold vessels become soiled, they are to be purified with water, and the same rule applies to silver vessels as well. For precious items such as gems, stones, conch shells, and pearls, the method prescribed for gold is also followed. If any of these objects become extremely defiled, their purification is achieved either by contact with fire or water, or by immersing them thoroughly. Objects made from grass, wood, and similar materials are cleansed by sprinkling them with auspicious water or by washing them with hot water. This method extends to items used in sacred rites, like the ladle and spoon. Sacrificial vessels, pestles, mortars, and objects fashioned from horn, bone, wood, or ivory are purified by scraping their surfaces. When substances are joined together, their purification is accomplished by sprinkling; but if they are separate, each must be cleansed individually. If a heap of grain, untouched by hands, becomes defiled in part, that portion should be removed, and the remainder purified by sprinkling water with kuśa grass. Vegetables, roots, fruits, and similar foods are cleansed in the same way as grain. To purify a house, it should be swept and wiped clean, while earthenware vessels are made pure by reheating. Even the earth itself is cleansed by scraping, smearing, sweeping, the application of cow dung, or by sprinkling water. Water found on the ground is considered pure if a cow can drink from it and be satisfied, provided it is free from impurities and possesses a pleasant smell, color, and taste. Certain natural circumstances are also regarded as pure: a calf at the source of a spring, a bird at the spot where fruit has fallen, and, for a householder desiring his wife, the wife’s mouth during intercourse. Clothing that has been washed by hand, and vessels that have been thoroughly cleaned, should be sprinkled with water using kuśa grass before use by one who knows righteousness. Merchandise displayed for sale, when properly divided according to caste and stage of life, is pure if it comes directly from the mine. A dog is considered pure when catching wild animals. There are things that are always pure to the touch, O best of the twice-born: shadow, dew, flies and the like, dust, earth, wind, and fire. A Brāhmaṇa, even if already pure, should perform ācamana—the ritual sipping of water—after sleeping, eating, sneezing, drinking, spitting, or reciting the Vedas. Drops of water that touch the feet or fall outside during ācamana are regarded as earth and should not be used by the inattentive. After sexual intercourse or touching a fallen person, a rooster, pig, crow, dog, camel, or donkey, one is purified by bathing. The same holds for touching a sacrificial post or an outcaste such as a Caṇḍāla; one should avoid touching a menstruating woman, a woman in childbirth, or an outcaste altogether. If a person in a state of impurity due to childbirth or death touches a menstruating woman, purification is possible only through bathing. However, there is no impurity for ascetics, forest-dwellers, celibates, those devoted to lifelong vows, kings, or those who move in groups with good conduct. For kings, impurity does not apply because of the conflict with their duties; nor does it apply to Vaikhānasa Brāhmaṇas, since fallen persons are not found among them. For the twice-born, mere bathing suffices for purification, without the need for additional rites. This also holds for those present at sacrifices and for those who have been initiated. For those performing a one-day sacrifice, purification is as prescribed by Svayambhu; and for those learned in the four branches, this rule applies to all embodied beings. After three days in the next world, there is no impurity from birth or death; but here, in this world, impurity for relatives may last up to eleven days. At the time of death, purification is achieved by bathing; after three seasons, only one day is prescribed. After seven years, three nights suffice; after that, ten days for Brahmins, or purification on the first day for the father. For childbirth, impurity lasts ten days for both mother and father. After three years, paternal relatives are purified by bathing. After eight years, a relative is purified in one night; after twelve years, three nights suffice for women. The bond of offering the same oblations ceases in the seventh year; after ten days, impurity lasts three nights. For those present, the rule is as before; after a year, mere bathing brings purity. After touching a corpse, one should bathe after three nights for righteousness; but for those who burn or carry the dead and are not relatives, mere bathing suffices. After following the deceased, one is purified by bathing and eating ghee; but for the death of a teacher or a Vedic scholar, three nights of impurity are observed. For maternal uncles, brothers, twice-borns, kings and their retinues, and for those living outside the territory, purification is immediate. For Kshatriyas, impurity lasts only twelve days; for those not anointed, impurity applies in cases of error or battle. A Vaishya is purified in fifteen days, a Shudra in a month. Thus, the supreme means of purification for substances has been briefly explained. There is no sequential impurity for ascetics. From the Treta Yuga onwards, women experience monthly impurity during menstruation. In the Krita Yuga, people were born and departed together according to their era, along with their wives, as the Kurus did. From the Treta Yuga in Bharata, the southern land, the system of varna and ashrama has been established, but not in other regions. In Mahavita, Suvita, Jambudvipa, and the eight regions such as Shakadvipa, dharma is observed as it is in Bharata. In the Krita Yuga, sustenance arose from pure essence; in the Treta Yuga, it came from trees grown at home. But as unseasonal harvests, passion, hatred, and other faults emerged among people, this changed. From sexual union out of desire, and from acts of harshness, barley and other grains, both cultivated and wild—fourteen in number—came into being, O Brāhmaṇas. Thus, the sacred guidelines for purity and the evolution of dharma through the ages have been revealed.