O best of listeners, hear now the sacred instructions regarding purity, as spoken in the ancient law. When one who knows righteousness prepares to use a garment or a vessel, it is not enough that they have been washed by hand or properly cleaned. Such items should also be thoroughly sprinkled with water sanctified by kuśa grass, for only then are they fit for the use of the virtuous. Merchandise, too, if it has been displayed according to the proper divisions of caste and stage of life, is considered pure—especially if it comes freshly from the mine. Even a dog, when engaged in catching wild animals, is regarded as pure. O best of the twice-born, know that certain things are always pure to the touch: the shadow, dew, flies and such small creatures, dust, earth, wind, and fire—all these are ever-pure, and do not contaminate. Yet, even if one is already pure, a Brāhmaṇa should perform ācamana, the ritual sipping of water, after sleeping, eating, sneezing, drinking, spitting, or studying. If, during ācamana, drops of water touch the feet or fall outside the vessel, they are to be considered as earth and must not be used by one who is not attentive. After sexual intercourse, or after touching a fallen person, or animals such as a rooster, pig, crow, dog, camel, or donkey, one attains purification by bathing. Similarly, if one touches a sacrificial post or an outcaste such as a Caṇḍāla, bathing brings purification. One should not touch a menstruating woman, a woman in childbirth, or an outcaste at all. If a person is already impure due to recent childbirth or death in the family, they must especially avoid touching menstruating women. If they are touched, only bathing can restore their purity. For ascetics, forest-dwellers, lifelong celibates, those devoted to vows, kings, and those who move in groups yet are of good conduct, there is no impurity. For kings, due to the nature of their duties, impurity does not apply, nor does it for Vaikhānasa Brāhmaṇas, for among them, fallen persons do not occur. For the twice-born, purification is easily attained by bathing, without the need for elaborate rites, and the same applies to those present at a sacrifice and to the initiated. Purification for those who perform a one-day sacrifice is declared by Svayambhu himself, and for those who have studied all four branches of the Veda, it applies to all embodied beings. After three days, in the other world, there is no impurity from birth or death; but here, O best of the twice-born, impurity for relatives can last up to eleven days. At the time of death, mere bathing brings purification; after three seasons, one day is prescribed for purification. If seven years have passed, then three nights suffice; after that, ten days for Brāhmaṇas, or only the first day for the father. Ten days' impurity is prescribed for childbirth, both for the child and the mother; after three years, the father's relatives are purified by bathing alone. After eight years, a relative is purified in one night; after twelve years, women require three nights. Relationship by offering the same oblations ceases in the seventh year; after ten days have passed, impurity then lasts only three nights. For one who is present at the time, as before, but after a year, mere bathing suffices for purification. Touching a corpse requires bathing after three nights for the sake of righteousness; but for those who burn or carry the dead, if they are not relatives, mere bathing is enough. After following the deceased, one is purified by bathing and eating ghee; if a teacher or a Vedic scholar dies, three nights' impurity is observed. For maternal uncles, brothers, and other twice-borns, as well as for kings and their retinues or those living outside the territory, purification is immediate. For Kshatriyas, impurity lasts only twelve days; for those not anointed, impurity applies only in cases of error or during battle. A Vaishya is purified in fifteen days, a Shudra in a month. Thus, the supreme process of purification for substances is briefly stated. Ascetics have no impurity in succession; and from the Treta age onward, women have monthly impurity during menstruation. In the Krita age, however, men and women were born together according to the yuga and departed together, as the Kurus did with their wives. The system of varna and ashrama has existed from the Treta age onward in Bharata, the southern land, but not in other regions. In places such as Mahavita, Suvita, Jambudvipa, and the eight regions including Shakadvipa, dharma is as it is in Bharata. In the Krita age, sustenance arose directly from the essence; in the Treta, it came from trees grown at home. But, as time passed, due to the fault of unseasonal harvest, as well as the rise of passion, hatred, and such among people, this changed. From sexual union out of desire, and from harshness and similar acts, barley and other grains—both cultivated and wild, fourteen in number—came into being. Plants, too, are affected by impurity, and because of passion and similar faults in women and men, they are prematurely harvested, destroyed, and then produced again in the same way. Therefore, every effort should be made not to speak to a menstruating woman. On the first day, she is to be avoided as one would avoid an outcaste woman. On the second day, O Brāhmaṇas, she is to be avoided as one who has slain a Brāhmaṇa; on the third day, the avoidance is only half as much; and on the fourth day, O virtuous ones, after bathing, she is purified in half a month and then attains purity. From the sixteenth day onward, for women, cleanliness is as with urine. If her impurity lasts for five nights, she remains untouchable throughout; if it continues beyond twenty days, the impurity is as before. During this time, she should avoid bathing, cleaning, singing, weeping, laughing, traveling, anointing herself, gambling, and applying ointments. She should also avoid sleeping during the day, brushing her teeth, engaging in sexual union—whether in thought or word—and worship of deities. She must refrain from salutations and from touching or conversing with others. She should not discard her clothes during this period, and after bathing, she should not touch another person. For self-purification, she should look at the sun, then drink water consecrated with Brahma grass, or take only the five products of the cow, or milk. Thus, O wise and virtuous ones, are the laws of purity and impurity set forth for the benefit of all who seek righteousness.