O King, hear now of the gravest sins known among men. Engaging in union with a brother’s wife, or with the wife of a friend, performing forbidden acts at improper times, and even committing incest with one’s own daughter—these, without doubt, are counted as the most heinous transgressions. The sages of old have described such sins in various ways, but know, O King, that there are certain acts for which no atonement is prescribed. For some sins, such as the killing of a Brahmin, there may be means of expiation, however difficult. But for those who betray trust, who commit murder, who live by consuming food from Śūdras, who revile the holy Vedas, or who speak ill of sacred stories—there is no redemption, neither in this world nor the next. No amount of penance, even if performed for hundreds of years, can cleanse them. Therefore, a twice-born must shun such persons, for they are utterly cast out from righteousness. This, O King, is the firm conclusion of the scriptures. There are other grievous sins too, for which no penance is laid down. Listen as I describe to you the consequences that await such sinners. After their death, they fall into dreadful hells. When at last they are reborn on earth, they suffer as donkeys for seven lifetimes. For a hundred years, they endure existence as worms feeding on filth, and then, for twelve births, they become serpents. For another hundred years, they pass through life as immobile beings, and then take birth as iguanas. After this, for sixteen more lives, they are born as Śūdras and other lowly castes, ever eager to accept gifts, only to descend once more into hell. There, they remain for two kalpas, and afterwards are born as Caṇḍālas for a hundred lifetimes. Entering the wombs of dogs for another hundred births, they return yet again to life among Caṇḍālas. After that, they are cast into hell for twenty-one yugas, suffering relentlessly. Now hear of the fate of those who misappropriate gifts. Such a one is burdened with the very weight of their sin, forced to carry it for a year. Those who grieve over their own misdeeds or steal the property of others are tormented by their actions, their bodies cooked in the fires of hell. For a thousand ages, they are forced to consume lumps of boiling substance, gasping for breath in the most dreadful of places, where they dwell for half a kalpa. There, copper women adorned with beautiful ornaments seize the learned man in terror. And those women who abandon their husbands and take another, discarding the first, revel for a long time in their own power. But their pleasure is short-lived, for they are then bound to a pillar for a thousand years. Afterwards, they must endure all the hells for countless hundreds of years. The man too suffers all torments for five kalpas. Into the ears of such sinners, iron spikes formed from that boiling substance are driven. When they are filled with agony, they are cast into the Kumbhīpāka hell, where, for ten million years, they are forced to consume only salt. Others who commit evil deeds are broken in similar ways, O King. With a thousand needles, their eyes are pierced, and thus do they reap the fruit of their actions.