hey who fall
away from their status through sin, sink in hell. They who betake
themselves to improper conduct, they who take exorbitant rates of
interest, and they who make unduly large profits on sales, have to sink
in hell. They who are given to gambling, they who indulge in wicked acts
without any scruple, and they who are given to slaughter of living
creatures, have to sink in hell. They who cause the dismissal by masters
of servants that are hoping for rewards or are expectant of definite need
or are in the enjoyment of wages or salaries or are waiting for returns
in respect of valuable services already rendered, have to sink in hell.
They who themselves eat without offering portions thereof unto their
spouse or their sacred fires or their servants or their guests, and they
who abstain from performing the rites laid down in the scriptures for
honouring the Pitris and deities, have to sink in hell. They who sell the
Vedas, they who find fault with the Vedas, and they who reduce the Vedas
into writing, have all to sink in hell.[229] They who are out of the pale
of the four well-known modes of life, they who betake themselves to
practices interdicted by the Srutis and the scriptures, and they who live
by betaking themselves to acts that are wicked or sinful or that do not
belong to their order of birth, have to sink in hell. They who live by
selling hair, they who subsist by selling poisons, and they who live by
selling milk, have to sink in hell. They who put obstacles in the path of
Brahmanas and kine and maidens, O Yudhishthira, have to sink in hell.
They who sell weapons, they who forge weapons, they who make shafts, and
they who make bows, have to sink in hell. They who obstruct paths and
roads with stones and thorns and holes have to sink in hell. They who
abandon and cast off preceptors and servants and loyal followers without
any offence, O chief of Bharata's race, have to sink in hell. They who
set bullocks to work before the animals attain to sufficient age, they
who bore the noses of bullocks and other animals for controlling them the
better while employed in work, and they who keep animals always tethered,
have to sink in hell. Those kings that do not protect their subjects
while forcibly taking from them a sixth share of the produce of their
fields, and they who, though able and possessed of resources, abstain
from making gifts, have to sink in hell. They who abandon and cast off
persons that are endued wit