CHAPTER V

An Account of the Signs of Sins.

1. Garuda said: Tell me, O Kes'ava, by what sins particular signs are produced, and to what sorts of birth such sins lead?

2. The Blessed Lord said: The sins on account of which the sinful returning from hell come to particular births, and the signs produced by particular sins,--these hear from me.

3. The murderer of a Brahman becomes consumptive, the killer of a cow becomes hump-backed and imbecile, the murderer of a virgin becomes leprous,--all three born as outcastes.

4. The slayer of a woman and the destroyer of embryos becomes a savage full of diseases; who commits illicit intercourse, a eunuch; who goes with his teacher's wife, diseased-skinned.

5. The eater of flesh becomes very red; the drinker of intoxicants, one with discoloured teeth; the Brahman who, on account of greed, eats what should not be eaten, becomes big-bellied.

6. He who eats sweet foods, without giving to others, becomes swollen-necked; who gives impure food at a S'raddha ceremony is born a spotted leper.

7. The man who, through pride, insults his teacher, becomes an

epileptic; who despises the Vedas and the S'astras certainly becomes jaundiced.

8. Who bears false witness becomes dumb; who breaks the meal-row becomes one-eyed; who interferes with marriage becomes lipless; who steals a book-is born blind.

9. Who strikes a cow or a Brahman with his foot is born lame and deformed; who speaks lies becomes a stammerer, and who listens to them becomes deaf.

10. A poisoner becomes insane; an incendiary becomes bald; who sells flesh becomes unlucky; who eats fled of other beings becomes diseased.

11. Who steals jewels is born in a low caste; who steals gold gets diseased nails; who steals any metal becomes poverty-stricken.

12. Who steals food becomes a rat; who steals grain becomes a locust; who steals water becomes a Chataka-bird ; and who steals poison, a scorpion.

13. Who steals vegetables and leaves becomes a peacock; perfumes, a musk-rat; honey, a gad-fly; flesh, a vulture; and salt, an ant.

14. Who steals betel, fruits and flowers becomes a forest-monkey; who steal shoes, grass and cotton are born from sheeps' wombs.

15. Who lives by violence, who robs caravans on the road, and who is fond of hunting, certainly becomes a goat in a butcher's house.

16. Who dies by drinking poison becomes a black serpent on a mountain; whose feature is unrestrained becomes an elephant in a desolate forest.

17. Those twice-born who do not make offering to the World-deities, and who eat all foods without consideration, become tigers in a desolate forest.

18. The Brahmin who does not recite the Gayatri , who does not meditate at twilight, who is inwardly wicked while outwardly pious, becomes a crane.