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.  ’I hey 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 with forgiveness and self-restraint and wisdom, or those with whom they have associated for many years, when these are no longer of services to them, have to sink in hell.  Those men who themselves eat without giving portions of the food to children and aged men and servants, have to sink in hell.’

“’All these men enumerated above have to go to hell.  Listen now to me, O bull of Bharata’s race, as I tell thee who those men are that ascend to heaven.  The man who transgresses against a Brahmana by impeding the performances of all such acts in which the deities are adored, becomes afflicted with the loss of all his children and animals. (They who do not transgress against Brahmanas by obstructing their religious acts ascend to heaven).  Those men, O Yudhishthira, who follow the duties as laid down in the scriptures for them and practise the virtues of charity and self-restraint and truthfulness, ascend to heaven.  Those men who having acquired knowledge by rendering obedient services to their preceptors and observing austere penances, become reluctant to accept gifts, succeed in ascending to heaven.  Those men through whom other people are relieved and rescued from fear and sin and the impediments that lie in the way of what they wish to accomplish and poverty and the afflictions of disease, succeed in ascending to heaven.  Those men who are endued with a forgiving disposition, who are possessed of patience, who are prompt in performing all righteous acts, and who are of auspicious conduct, succeed in