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XLVIII.

1. Now if a man feels his conscience charged with some guilty act (such as performing a sacrifice for, or accepting a gift from, unworthy persons, or eating excrements) committed by himself (or if his conscience tells him that he has done more evil than good, or if he thinks himself less pure than others), let him boil a handful of barley-gruel for the sake of his own spiritual welfare.

2. Let him not make the (customary) Vaisvadeva offering after that.

3. Neither must he make the Bali offerings.

4. Let him consecrate with Mantras the barley, before it has been put to the fire, while it is being boiled, and after it has been boiled.

5. Let him watch the barley, while it is being boiled (muttering at the same time the following Mantra):

6. 'Soma, who is the highest priest among priests (gods), leader among the wise, Rishi among bards, the falcon among rapacious birds, the Svadhiti tree among trees, trickles murmuring through the filter^[1].'

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With these words he must fasten blades of Kusa grass (round the neck of the kettle).

7. The pulse having been boiled, he must pour it into another vessel and eat it.

8. Let him help himself to it, while muttering the Mantra, 'The gods, who have sprung up in the mind and satisfy the mind, who are gifted with great energy, and whose father is Daksha, shall protect and help us. To them be Namah (adoration), to them be Svâhâ (hail).'

9. Then, after having sipped water, let him seize the centre (of the vessel) and mutter the Mantra:

10. 'Be satisfied in our stomach, O ye waters, and ye barley-corns, after having been bathed; they shall be salubrious to us, conferring bliss, causing health, divine, causing immortality, and increasers of Rita (truth and justice).'

11. One desirous of wisdom (must perform this rite) for three days;

12. A sinner, for six days.

13. Any of the mortal sinners (killers of a Brâhmana, stealers of gold, and the rest) becomes purified by swallowing it for seven days.

14. Swallowing it for twelve nights effaces even sins committed by an ancestor;

15. Swallowing it for a month, every sin (whether light or heavy, and whether committed by himself or by an ancestor).

16. And so does swallowing barley-corns dissolved in the excrements of a cow for twenty-one days (efface every sin).

17. 'Thou art barley, thou the king of grains,

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thou water mixed with honey; the Rishis have proclaimed thee an expeller of every kind of guilt and an instrument of purification.

18. 'You are clarified butter and honey, O ye barley-corns; you are water and ambrosia, O ye barley-corns. May you efface whatever sinful acts I have committed:

19. 'Sins committed by words, by acts, and by evil thoughts. Avert distress and ill-fortune from me, O ye barley-corns.

20. 'Purify food licked at by dogs or pigs, or defiled by leavings (of food), and (purify me from the stain) of disobedience towards mother and father, O ye barley-corns.

21. 'Purify for me food given by a multitude of persons, the food of a harlot, or of a Sûdra, food offered at a Srâddha, food rendered impure by the birth of a child in the house, the food of a thief, and food offered at a Navasrâddha (or new Srâddha, which takes place on the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh day after a person's demise).

22. 'Purify me, O ye barley-corns, from the sin of injuring a child or of causing (a punishment) to be inflicted on some one by the king, from theft of gold (or other high crimes), from the violation of a religious duty, from performing a sacrifice for an unworthy person, and from abusing a Brâhmana.'