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iii. Adattādāna viramaņa
vrata.
THE JAINA LAYMAN AND
Now this vow is notoriously difficult to keep, and so Jaina laymen are advised always to guard against five things: rash speech; revealing secrets; running down one's wife; giving false advice; and cooking accounts. (In this list the Digambara substitute forgery for false advice.)
When one meets a dumb man, or a man with a bad stutter, one knows that he has broken this vow of truthfulness in a previous life.
The actual words of the vow might be rendered:
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'I take a vow not to utter great falsehoods, such as lies concerning brides, cattle, estates, deposits, and [not to bear] false witness. I will abstain from all such lies. As long as I live... [and then it goes on as in the first vow down to] the five Atičara, which are rash speech, revealing secrets, speaking ill of one's spouse, giving bad advice, falsifying accounts or forging documents.'
Stealing or taking what is not given is renounced in the third vow (Adatṭādāna viramaṇa vrata), which includes stealing from a house, taking from bundles, highway robbery, opening any one's lock with one's own key, or appropriating lost property. In especial, a man is warned never to buy stolen property, never to encourage another in thieving, never to act seditiously, to smuggle or to work in any way against the Government, not to use false weights or measures, to adulterate goods or to sell them false to sample. The penalty for breach of this vow is either to be born in a condition of poverty or (if the offence was very rank) in a state of actual servitude.
A free translation of the actual words used in taking the third vow might run :
'I take a vow not to thieve in any of the following ways: not to steal from a house, not to steal from a bundle, not to steal on the highway, not to open another's lock, not to appropriate lost property. I will abstain from such forms of thieving. I take a vow not to steal, except in things relating to trade and things belonging to my relatives which will not give rise to suspicion. As long as I live [and then as in the other vow to] the five Atičara, which are buying stolen property, encouraging others to thieve, committing offences against Government, using false weights and measures, adulterating or selling goods false to sample.'
