Manusmriti: The Laws of Manu

12. That article (required) for the completion of the sacrfice, may be taken (forcibly) from the house of any Vaisya, who possesses a large number of cattle, (but) neither performs the (minor) sacrifices nor drinks the Soma-juice;

13. (Or) the (sacrificer) may take at his pleasure two or three (articles required for a sacrfice) from the house of a Sudra; for a Sudra has no business with sacrifices.

14. If (a man) possessing one hundred cows, kindles not the sacred fire, or one possessing a thousand cows, drinks not the Soma-juice, a (sacrificer) may unhesitatingly take (what he requires) from the houses of those two, even (though they be Brahmanas or Kshatriyas);

15. (Or) he may take (it by force or fraud) from one who always takes and never gives, and who refuses to give it; thus the fame (of the taker) will spread and his merit increase.

16. Likewise he who has not eaten at (the time of) six meals, may take at (the time of) the seventh meal (food) from a man who neglects his sacred duties, without (however) making a provision for the morrow,

17. Either from the threshing-3oor, or from a field, or out of the house, or wherever he 3nds it; but if (the owner) asks him, he must confess to him that (deed and its cause).

18. (On such occasions) a Kshatriya must never take the property of a (virtuous Brahmana; but he who is starving may appropriate the possessions of a Dasyu, or of one who neglects his sacred duties.

19. He who takes property from the wicked and bestows it on the virtuous, transforms himself into a boat, and carries both (over the sea of misfortune).

20. The property of those who zealously offer sacrifices, the wise call the property of the gods; but the wealth of those who perform no sacrifices is called the property of the Asuras.

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