Verse 7

¹Then, king, day by day, dharma and truth and cleanness and patience and pity will be worn away by time in its strength, and so will length of life, and strength, and memory. ²In the Kali age wealth alone will stand for a man's birth, his conduct and his worth; and force alone will settle dharma and what is just. ³Liking alone will be the reason for a marriage; deceit alone will do for business. Pleasure alone will make a woman a woman and a man a man; the thread alone will make a brahmin. ⁴The outward mark alone will give a man the name of his stage of life, and will be why one is taken for another. Having no means will make a man's case weak; loose talk will pass for learning.

⁵Not being rich will be enough to make a man bad, and show alone will make him good. Simply taking a woman will be the marriage; a bath will be the whole of dressing. ⁶A ford will be a stretch of water lying far off. Beauty will be the wearing of long hair. Filling the belly will be a man's own good. Boldness alone will pass for truthfulness. ⁷Skill will be keeping a household fed, and dharma will be kept for the sake of a name. So, with the round of the earth crowded with people gone bad,