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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Âpastamba - Prasna I, Patala 10
Khanda 28
1. He who, under any conditions whatsoever, covets (and takes) another man's possessions is a thief; thus (teach) Kautsa and Hârita as well as Kanva and Pushkarasâdi.
2. Vârshyâyani declares, that there are exceptions to this law, in regard to some possessions.
3. (E.g.) seeds ripening in the pod, food for a draught-ox; (if these are taken), the owners (ought) not (to) forbid it.1
4. To take even these things in too great a quantity is sinful.
5. Hârita declares, that in every case the permission (of the owner must be obtained) first.
6. He shall not go to visit a fallen teacher or blood relation.
7. Nor shall he accept the (means for procuring) enjoyments from such a person.2
8. If he meets them accidentally he shall silently embrace (their feet) and pass on.
9. A mother does very many acts for her son, therefore he must constantly serve her, though she be fallen.
10. But (there shall be) no communion (with a fallen mother) in acts performed for the acquisition of spiritual merit.
11. Enjoyments taken unrighteously he shall give up; he shall say, 'I and sin (do not dwell together).' Clothing himself with a garment reaching from the navel down to the knee, bathing daily, morn, noon, and evening, eating food which contains neither milk nor pungent condiments, nor salt, he shall not enter a house for twelve years.3
12. After that he (may be) purified.
13. Then he may have intercourse with Aryans.
14. This penance may also be employed in the case of the other crimes which cause loss of caste (for which no penance has been ordained above).
15. But the violator of a Guru's bed shall enter a hollow iron image and, having caused a fire to be lit on both sides, he shall burn himself.4
16. According to Hârita, this (last-mentioned penance must) not (be performed).
17. For he who takes his own or another's life becomes an Abhisasta.
18. He (the violator of a Guru's bed) shall perform to his last breath (the penance) prescribed by that rule (Sûtra 11). He cannot be purified in this world. But (after death) his sin is taken away.
19. He who has unjustly forsaken his wife shall put on an ass's skin, with the hair turned outside, and beg in seven houses, saying, 'Give alms to him who forsook his wife.' That shall be his livelihood for six months.
20. But if a wife forsakes her husband, she shall perform the twelve-night Krikkhra penance for as long a time.
21. He who has killed a Bhrûna (a man learned in the Vedas and Vedâṅgas and skilled in the performance of the rites) shall put on the skin of a dog or of an ass, with the hair turned outside, and take a human skull for his drinking-vessel,
Khanda 29
1. And he shall take the foot of a bed instead of a staff and, proclaiming the name of his deed, he shall go about (saying), 'Who (gives) alms to the murderer of a Bhrûna?' Obtaining thus his livelihood in the village, he shall dwell in an empty house or under a tree, (knowing that) he is not allowed to have intercourse with Aryans. According to this rule he shall act until his last breath. He cannot be purified in this world. But (after death) his sin is taken away.
2. He even who slays unintentionally, reaps nevertheless the result of his sin.
3. (His guilt is) greater, (if he slays) intentionally.
4. The same (principle applies) also to other sinful actions,
5. And also to good works.5
6. A Brâhmana shall not take a weapon into his hand, though he be only desirous of examining it.
7. In a Purâna (it has been declared), that he who slays an assailant does not sin, for (in that case) wrath meets wrath.
8. But Abhisastas shall live together in dwellings (outside the village); considering this their lawful (mode of life), they shall sacrifice for each other, teach each other, and marry amongst each other.
9. If they have begot sons, let them. say to them: 'Go out from amongst us, for thus the Âryas, (throwing the guilt) upon us, will receive you (amongst their number).'6
10. For the organs do not become impure together with the man.
11. (The truth of) that may be learned from this (parallel case); a man deficient in limbs begets a son who possesses the full number of limbs.7
12. Hârita declares that this is wrong.
13. A wife is similar to the vessel which contains the curds (for the sacrifice).8
14. For if one makes impure milk curdle (by mixing it with whey and water) in a milk-vessel and stirs it, no sacrificial rite can be performed with (the curds produced from) that. Just so no intercourse can be allowed with the impure seed which comes (from an Abhisasta).
15. Sorcery and curses (employed against a Brâhmana) cause a man to become impure, but not loss of caste.
16. Hârita declares that they cause loss of caste.
17. But crimes causing impurity must be expiated, (when no particular penance is prescribed,) by performing the penance enjoined for crimes causing loss of caste during twelve months, or twelve half months, or twelve twelve-nights, or twelve se’nnights, or twelve times three days, or twelve days, or seven days, or three days, or one day.
18. Thus acts causing impurity must be expiated according to the manner in which the (sinful) act has been committed (whether intentionally or unintentionally).
Footnotes
1. The same rule Manu emphatically ascribes to himself, Manu VIII, 339, But see also VIII, 331.
2. Haradatta remarks, that this Sûtra implicitly forbids to accept the heritage of an outcast.
3. A similar but easier penance is prescribed, Manu XI, 19 4.
4. '(This penance, which had been prescribed above, I, 9, 25, 1), is enjoined (once more), in order to show that it is not optional (as might be expected according to Sûtra 14).'--Haradatta.
5. Haradatta gives, as an example, the case where a warrior saves the property of a traveller from thieves. If the traveller turns out to be a Brâhmana, and the warrior did not know his caste before rescuing his property, his merit will be less than if he had rescued knowingly the property of a Brâhmana.
6. It is impossible to agree with Haradatta's explanation of the words to be addressed by Abhisastas to their children. No Vedic license can excuse the use of the second person plural instead of the third. I propose the following: 'Go out from among us; for thus (leaving the guilt) to us, you will be received (as) Âryas.' it is, however, not improbable that our text is disfigured by several very old corruptions, compare Baudhâyana II, 1, 2, 18.
7. 'In like manner a man who has lost his rights, (can) beget a son, who possesses the rights (of his caste). For the wife is also a cause (of the birth of the son), and she is guiltless.'--Haradatta.
8. The statements now following are those with which Âpastamba agrees. Those contained in Sûtras 8-11 are merely the pûrvapaksha.
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