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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Âpastamba - Prasna I, Patala 9
Khanda 24
1. He who has killed a Kshatriya shall give a thousand cows (to Brâhmanas) for the expiation of his sin.1
2. (He shall give) a hundred cows for a Vaisya,2
3. Ten for a Sûdra,3
4. And in every one (of these cases) one bull (must be given) in excess (of the number of cows) for the sake of expiation.
5. And if women of the (three castes mentioned have been slain) the same (composition must be paid).
6. He who has slain a man belonging to the two (first-mentioned castes) who has studied the Veda, or had been initiated for the performance of a Soma-sacrifice, becomes an Abhisasta.4
7. And (he is called an Abhisasta) who has slain a man belonging merely to the Brâhmana caste (though he has not studied the Veda or been initiated for a Soma-sacrifice),
8. Likewise he who has destroyed an embryo of a (Brâhmana, even though its sex be) undistinguishable,
9. Or a woman (of the Brâhmana caste) during her courses.5
10. (Now follows) the penance for him (who is an Abhisasta).
11. He (himself) shall erect a hut in the forest, restrain his speech, carry (on his stick) the skull (of the person slain) like a flag, and cover the space from his navel to his knees with a quarter of a piece of hempen cloth.6
12. The path for him when he goes to a village, is the space between the tracks (of the wheels).
13. And if he sees another (Ârya), he shall step out of the road (to the distance of two yards).
14. He shall go to the village, carrying a broken tray of metal of an inferior quality.
15. He may go to seven houses only, (crying,) 'Who will give alms to an Abhisasta?'
16. That is (the way in which he must gain) his livelihood.
17. If he does not obtain anything (at the seven houses), he must fast.
18. And (whilst performing this penance) he must tend cows.
19. When they leave and enter the village, that is the second occasion (on which he may enter) the village.
20. After having performed (this penance) for twelve years, he must perform) the ceremony known (by custom), through which he is re-admitted into the society of the good.7
21. Or (after having performed the twelve years' penance), he may build a hut on the path of robbers, and live there, trying to take from them the cows of Brâhmanas. He is free (from his sin), when thrice he has been defeated by them, or when he has vanquished them.8
22. Or he is freed (from his sin), if (after the twelve years' penance) he bathes (with the priests) at the end of a horse-sacrifice.9
23. This very same (penance is ordained) for him who, when his duty and love of gain come into conflict, chooses the gain.10
24. If he has slain a Guru or a Brâhmana, who has studied the Veda and finished the ceremonies of a Soma-sacrifice, he shall live according to this very same rule until his last breath.11
25. He cannot be purified in this life. But his sin is removed (after death).12
Khanda 25
1. He who has had connection with a Guru's wife shall cut off his organ together with the testicles, take them into his joined hands and walk towards the south without stopping, until he falls down dead.13
2. Or he may die embracing a heated metal image of a woman.14
3. A drinker of spirituous liquor shall drink exceedingly hot liquor so that he dies.15
4. A thief shall go to the king with flying hair, carrying a club on his shoulder, and tell him his deed. He (the king) shall give him a blow with that (club). If the thief dies, his sin is expiated.16
5. If he is forgiven (by the king), the guilt falls upon him who forgives him,17
6. Or he may throw himself into the fire, or perform repeatedly severe austerities,18
7. Or he may kill himself by diminishing daily his portion of food,
8. Or he may perform Krikkhra penances (uninterruptedly) for one year.19
9. Now they quote also (the following verse):20
10. Those who have committed a theft (of gold), drunk spirituous liquor, or had connection with a Guru's wife, but not those who have slain a Brâhmana, shall eat every fourth meal-time a little food, bathe at the times of the three libations (morning, noon, and evening), passing the day standing and the night sitting. After the lapse of three years they throw off their guilt.
11. (A man of any caste) excepting the first, who has slain a man of the first caste, shall go on a battle-field and place himself (between the two hostile armies). There they shall kill him (and thereby he becomes pure).21
12. Or such a sinner may tear from his body and make the priest offer as a burnt-offering his hair, skin, flesh, and the rest, and then throw himself into the fire.22
13. If a crow, a chameleon, a peacock, a Brâhmanî duck, a swan, the vulture called Bhâsa, a frog, an ichneumon, a musk-rat, or a dog has been killed, then the same penance as for a Sûdra must be performed.23
Khanda 26
1. (The same penance must be performed), if a milch-cow or a full-grown ox (has been slain), without a reason.24
2. And for other animals (which have no bones), if an ox-load of them has been killed.25
3. He who abuses a person who (on account of his venerability) ought not to be abused, or speaks an untruth (regarding any small matter) must abstain for three days from milk, pungent condiments, and salt.26
4. (If the same sins have been committed) by a Sûdra, he must fast for seven days.
5. And the same (penances must also be performed) by women, (but not those which follow).27
6. He who cuts off a limb of a person for whose murder he would become an Abhisasta (must perform the penance prescribed for killing a Sûdra), if the life (of the person injured) has not been endangered.
7. He who has been guilty of conduct unworthy of an Aryan, of calumniating others, of actions contrary to the rule of conduct, of eating or drinking things forbidden, of connection with a woman of the Sûdra caste, of an unnatural crime, of performing; magic rites with intent (to harm his enemies) or (of hurting others) unintentionally, shall bathe and sprinkle himself with water, reciting the (seven) verses addressed to the Waters, or the verses addressed to Varuna, or (other verses chosen from the Anuvâka, called) Pavitra, in proportion to the frequency with which the crime has been committed.28
8. A (student) who has broken the vow of chastity, shall offer to Nirriti an ass, according to the manner of the Pâkayagña-rites.29
9. A Sûdra shall eat (the remainder) of that (offering).
10. (Now follows) the penance for him who transgresses the rules of studentship.
11. He shall for a year serve his teacher silently, emitting speech only during the daily study (of the Veda, in announcing necessary business to) his teacher or his teacher's wife, and whilst collecting alms.
12. The following penances) which we are going to proclaim, may be performed for the same sin, and30 also for other sinful acts, which do not cause loss of caste.
13. He may either offer oblations to Kâma and Manyu (with the following two Mantras), 'Kâma (passion) has done it; Manyu (anger) has done it.' Or he may mutter (these Mantras).31
14. Or, after having eaten sesamum or fasted on the days of the full and new moon he may, on the following day bathe, and stopping his breath, repeat the Gâyatrî one thousand times, or he may do so without stopping his breath.
Khanda 27
1. After having eaten sesamum or having fasted on the full moon day of the month Srâvana July-August), he may on the following day bathe in the water of a great river and offer (a burnt-oblation of) one thousand pieces of sacred fuel, whilst. reciting the Gâyatrî, or he may mutter (the Gâyatrî) as many times.32
2. Or he may perform Ishtis and Soma-sacrifices for the sake of purifying himself (from his sins),33
3. After having eaten forbidden food, he must fast, until his entrails are empty.34
4. That is (generally) attained after seven days.
5. Or he may during winter and during the dewy season (November-March) bathe in cold water both morning and evening.
6. Or he may perform a Krikkhra penance, which lasts twelve days.
7. The rule for the Krikkhra penance of twelve days (is the following): For three days he must not eat in the evening, and then for three days not in the morning; for three days he must live on food which has been given unasked, and three days he must not eat anything.35
8. If he repeats this for a year, that is called a Krikkhra penance, which lasts for a year.
9. Now follows another penance. He who has committed even a great many sins which do not cause him to fall, becomes free from guilt, if, fasting, he recites the entire Sâkhâ of his Veda three times consecutively.36
10. He who cohabits with a non-Aryan woman, he who lends money at interest, he who drinks (other) spirituous liquors (than Surâ), he who praises everybody in a manner unworthy of a Brâhmana, shall sit on grass, allowing his back to be scorched (by the sun).
11. A Brâhmana removes the sin which he committed by serving one day and night (a man of) the black race, if he bathes for three years, eating at every fourth meal-time.37
Footnotes
1. Manu XI, 128; Yâgñ. III, 266. Others explain the phrase vairayâtanârtham, 'for the expiation of his sin,' thus: 'He, who is slain by anybody, becomes, in dying, an enemy of his slayer (and thinks), "O that I might slay him in another life," for the removal of this enmity!'--Haradatta. I am strongly inclined to agree with the other commentator, and to translate vairayâtanârtham, 'in order to remove the enmity.' I recognise in this fine a remnant of the law permitting compositions for murder which was in force in ancient Greece and among the Teutonic nations. With the explanation adopted by Haradatta, it is impossible to find a reasonable interpretation for prâyaskittirthah, Sûtra 4. Haradatta, seduced by the parallel passage of Manu, takes it to be identical with vairayâtanârtham. I propose to translate our Sûtra thus: 'He who has killed a Kshatriya shall give a thousand cows (to the relations of the murdered man) in order to remove the enmity.' According to Baudhâyana I, 10. 19. 1 (compare Zeitschr. d. D. Morg. Ges., vol. 41, pp. 672-76; Festgruss an Roth, pp. 44-52), the cows are to be given to the king.
2. Manu XI, 130. Yâgñ. III, 267.
3. Manu XI, 131. Yâgñ. III, 267.
4. Manu XI, 87. Abhisasta means literally 'accused, accursed,' and corresponds in Âpastamba's terminology to the mahâpâtakin of Manu and Yâgñavalkya, instead of which latter word Manu uses it occasionally, e.g. II, 185.
5. 'Others interpret âtreyî, "during her courses," by "belonging to the race of Atri."'--Haradatta.
6. Others say that he may carry the skull of any corpse. This Sûtra is to be construed with Sûtra 14, Sûtras 12 and 13 being inserted parenthetically.--Haradatta. Manu XI, 72-78; Yâgñ. III, 243.
7. 'I.e. after having performed the penance, he shall take grass and offer it to a cow. If the cow approaches and confidingly eats, then one should know that he has performed the penance properly not otherwise.'--Haradatta. Manu XI, 195 and 196.
8. Manu XI, 81.--Thus Haradatta, better, 'when-thrice he has fought with them,' see the Pet. Dict. s. v. râdh.
9. Manu XI, 83; Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 67.
10. 'Or the Sûtra may have reference to unrighteous gain acquired by false testimony and the like.'--Haradatta.
11. 'Guru means "the father and the rest."--Haradatta.
12. 'His sin is removed after death. Hence the meaning is that his sons or other (relations) may perform the funeral ceremonies and the like. But others think that the first part of the Sûtra forbids this, and that the meaning of pratvâpattih (can be purified) is "connection by being received as a son or other relation."--Haradatta.
13. Haradatta's explanation of a 'Guru's wife' by 'mother' rests on a comparison of similar passages from other Smritis, where a different 'penance' is prescribed for incestuous intercourse with other near relations. Manu XI, 105; Yâgñ. III, 259.
14. Manu XI, 104; Yâgñ. III, 259.
15. Manu XI, 91, 92; Yâgñ. III, 253.
16. I.e. who has stolen the gold of a Brâhmana. Manu VIII, 314, 316; XI, 99-101; Yâgñ. III, 257.
17. Manu VIII, 317.
18. Manu XI, 102.
19. According to Haradatta this Sûtra refers to all kinds of sins and it must be understood that the Krikkhra penances must be heavy for great crimes, and lighter for smaller faults; see also below, I, 9, 27, 7 and 8.
20. Haradatta states that the verse is taken from a Purâna.
21. Manu XI, 74; Yâgñ. III, 248.
22. The Mantras given in the commentary, and a parallel passage of Vasishtha XX, 25-26, show that this terrible penance is not altogether a mere theory of Âpastamba. Yâgñ. III, 247.
23. 'According to some, the penance must be performed if all these animals together have been slain; according to others, if only one of them has been killed.'--Haradatta. Manu XI, 132, 136 Yâgñ. III, 270-272.
24. 'A reason' for hurting a cow is, according to Haradatta, anger, or the desire to obtain meat.
25. Manu XI, 141; Yâgñ. III, 269. That 'animals without bones,' i.e. insects or mollusks, are intended in the Sûtra is an inference, drawn by Haradatta from the parallel passages of Gautama, Manu, and Yâgñavalkya.
26. 'A person who ought not to be abused, i. e. a father, a teacher, and the like.'--Haradatta.
27. The same penances, i. e. those prescribed I, 9, 24-I, 9, 26, 4. According to Haradatta this Sûtra is intended to teach that women shall not perform the penances which follow. Others, however, are of opinion that it is given in order to indicate that the preceding Sûtras apply to women by an atidesa, and that, according to a Smârta principle, applicable to such cases, it may be inferred, that women are to perform one-half only of the penances prescribed for men.
28. The Anuvâka intended is Taitt. Samh. II, 5, 12.
29. Taitt. Âr. II, 18, and Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 102; Manu XI, 199 seq.; and Yâgñ. III, 280. Regarding the Pâkayagña-rites, see Âsv. Gri. Sû. I, 1, 2, and Max Müller's History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 203.
30. Regarding the Patanîya-crimes which cause loss of caste, see above, I, 7, 21, 7 seq.
31. Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 102. According to the greatness of the crime the number of the burnt-oblations must be increased and the prayers be repeated.
32. 'The oblations of sacred fuel (samidh) are not to be accompanied by the exclamation Svâhâ'--Haradatta.
33. Ishtis are the simplest forms of the Srauta-sacrifices, i.e. of those for which three fires are necessary.
34. For some particular kinds of forbidden food the same penance is prescribed, Manu XI, 153-154.
35. The same penance is described, under the name Prâgâpatya krikkhra, the Krikkhra invented by Pragâpati, Manu XI, 212, and Yâgñ. III, 320.
36. Manu XI, 259.
37. The expression krishna varna, 'the black race,' is truly Vedic. In the Rig-veda it usually denotes the aboriginal races, and sometimes the demons. Others explain the Sûtra thus: A Brâhmana removes the sin, which he committed by cohabiting for one night with a female of the Sûdra caste, &c.--Haradatta. The latter explanation has been adopted by Kullûka on Manu XI. 179.
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