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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Vasishtha - Chapter XXIII
1. If a student has approached a woman, he shall slay in the forest, in a place where four roads meet1 (kindling) a common fire, an ass for the Rakshas (the goblins),
2. Or he may offer an oblation of rice (karu) to Nirriti (the goddess of hell).
3. Let him throw into the fire (four oblations consisting) of that (sacrificial food, saying), To Lust svâhâ; to him who follows his lust svâhâ; to Nirriti svâhâ; to the divine Rakshas svâhâ.'
4. If, before returning home (from his teacher, a student) voluntarily defiles himself, sleeps in the day-time, or practises any other vow (than that of studentship), the same (penance must be performed).2
5. If he has committed a bestial crime, he shall give a white bull (to a Brâhmana).3
6. The guilt incurred by a bestial crime with a cow, has been explained by the (rule regarding) the killing of a female of the Sûdra caste.4
7. A student breaks his vow by performing funeral rites,5
8. Excepting those of his mother and his father.6
9. If a (student) is sick, he may eat, at his pleasure, all that is left by his teacher as medicine.7
10. If (a student) who is employed by his teacher (to perform some duty), meets with his death, (the teacher) shall perform three Krikkhra penances.8
11. If a student eats meat which has been given to him as leavings (by his teacher), he shall perform a Krikkhra penance of twelve days' duration, and afterwards finish his vow.9
12. The same (penance must be performed) if he eats food given at a Srâddha or by a person who is impure on account of a recent death or birth.10
13. It is declared in the Veda, than honey given without asking does not defile (a student) of the Vâgasaneyi-sâkhâ.11
14. For him who committing suicide becomes An Abhisasta, his blood-relations (sapinda) shall not perform the funeral rites.12
15. He is called a suicide who destroys himself by means of wood, water, clods of earth, stones, weapons, poison, or a rope.
16. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'The twice-born man who out of affection performs the last rites for a suicide, shall perform a Kândrâyana penance together with a Taptakrikkhra.'13
17. We shall describe the Kândrâyana below.14
18. A fast of three days (must be performed) for resolving to die by one's own hand.
19. 'He who attempts suicide, but remains alive, shall perform a Krikkhra penance during twelve days. (Afterwards) he shall fast for three (days and) nights, being dressed constantly in a garment smeared (with clarified butter), and suppressing his breath, he shall thrice recite the Aghamarshana;'
20. Or, following the same rule, he may also frequently recite the Gâyatrî;
21. Or, having kindled a fire, he may offer clarified butter with the Kûshmândas.
22. 'And the guilt (of) all (offences) excepting mortal sins is removed thereby.'15
23. Now he may also sip water in the morning, thinking of (the Mantra), 'May fire and wrath and the lords of wrath protect me,' &c., and meditating on his sin; (then) he may mutter the Vyâhritis that end with satya (truth), prefixing (the syllable) Om (to each), or he may recite the Aghamarshana.16
24. If he touches a human bone to which fat still adheres, he becomes impure during three (days and) nights;17
25. But (on touching a bone) to which no fat adheres, a day and a night,
26. Likewise if he has followed a corpse (to the burial-ground).18
27. If he passes between men reciting the Veda, he shall fast during a day and a night.
28. (Those who recite the Veda) shall sprinkle each other with water and stay away (from their houses) during three (days and) nights.19
29. (The same penance must be performed) for a day and night, if a dog, a cat, or an ichneumon pass quickly (between those who recite the Veda).20
30. If he has swallowed the flesh of a dog, a cock, a village pig, a grey heron, a vulture, a Bhâsa, a pigeon, a man, a crow or an owl, (he must) fast during seven days, (and thus) empty his entrails (afterwards he must) eat clarified butter, and be initiated again.21
31. 'But a Brâhmana who has been bitten by a dog, becomes pure, if he goes to a river that flows into the ocean, (bathes there), suppresses his breath one hundred times, and eats clarified butter.'22
32. 'Time, fire, purity of mind, water, looking at the sun, and ignorance (of defilement) are the six means by which created beings are purified.'23
33. It is declared in the Veda that, on touching a dog, a Kândâla, or an outcast, he becomes at once pure, if he bathes, dressed in his clothes.24
34. If (while reciting the Veda) they hear noises made by outcasts or Kândâlas, they shall sit silent and fasting during three days;
35. Or if they repeat that (text of the Gâyatrî) at least one thousand times, they become pure; thus it is stated in the Veda.
36. By this rule (the penance to be performed by) those who teach or sacrifice for vile men has been explained. It is declared in the Veda that they become pure by also relinquishing the fees (which they received).25
37. By this same (rule the penance prescribed for) an Abhisasta, (one accused of a heinous crime,) has been explained.
38. (If he has been accused of) killing a learned Brâhmana, let him subsist during twelve days on water (only), and fast during (another) twelve days.26
39. If he has falsely accused a Brâhmana of a crime which causes loss of caste, or of a minor offence which does not cause loss of caste, he shall subsist during a month on water (only), and constantly repeat the (Rikas called) Suddhavatîs;27
40. Or he may go to bathe (with the priests) at (the conclusion of) a horse-sacrifice.
41. By this (rule the penance for) intercourse with a female of the Kândâla caste has been declared.28
42. Now (follows the description of) another Krikkhra penance, applicable to all (men), where (the rule given above) has been altered.
43. On one day (let him eat) in the morning (only), on the (following) day at night (only), on the (next) day food given without asking, and on the (fourth) day (let him) fast; the succeeding (three) periods of four days (must be passed) in the same manner. Wishing to show favour to the Brâhmanas, Manu, the chief among the pillars of the law, has thus described the Sisukrikkhra (the hard penance of children) for infants, aged, and sick men.
44. Now follows the rule for (the performance of) the Kândrâyana (lunar penance).29
45. On the first day of the dark half (of the month) let him eat fourteen (mouthfuls), let him diminish the (number of) mouthfuls (each day by one), and continue in this manner until the end of the fortnight. In like manner let him eat one mouthful on the first day of the bright half, and (daily) increasing (the number 6f) mouthfuls, continue until the end of the fortnight.
46. Meanwhile let him sing Sâmans, or mutter the Vyâhritis.
47. A month during which he thus performs a Kândrâyana, the Rishis have called by way of laudation, 'a means of purification' (pavitra). It is prescribed as an expiation of all (offences) for which no (special penance) has been mentioned.
Footnotes
1. Gautama XXIII, 17
2. Manu XI, 121.
3. Vishnu LIII, 7; Gautama XXII, 36.
4. Vishnu LIII, 3; Gautama XXIII, 12.
5. Manu V, 88.
6. Mann V, 91.
7. The object of the Sûtra is to permit during sickness a relaxation of the rules regarding forbidden food. Hence a sick student may eat honey, meat, &c.
8. Yâgñavalkya III, 283. 'Meets with his death,' e.g. is killed by a wild animal or a snake, while collecting fuel in the forest.
9. Manu XI, 159; Yâgñavalkya III, 282; see also Âpastamba's discussion on the subject, I, 1, 4, 5.
10. Manu XI, 158.
11. This Sûtra may also mean, 'It is declared that, according to the Vâgasaneyaka, honey given (to a student). without his asking for it does not defile him.' But a parallel passage of Devala, which Krishnapandita quotes, makes, I think, the version given above appear preferable. In either case the passage is explained by the fact that, according to the Satapatha-brâhmana, Svetaketu, one of the great teachers of the White Yagur-veda, strongly pleaded for the use of honey; see Weber, Indische Studien X, 123 seq.
12. Vishnu XXII, 56; Gautama XIV, 12.
13. Vishnu XXII, 58-59.
14. See below, Sûtra 45.
15. Regarding the efficacy of the Kûshmânda texts, see above, XXII, 9.
16. The text occurs Taitt. Âr. X, 24, I.
17. Manu V, 87; Vishnu XXII, 75.
18. Manu V, 101.
19. Gautama I, 58.
20. Gautama I, 59.
21. Vishnu LI, 3-4; Gautama XXIII, 4-5; Manu XI, 157. The Sûtra is badly corrupted in Krishnapandita's edition. I read kaṅka instead of vaṅka, leave out vâyasa after bhâsa, and change kâkolûkânâm sâdane to kâkolûkamâmsâdane. The latter change is absolutely necessary; firstly, because the penances for killing dogs and men have been given above; secondly, because the word mânusha requires a noun which it qualifies at the end of the compound; thirdly, because the penance which is prescribed, fasting until the entrails are empty, is absurd for murder, but appropriate for eating forbidden food; and fourthly, because the parallel passages of other Smritis actually do prescribe it for eating the flesh of excessively impure animals and for cannibalism. The change of amâ to ânâ is a very common mistake in Devanâgarî MSS.
22. Vishnu LIV, 12.
23. Vishnu XXII, 88.
24. Âpastamba I, 5, 15, 16.
25. Vishnu LIV, 25, 28.
26. Yâgñavalkya III, 287.
27. Yâgñavalkya III, 286.
28. Vishnu LIII, 5, 6.
29. Vishnu XLVII. It must be understood that during the bright half of the month the number of mouthfuls must be increased every day by one.
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