Chapter 30 - The Mode of Expiation

[Full title: The Mode of Expiation (prāyaścitta-vidhi)]

Sanaka said:

1. O Nārada, I shall now explain the rules regarding the expiatory rites (prāyaścitta-vidhi).^[1] Listen. One who has purified his soul by means of expiatory rites (prāyaścitta-viśuddhātmā) shall attain the benefit of all holy observances.

2. O sage, all the rites performed by those who are devoid of (i.e. do not perform) expiatory rites (prāyaścitta) are said to be futile. They are resorted to by Rākṣasas.

3. Brāhmaṇas must be consulted about Dharma by those who are desirous of the benefits of all dharmas, are devoid of lust and fury and are experts in the scriptures on Dharma.

4. O leading Brāhmaṇa, the expiatory rites (prāyaścitta) performed by those who are averse to Nārāyaṇa do not sanctify the people even as the rivers cannot purify the pot of wine.

Prāyaścittas for Mahā-Pātakas

5. These are the five great sinners^[2] —the slayer of a Brāhmaṇa, the wine addict, the thief, the defiler of the preceptor’s bed and those who associate with any or all of these sinners.

6. If any one associates oneself with them by sharing their beds, seats or foodstuffs for a year, he shall be known as-Patita (a fallen man) in regard to all holy rites.

7. If anyone slays a Brāhmaṇa unknowingly,^[3] he should wear bark garments and matted hair. He should also hold the skull of the Brāhmaṇa killed by him.

8. If that skull, or any other article belonging to this man is not available, he should roam the forest holding up that material on a staff like a banner displaying his crime.

9. He should take to things available in the forest for his diet. He should stay there on limited diet for one time per day. He should take bath thrice a day and perform Sandhyā rite duly.

10. He should give up study and teaching of the

Vedas, but should all the time remember Hari. He should observe the vow of continuous celibacy and avoid wearing scented garlands, etc.

11. He should visit and stay at holy places and sacred hermitages. If he cannot maintain himself by means of the articles available in forests, he should beg for alms in the villages.

12. He should perform the expiatory rite thus for twelve years and be devoted to Hari. The slayer of a Brāhmaṇa then attains purity and becomes worthy of and eligible to perform holy rites.

13-14. The slayer of a Brāhmaṇa should perform any of the following rites and attain purity: viz. should he be killed by animals or die due to ailments while observing the expiatory penance, he attains purity. Or he should sacrifice his life to save a cow or a Brāhmaṇa or make a gift of ten thousand excellent cows to leading Brāhmaṇas.

15. On killing a kṣatriya who has been consecrated (for the performance of sacrifices, etc.^[4]), the sinner should perform the expiatory rite of a Brāhmaṇa-slayer, or enter the funeral pyre or jump off a lofty cliff.

16. On killing a Brāhmaṇa who has been so consecreted, the sinner should perform twice the expiatory rites. In the event of killing a preceptor and others, the expiatory rites cited are four times the former.

17. On killing an ordinary Brāhmaṇa (by birth only who has not studied the Vedas, etc.), he should perform the expiatory rite for one year. O Brāhmaṇa, thus the mode of expiation (prāyaścitta-vidhi) for killing a Brāhmaṇa has been stated.

18. The expiation for a Kṣatriya is twice this and that for a Vaiśya is thrice: Learned men know that the Śūdra who kills a Brāhmaṇa is to be pounded to death with a club.

19. The decision in the scriptural texts is this that this punishment is to be meted out by the king himself. If Brāhmaṇa women are killed, half the expiation is to be performed and onefourth in the case of the slaying of a girl.

20-23a. By killing a Brāhmaṇa boy not invested with the sacred thread, one should perform one-fourth of the expiatory rite. A Brāhmaṇa who kills a Kṣatriya should perform the Kṛcchra^[5] penance for six years, for three years if it is a Vaiśya who is killed and for one year if a Śūdra is killed. On killing the wife of a consecrated one, a Brāhmaṇa woman, he should perform the expiatory rite (prāyaścitta) for Brāhmaṇa-slaughter for eight years. He should certainly become pure. O excellent sage, the expiatory penance enjoined on old men, sick men, women and children in all cases is said to be half as related by learned men.

Expiatory rites for wine-drinking^[6]

23b-24a. Wine (spirituous liquor) is of three kinds, Gauḍī (that which is prepared from molasses), Paiṣṭī (that which is prepared from grain meal) and Mādhvī (that which is prepared from honey). O Nārada, this should not be drunk by any of the four castes as well as by women, O Nārada.

24b-26. O sage, he should take bath and remain pure wearing the wet clothes. Remembering Nārāyaṇa, he should make one of these, viz., milk, ghee or cow’s urine resemble red-hot iron and drink the liquid then. Then he should pour it into any metallic vessel, iron or copper, and drink it like water and meet death.

27a. It is by this that a wine-addict gets purified. There is no oṃer way of purification.

27b-28a. A Brāhmaṇa who drinks wine due to inadvertence or deliberately (due to the belief that it is for his own good) should perform penance enjoined for Brāhmaṇa-murder with the difference that the exhibition of a skull on a staff and such symbols of Brahmahatyā should be absent.

28b-29a. If a Brāhmaṇa drinks liquor as an antidote for some ailment, he should undergo the rite of investiture with the sacred thread^[7] once again. Moreover, he should perform two cāndrāyaṇa penances.

29b-30a. They say that any vessel which comes into contact with the spirituous liquor (is also defiled). Even if water is taken from the liquor pot it is on a par with drinking of liquor. So is the eating of camphor.

30b-31. Spirituous liquor is of eleven varieties, viz. Tāla, (extracted from palmyra), Pānasa (taken from the jack fruit), Drākṣa (prepared from grapes), Khārjūra-sambhava (prepared from date fruits), Āriṣṭa (fermented liquor), Mādhuka (prepared from honey), Maireya (specially concocted from Ariṣṭa and Surā), Nālikeraja (prepared from coconut palm), Gauḍī prepared from molasses), Mādhvī (prepared from honey) and Surā (prepared from grain meal).

32-33a. No Brāhmaṇa should at any time drink any of these spirituous liquors. If any Brāhmaṇa drinks any of these due to ignorance, he is to be invested with the sacred thread once again. He should perform the expiatory penance called Tapta-Kṛcchra.^[8]

(Theft):

33b-34a. Whether directly or indirectly whether forcibly or clandestinely, the (illegal) taking of oṃer people’s wealth is called Steya (theft) by learned men.

34b-35a The magnitude or (the scale of the weight) of gold has been specified by Manu and others. O leading Brāhmaṇa listen. I shall detail it which is the means of relating it to the mode of expiation.

35b-36. The dust particle that is seen in the middle of the beam of the sun coming through the window is called the magnitude of Trasareṇu by learned men.^[9] Eight Trasareṇus make one Niṣka. Three such Niṣkas make one Rājasarṣapa.

37-38a. Three Rājasarṣapas make one Gaurasarṣapa. Six Gaurasarṣapas make what is called Yava. Three Yavas make one Kṛṣṇala and five Krṣṇalas make one Māṣa. O Nārada, sixteen Māṣas shall make the mass of one Suvarṇa.

38b-39a. If out of ignorance one steals the wealth of a Brāhmaṇa, one should perform Brahmahatyā expiatory penance without the skull on the staff as the banner (symbol of Brahmahatyā).

39b-40a. On stealing the gold of preceptors, performers of Yajñas and pious Brāhmaṇas well-versed in the Vedas, the expiatory rite is as follows:

40b-41a. He should repent and apply ghee all over his body. He should then cover himself with dried cowdung (and get himself scorched by fire). If he is thus burned he is liberated from the sin of theft.

41b-42a. If a Kṣatriya steals the wealth of a Brāhmaṇa, he should repent for it and return it to the owner. Listen to its procedure from me.

42b-43a. He should perform the expiatory penance called Sāntapana and observe fast for twelve days. O celestial sage, he shall then attain purity, otherwise he will become fallen.

43b-44a. Half the expiation is enjoined in the case of thefts of articles resembling gold, viz: jewels, seats, men (servants), womenfolk, cows, plots of lands, etc.

44b-45. A man who steals gold equal to a Trasareṇu should perform two Prāṇāyāmas duly.^[10] He thereby becomes pure. On stealing gold of the size of a Niṣka he should perform three Prāṇāyāmas.

46-47a. For stealing gold of the size of a Rājasarṣapa, he should perform four Prāṇāyāmas. On stealing gold of the size of Gaurasarṣapa the shrewd man should take bath and duly perform the Japa of a thousand and eight Gāyatrīs.

47b-48a. On stealing gold of the size of a Yava, the sinner should begin to perform the Japa of Vedic mother (i.e. Gāyatrī) in the morning and continue it till the evening. The Brāhmaṇa sinner should then be purified.

48b. On stealing gold of the size of Kṛṣṇala, he should perform the expiatory rite of Sāntapana.

49. The expiation (prāyaścitta) for the theft of gold of the size of a Māṣa is now enjoined. He should regularly eat barley cooked in cow’s urine. He will be purified of his sin in a year.

50. O leading sage, on stealing gold of the complete size of Suvarṇa, he should perform the Brahma-hatyā expiatory rite with great attention for twelve years.

51. If the act of stealing silver is of a quantity less than a Suvarṇa magnitude,^[11] the sinner should duly perform the expiatory penance called Sāntapana. Otherwise, he shall be fallen.

52. O sage, a person who knowingly steals between four and ten Niṣkas of silver should perform the Cāndrāyaṇa penance.

53. If any one steals silver of the size ranging from ten to hundred Niṣkas, two Cāndrāyaṇas constitute the expiation for his sin.

54. Between a hundred and a thousand Niṣkas, he should perform three Cāndrāyaṇas. If the stolen quantity exceeds a thousand Niṣkas he should perform Brahmahatyā expiatory penance.

55. If the stolen quantity is upto a thousand Niṣkas and the material is mainly bell-metal, iron or load stones, the expiatory rite is stated to be Parāka.^[12]

56. In the case of theft of jewels, the expiation (prāyaścitta) is the same as that of silver. Now the expiatory penance (prāyaścitta) of persons who defile the preceptors’ bed is being stated.

Adultery

57. If due to inadvertence one cohabits with one’s mother or her co-wife one should cut off one’s own testicles proclaiming one’s own sin^[13].

58. He should hod the testicle in his hand and proceed towards the South west. While going, he should never consider what is pleasant or what is miserable.

59. He should go ahead without seeing the other persons who go about here and there. He who walks thus till death becomes purified. Or he should fall from a promontory proclaiming his own sin.

60. On cohabiting with a woman of a higher caste unthinkingly the sinner should with great attention perform Brahma-hatyā expiatory rite for twelve years.

61. O excellent Brāhmaṇa, either unthinkingly or as a regular practice if one cohabits with a woman of his own caste or a higher caste one attains purity on being burned in the fire of dried cow dung balls.

62. If after the sexual intercourse with his mother, the sinner withdraws before the discharge of the semen virile, he should perform the Brahmahatyā expiatory rite. If he discharges the semen virile, he should burn himself in the fire.

63. If any one withdraws before the discharge of semen virile in a woman of his own caste or of a higher caste he should perform Brahmahatyā expiatory rite for nine years and be devoted to Viṣṇu.

64. If one cohabits with the Vaiśya wife of one’s own father, one should perform the expiatory rite for six years. On cohabiting with the Śūdra wife of the preceptor, one should perform the expiatory rite for three years.

65-66. If due to infatuation one is deluded and cohabits with mother’s sister, father’s sister, preceptor’s wife, wife of the father-in-law, paternal uncle’s wife, maternal uncle’s wife or one’s own daughter, he should duly perform the Brahmahatyā expiatory rite if the sin continues for two days; if the sin is committed for many times on a single day, the expiatory rite should, be performed for three years.

67. If the sin is committed only for once, he becomes purified after performing the rite of expiation for a year; if the sin is committed for three days, he should become pure only if he is burnt in fire and not otherwise.

68-69. He who passionately cohabits with a Cāṇḍāla or Puṣkasa woman, daughter-in-law, sister, friends’ wife, or disciple’s wife, should perform Brahma-hatyā expiatory rite for six. years, O leading sage. He who cohabits without passion should perform Kṛcchra rite for a year.

Expiation for Associates of great sinners

70. The expiatory rite (prāyaścitta) for associating with great sinners, is being mentioned.^[14] A person whose soul is sanctified, thanks to the expiatory rite (prāyaścitta-viśuddhātmā), should attain the benefit of all religious rites.

71. Persons who associate with the great sinners have to perform the respective expiatory rites of those sinners, to be undoubtedly free from those impurities.

72. He who associates with these unknowingly for five days, should perform physical Kṛcchra rite. Otherwise, he becomes fallen.

73. If the association lasts for twelve days, the expiatory penance called Mahāsāntapana must be performed. If the association continues for half a month he should observe fast for twelve days.

74. If the association lasts for a month the expiatory rite is Parāka and if the association is for three months the rite of Cāndrāyaṇa has to be performed. If the association is for six months, two Cāndrāyaṇa penances are to be performed.

75. If the association lasts for a period slightly less than, a year he should perform the expiatory rite for six months. All these expiatory rites are to be performed three times if the association is knowingly pursued.

Expiation for Miscellaneous sins

76-77. If a Brāhmaṇa kills a frog, a mongoose, a crow, a boar, a rat, a cat, a goat, a sheep, a dog or a fowl, he should perform the rite of half a Kṛcchra.^[15] The slayer of a horse should perform Atikṛcchra rite. In the event of killing an elephant he should perform Taptakṛcchra expiation and Parāka if he kills a cow.

78a. No mode of purification is enjoined by learned men in the event of wanton killing of a cow.

Minor sins

78b-82. If any beverage, quilt, seat, flowers, fruits, roots or foodstuffs and edibles are stolen the atonement is through Pañcagavya. If dried wood, grass, trees, jaggery, hides, garments and meat are stolen, he should fast for three ṃghts. On killing any of these, viz.—the sparrow, the ruddy goose, the swan, the Kāraṇḍava bird, owl, crane, dove, webfoot, parrot, blue jay, white crane, the Gangetic porpoise or the tortoise, the sinner should abstain from food for twelve days. If semen virile, feces or urine is taken in, Prājāpatya rite is to be performed.

83-84. Three Cāndrāyaṇas are enjoined (as expiatory rites) in the event of taking in the leavings of the Śūḍra’s food. On touching a woman in her menses, a Cāṇḍāla, a great sinner, a woman recently delivered of a child, a fallen fellow, a man defiled by Ucchiṣṭa (left-over of eaten food) or a washerman and others one should take bath along with the clothes one is clad iri. He should take in ghee also.

85-86a. O Brāhmaṇa, the man of purified soul should perform the Japa of Gāyatrī Mantra one hundred and eight times. On touching any of the above-mentioned persons unwittingly at the time of taking food, one should observe fast for three ṃghts and take in Pañcagavya. He should then be purified, O Nārada.

86b-87. If at the time of ablution, charitable gifts, Japas, Bhojana (meal), etc., if anyone hears the voice of anyone of these or talks to any of them, he should vomit the food taken in. He should take bath again and observe fast.

88-89a. O Nārada, he should take in ghee on the next day after which he shall attain purity. If in the midst of holy rites, even the sound of these is heard, he should perform the Japa of the Gāyatrī Mantra, a thousand and eight times.

89b-90a. Censuring Brāhmaṇas and the deities is the vilest of all sins. O Nārada, no expiation for this is found in any scripture.

90b-91a. In the case of those sins mentioned by the learned ones to be on a par with great sins, one should duly perform expiatory rites (prāyaścitta).

91b-92a. If anyone performs the expiatory rites (prāyaścitta) with devotional feelings to Nārāyaṇa, all his sins perish. Otherwise, he shall be a fallen fellow.

92b-94a. A person who is free from passions, etc. and is endowed with (i.e. fully feels) repentance and is possessed of mercy and kindness to all beings and is alertly devoted to the remembrance of Viṣṇu, he is absolved of all sins whether he is defiled by great sins or by all sins, as he is devoted to Viṣṇu.

94b-95a. He who remembers Nārāyaṇa devoid of beginning and end, the man who remembers the embodiment of the universe and free from ailments, is liberated from crores of sins.

95b-96a. On being remembered, worshipped, meditated upon or bowed to, Viṣṇu who is stationed in the hearts of the good, does destroy all sins.

96b-97. He who worships Hari in virtue of his association or even delusion, becomes liberated from all sins. He goes to Viṣṇu’s region. All the accumulated heaps of pain and distress perish by remembering Viṣṇu even once,

98-10la. O Brāhmaṇa, his attainment of heavenly pleasures and the like can be inferred. O leading sage, rarely indeed is human birth obtained. There too, the devotion to Hari is said to be rarer still. Hence, after attaining the rare human birth, as fleeting and transitory as the streak of lightening, one must devoutly worship Hari who liberates the Paśus (individual Souls) from bondage. All the obstacles perish; purity of the mind is generated and salvation is achieved when Janārḍana is worshipped.

101b-102a. The eternal Puruṣārthas (aims of life), viz., virtue, wealth, love and liberation are realized by those who are devoted to Hari’s worship. There is no doubt about this.

102b-103a. O ye men! Do not be arrogant after attaining the human existence consisting of fickle entities namely, sons, wives, houses, fields, wealth and grain.

103b-104. Eschew your lust and fury, greed and delusion, inebriety and slandering and censure. Cherish the pious feelings towards Hari. Leave off all your activities and worship Janārdana.

105-106. The trees in the city of Kṛtānta (god of Death) are seen close at hand. As long as death does not overtake one, so long as old age has not come, even before the sense organs become incapacitated, one should worship Hari. No sane man should put any faith in the body that is of a perishing nature.

107. Death is ever near; riches are too unsteady and fickle and the death of the body is imminent. Hence, leave off pride and arrogance.

108. All unions end in separation; everything is transitory and transient. Knowing this, O blessed one, worship Janārdana.

109-110a. One only increases one’s miseries by hopes. Liberation is too rare and inaccessible. Even the great sinner who worships Viṣṇu with devotion attains the greatest abode on reaching which none is subjected to affliction.

110b-111a. O excellent one, all holy centres, all sacrifices (Yajñas), and the Vedas with their ancillary subjects are not worth even a sixteenth part of the worship of Nārāyaṇa.

111b-112. If people are devoid of devotion to Viṣṇu, of what use are the Vedas, scriptures, sacrifices and pilgrimages to holy centres. Of what avail are austerities and holy rites?

113. Those men who worship Viṣṇu of infinite forms, comprehensible through Vedāntas, attain the region of Acyuta. Those who see the excellent deity as pervasive as the firmament, who is the physician that cures the illness of worldly existence, attain the region of Acyuta.

114. On remembering the primordial Atman who possesses infinite power, who is the support of Universe, who is worthy of being worshipped by Devas, whose form is brilliant and who is called Acyuta, a man attains to his true friend.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

The term prāyaścitta is variously derived but most digest-writers and commentators of Dharma-Śāstra regard it a combination of prāyas (Penance) + citta (Resolve). Plainly it means “A resolve to undergo penance” (in the belief that it will absolve one of sins).

Hemādri thinks that the term cannotes a special act in atonement of sin—

prāyaścittaśabdaḥ pāpakṣayārthe naimittike karmaviśeṣe vartate /—Caturvarga Cintāmaṇi, Prāyaścitta, p. 989).

Bālambhaṭṭi on Yājñavalkya Smṛti III. 206 regards prāyaḥ (a sin) + citta (purification) and quotes an authority to support the view that prāyaścitta is purification from sins:

prāyaḥ pāpaṃ vinirdiṣṭaṃ cittaṃ tasya viśodhanam /

The Nārada Purāṇa regards faith in Nārāyaṇa as the condition precedent, without which all expiatory acts will be futile (see V. 4).

[2]:

Sins are classified in three categories (1) Mahāpātakas (Great sins), (2) Atipātakas (Super-sins) and (3) Upapātakas (minor sins). This verse enumerates the mahā-pātakas. It is worth noting that wine drinking is a ‘great sin’ and association with the sinners is also a great sin.

The general expiation for these mahāpātakas requires the following penance: (1) Three baths per day; (2) stay in a thatched cottage alone in a forest; (3) sleep on bare ground; (4) subsistence on roots, fruits and leaves (5) eating only once a day; (6) if the sinner enters a village for begging, he should proclaim his sin.

This penance is to be practised for twelve years.—Śaṅkhasmṛti 17-1-3; cf. Nārada Purāṇa verses 7-12 below.

[3]:

Verses 7-17 deal mainly with the homicide of a Brāhmaṇa. The act can be expiated if done unknowingly. Verses 7-12 refer to slaying a Brāhmaṇa whose death affects the continuity of the Vedic lore. For killing an ordinary Brāhmaṇa, the expiation is for one year only, i.e. 1/12 of the expiation of killing a knower of a Veda. This is the precaution taken by the society, topreserve our literary and cultural tradition by prescribing a deterrent punishment. Dharma Sūtras of Gautama, Āpastamba, Viṣṇu and Smṛtis of Manu (XI.72-82), Yājñavalkya (III.243-50) and Agni Purāṇa 169.1.4, 173. 7-8 prescribe practically the same type of penances for slaying a Brāhmaṇa and cover the penances given in the Nārada Purāṇa, though he (Manu) gives some other penances as well.

[4]:

It is noteworthy that a Kṣattriya who has been consecrated for performance of a sacrifice is equated with a Brāhmaṇa

[5]:

Kṛcchra—A kind of penance, for details vide Yājñavalkyasmṛti, Prāyaścitta Adhyāya.

[6]:

Verses 23b-33a deal with the expiations for the second Mahāpāpa—wine-drinking. The varieties of wines are detailed in Verses 23b-24a and 30b-31. It appears that wine-drinking was regarded worse than Brāhmaṇa-slaughter, and death-penalty in a painful way is prescribed for it. For drinking spirituous liquor inadvertently, the penance of a Brāhmaṇa-slaughter is laid down in verses 24-28.

Here Nārada Purāṇa is repeating this way of death penalty for wine-drinking which has been already prescribed in Dh.Ss of Āpastamba (1.9.25.3), Gautama (23,1) Baudhāyana (II.1.21) and the Smṛtis of Manu (XI.90-91) and Yājñavalkya (III.253).

[7]:

The second upanayana (investiture of sacred thread) seems to be symbolic. Āśvalāyana Gr. S. (1.22.22-26) prescribes cutting of hair and medhājanana as optional; there is no mention of rules regarding time of this upanayana and the verse to be recited as Sāvitrī is Ṛgveda V.82.1 and not the regular Gāyatrī Mantra (Ṛgveda III.62.10.)

[8]:

Vide Supra fn.

[9]:

Verses 35b-38a give the weights used for weighing gold. It is the same as in Manu VIII. 132-135.

1 Trasareṇu	= A particle of dust seen in the Sun-beam coming through a window
8 Trasareṇus	= 1 niṣka (called likṣa by Manu)
3 Niṣkas	= 1 Rājasarṣapa
3 Rājasarṣapas	= 1 Gaurasarṣapa (A white mustard-seed)
6 Gaurasarṣapas	= 1 Yava
3 Yavas	= 1 Kṛṣṇala
5 Kṛṣṇalas	= 1 Māṣa
16 Māṣas	= 1 Suvarṇa

Some of these terms are found in some other Smṛtis and the Kauṭalīya Arthaśāstra, the difference in terms and their equation (if any) is due to difference of Time and region.

[10]:

The Nārada Purāṇa (VV. 44b-50) has decided the punishment or Prāyaścitta for stealing gold according to its weight.

Weight of the stolen gold	Prāyaścitta
1 trasareṇu1 niṣka	= 1 prāṇāyāma
1 rājasarṣapa	= 3 prāṇāyāmas.
1 gaurasarṣapa	= 4 prāṇāyāmas
1 yava	= Bath and Japa of Gāyatrī 1008 times.
1 kṛṣṇala	= Japa of Gāyatrī from morning (Sun-rise) to evening (Sun-set).
1 Māṣa	= A SāntapanaSubsistence on barley cooked in a cow’s urine, for one year
1 Suvarṇa	= Expiation meant for Brahmahatyā (for 12 years).

[11]:

Verses 51-54 declare the Prāyaścitta to be performed by a thief of silver depending on the weight of the metal as follows:

Weight of the stolen silver	Prāyaścitta prescribed
Less than 1 suvarṇa in weight	= One Sāntapana.
Between 4 to 10 niṣkas	= One Cāndrāyaṇa.
From 10 to 100 niṣkas	= Two Cāndrāyaṇas.
From 100 to 1000 Niṣkas	= Three Cāndrāyaṇas.
More than 1000 Niṣkas	= Expiation meant for Brahmahatyā.

[12]:

Parāka:—A penance requiring continuous fast for twelve days and observance of self-control (vide Manu XI.215, Yājñavalkya III. 320 A.P. 171-10).

[13]:

Incest with one’s preceptor’s wife or one’s mother or step-mother is to be expiated with the incision of the organ and to go on walking with his testicles in one’s hand and proclaiming the sins till one falls dead. This has been prescribed since the days of Dharma Sūtras. For example:

Gautama states:

liṅgaṃ vā savṛṣaṇam utkṛtyāñjalāvādhāya dakṣiṇāpratīcīṃ vrajed ajihmam ā-śarīra-pātāt /

Manu XI.105 repeats the same. But the Nārada Purāṇa does not lay down the other punishment, viz. lying on a red-hot iron bed or embracing a red hot iron image of a woman, though the Dharma Sūtras and Manu prescribe that alternatively. But the Nārada Purāṇa prescribes leap from a precipice, which is its special view.

The prāyaścittas for other cases of incest vary in various Smṛtis. Nārada Purāṇa’s views are stated in verses 60-69.

[14]:

As stated above, association with the four types of grave sinners mentioned above, is regarded as a serious sin and Manu XI. 181, Yājñavalkya III. 261 provided that a person associating with a person guilty of serious sins (Mahāpātakas) should undergo the same Prāyaścitta as is prescribed for the Mahāpāpa. Nārada Purāṇa voices the same view but he takes a lenient view and prescribes milder prāyaścittas of shorter duration as compared with those for the original sinners.

Kullūka, Vijñāneśvara and other commentators state that the Prāyaścitta in such cases is a Vrata and as such should not be extended to or involve death of the performer of the Vrata.

maraṇasya ca vrataśabdavācyatvā'bhāvāt /—Mitākṣarā on Yājñavalkya Smṛti III. 261.

 

[15]:

Verses 76-92a deal with miscellaneous sins. Smṛti-writers (e.g. Manu XI. 133-37, Yājñavalkya III.269-74) have prescribed various expiatory rites for them. The Nārada Purāṇa agrees with some. The Nārada Purāṇa emphasizes that slandering gods and Brāhmaṇas is a great sin from which there is no absolution (89b-90). The main point is that if one is devoted to Lord Nārāyaṇa and undergoes expiatory rites, he becomes free from sins. In extolling devotion to Viṣṇu, Nārada Purāṇa asserts that all sins are destroyed by remembering (or worshipping or meditating on) Hari. He concludes: All heaps of miseries instantly disappear if Lord Viṣṇu is remembered but once (V. 97).