Chapter 4

[Vol. II, Part 1:]

The Section on Penance (Prāyaścittakāṇḍam)

Whether a woman or a man hangs themselves out of excessive pride, excessive anger, affection, or fear, this is the fate prescribed for them: (II,1, p. 18) // Par_4.1 //

They sink into the Blind Darkness, filled with pus and blood. For sixty thousand years, they enter hell. (II,1, p. 19) // Par_4.2 //

One should not perform the rites of impurity (āśauca), water offering, or fire for them, nor shed tears. The carriers, the fire-givers, and also the cutters of the noose, (II,1, p. 23) // Par_4.3 //

are purified by the Taptakṛcchra penance; thus has Prajāpati declared. For one killed by cows, one who has hanged themself, or one killed by a Brāhmaṇa, (II,1, p. 25) // Par_4.4 //

those Brāhmaṇas who touch the body, the carriers, the fire-givers, and the others who follow, as well as those who cut the noose, // Par_4.5 //

they, purified by the Taptakṛcchra penance, should host a feeding of Brāhmaṇas. They should give a cow along with a bull to a Brāhmaṇa as a sacrificial fee (dakṣiṇā). // Par_4.6 //

For three days one should drink hot water; for three days one should drink hot milk; for three days one should drink hot clarified butter; and for three days one should subsist on air. (II,1, p. 26) // Par_4.7 //

One should drink six palas of water, three palas of milk, and one pala of clarified butter. This is prescribed as the Taptakṛcchra penance. // Par_4.8 //

A Brāhmaṇa who unintentionally associates with an outcaste or the like for five days, or ten days, or even twelve days, (II,1, p. 27) // Par_4.9 //

or for half a month, or one month, or even two months, or for half a year or a full year—beyond that, he becomes equal to them. // Par_4.10 //

For the first period (five days), a three-night fast is required. For the second (ten days), one should perform the Kṛcchra penance. For the third period (twelve days), one should perform the Sāntapana Kṛcchra penance. (II,1, p. 29) // Par_4.11 //

For the fourth (half a month), a ten-night fast is prescribed. For the fifth (one month), the Parāka penance is ordained. For the sixth (two months), one should perform the Cāndrāyaṇa; for the seventh (half a year), two Aindava penances. // Par_4.12 //

For purification in the eighth case (one year), one should perform the Kṛcchra penance for six months. The sacrificial fee is also gold pieces, according to the number of periods. (II,1, p. 30) // Par_4.13 //

The woman who, having bathed after her fertile period, does not approach her husband—when she dies, she goes to hell and is reborn as a widow again and again. (II,1, p. 33) // Par_4.14 //

The man who, being near, does not approach his wife after she has bathed following her fertile period, is guilty of the horror of killing an embryo. There is no doubt in this. // Par_4.15 //

She who disrespects her husband because he is poor, sick, or a fool—having died, she is born as a female dog, and then again and again as a sow. // Par_4.16 //

The woman who undertakes a fast or a vow while her husband is alive, she shortens the life of her husband, and that woman goes to hell. // Par_4.17 //

The woman who undertakes a vow without having asked her husband—all of that goes to the demons (rākṣasas); thus has Manu declared. (II,1, p. 34) // Par_4.18 //

She who behaves wickedly towards her husband's family and her own kin, and she who procures an abortion—one should never converse with her. // Par_4.19 //

The sin in procuring an abortion is double that of killing a Brāhmaṇa. There is no prāyaścitta for her; her abandonment is prescribed. // Par_4.20 //

There is no need for the domestic fire rite nor for the Agnihotra for him. He who is averse to dharma becomes an outcaste in his actions (karmacāṇḍāla). // Par_4.21 //

The seed carried by flood or wind that sprouts in another's field—the owner of the field gets the crop, the owner of the seed does not deserve a share. (II,1, p. 42) // Par_4.22 //

Likewise, two sons of another man's wife are remembered: the Kuṇḍa and the Golaka. The Kuṇḍa is one born while the husband is alive; the Golaka is one born after the husband's death. // Par_4.23 //

The son born of one's own loins (aurasa), the son of the wife by a kinsman (kṣetraja), the given son (datta), and the artificial son (kṛtrimaka). The son whom the mother or father gives away becomes an adopted son (dattaka). (II,1, p. 48) // Par_4.24 //

The younger brother who marries first (parivitti), the elder brother who is superseded (parivettā), the woman by whom he is superseded, the giver (of the bride), and the officiating priest as the fifth—all of them go to hell. // Par_4.25 //

Two Kṛcchra penances are for the superseded elder brother, one Kṛcchra for the bride, a Kṛcchra and an Atikṛcchra for the giver, and the priest should perform the Cāndrāyaṇa. // Par_4.26 //

There is no fault in supersession if the elder brother is a hunchback, a dwarf, impotent, a stammerer, an idiot, or one who is blind from birth, deaf, or mute. (II,1, p. 51) // Par_4.27 //

There is no fault in supersession in the case of a paternal cousin, a step-brother, or the son of another man's wife, with respect to marriage and setting up the sacred fire. (II,1, p. 52) // Par_4.28 //

When an elder brother is present, a younger brother should not establish the sacred fire. But if permitted by him, he may do so, according to the word of Śaṅkha. // Par_4.29 //

If her husband is lost, dead, has become an ascetic, is impotent, or has been cast out of society—in these five calamities, another husband is prescribed for women. (II,1, p. 53) // Par_4.30 //

The woman who, after her husband has died, remains firm in her vow of celibacy—she, upon dying, obtains heaven, just as those celibate students do. // Par_4.31 //

The three and a half crores of hairs that are on a human being—for that long a time she shall dwell in heaven who follows her husband in death. (II,1, p. 54) // Par_4.32 //

Just as a snake-charmer forcibly pulls a snake from its hole, so a woman, by rescuing her husband, rejoices together with him. (II,1, p. 57) // Par_4.33 //