APASTAMBA PRASNA I, PATALA 9, KHANDA 25.
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APASTAMBA PRASNA I, PATALA 9, KHANDA 25.
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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.
2. Or he may die embracing a heated metal image of a woman.
3. A drinker of spirituous liquor shall drink exceedirgly hot liquor so that he dies.
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.
5. If he is forgiven (by the king), the guilt falls upon him who forgives him,
6. Or he may throw himself into the fire, or perform repeatedly severe austerities,
7. Or he may kill himself by diminishing daily his portion of food,
8. Or he may perform Krikkhra penances (uninterruptedly) for one year.
[25. 1. 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; Yagn. III, 259.
2. Manu XI, 104; Yagn. III, 259.
3. Manu XI, 91, 92; Yagn. III, 253.
4. I.e. who has stolen the gold of a Brahmana. Manu VIII, 314, 316; XI, 99-101; Yagn. III, 257.
5. Manu VIII, 317.
6. Manu XI, 102.
8. According to Haradatta this Sutra 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.]
9. Now they quote also (the following verse):
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 Brahmana, 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).
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.
13. If a crow, a chameleon, a peacock, a Brahmani duck, a swan, the vulture called Bhasa, a frog, an ichneumon, a musk-rat, or a dog has been killed, then the same penance as for a Sudra must be performed.
[9. Haradatta states that the verse is taken from a Purana.
11. Manu XI, 74; Yagn. III, 248.
12. 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 Apastamba. Yagn. III, 247.
13. '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 Yagn. III, 270-272.]
-- APASTAMBA PRASNA I, PATALA 9, KHANDA 25.