Atri Smriti (Atrismṛti (Atrisaṃhitā))

Now begins the Atrismṛti.

Obeisance to holy Gaṇeśa.

O Keśava, for one blinded by the darkness of ignorance and covered by it, / be gracious with a benign face, O Lord, and grant the vision of knowledge.

Having approached Atri, best among the learned in the Veda, / seated after offering the agnihotra, the sages of praised vows inquired:

"O Blessed One, by what gift, silent recitation, or observance / are those burdened with sins purified? Tell us that, O great sage."

"For faults that have been confessed, as well as for grave sins, / and for all minor sins, I shall explain purification in truth:

By breath control, purifying [hymns], gifts, fire oblations, and silent recitation, / those desiring purification are released from sins; of this there is no doubt.

Seated with purifying kuśa grass in hand, repeating the daily sacred text, / [performing] breath controls, purifying [prayers], the sacred utterances, and the praṇava (Om),

always disciplined, one should repeatedly practice breath controls; / from the tips of the hair to the ends of the nails, one performs the highest austerity.

Faults committed through the skin, hide, flesh, blood, fat, marrow, and bones, / as well as those committed by the senses, are burned away by restraint of breath.

From retention wind is generated; from wind, indeed, fire is produced; / from heat, water arises; thus one is purified internally by the three.

Likewise skin and bodiless faults arrive according to nature; / thus the faults produced by the senses are burned away by the restraint of breath.

Through breath controls one should burn faults, and through concentrations, guilt; / through withdrawal, sense objects; and through meditation, unspiritual qualities.

Neither by severe austerity, nor by Vedic study, nor by sacrifice / are the gods able to attain that wisdom which they attain through yoga.

From yoga knowledge is attained; from yoga comes the characteristic of dharma; / yoga is the highest, constant austerity; therefore one should always be disciplined.

The Vedas begin with the praṇava and are established in the praṇava; / everything of speech consists of the praṇava; therefore one should repeat the praṇava.

For one devoted to the praṇava, to the seven sacred utterances, / and to the three-footed Gāyatrī mantra, there is no fear anywhere.

The single syllable is the supreme Brahman; breath control is the highest austerity; / and the Gāyatrī is the Brahman-power; it is handed down as the supreme purifier.

With the sacred utterances, with the praṇava, and together with the head verse, / one who holds the breath should recite the Gāyatrī three times; that is called breath control.

Thus ends the first chapter in the Smṛti of Atri.

One should perform breath controls according to rule, without indolence; / from sin committed day or night, one is purified that very moment.

Whatever guilt one incurs by deed, mind, or speech during the night, / by standing at the morning twilight junction [and] by breath controls, one is purified.

He who remains restraining himself repeatedly through breath controls— / ten, twelve, or beyond twenty-four—[attains] the highest austerity.

Silently reciting the Kautsa hymn, 'āpaḥ', and each triplet of Vasiṣṭha, / the Kūṣmāṇḍa mantras, and the Pāvamāna hymns, even a drinker of liquor becomes completely purified.

Reciting once 'asya pānīyam' and the Śivasaṅkalpa, / even after having stolen gold, one becomes spotless in an instant.

Studying 'haviṣmān', the hymn to Yama, and 'na tam aṃhaḥ', / and reciting the Puruṣasūkta, a violator of the guru's bed is freed.

Sixteen breath controls with the sacred utterances and with the praṇava, / performed day after day, purify even a slayer of an embryo in a month.

Or, submerging in water, one should recite the Aghamarṣaṇa three times; / Manu has stated that this is equal to the horse-sacrifice, king of rituals.

The sacrifice of undertaking belongs to the Kṣatriya, the sacrifice of oblation to the Vaiśyas, / the sacrifice of service belongs to the Śūdra, and the sacrifice of silent recitation to the foremost of the twice-born.

The sacrifice of silent recitation is ten times superior to the sacrifice of undertaking; / whispered, it is a hundred times; mental, it is handed down as a thousand times [as effective].

Whispered is declared to be with moving tongue and slight motion of the lips, / or separation of the lower lip; breathing is the mark of whispered; / with an unmoved face, through the mind alone, it is handed down as mental.

A thousand times being the best, a hundred middling, and ten the lowest, / the brahmin who recites the divine Gāyatrī is not tainted by sin.

A Kṣatriya crosses his misfortune by the strength of his arms; / the Vaiśya and Śūdra through wealth; the foremost of the twice-born through silent recitations and fire oblations.

Just as horses without a chariot, or a chariot without horses [are useless], / so is austerity without learning, or learning for one who lacks austerity.

Just as food combined with honey, or honey combined with food [is good], / even so austerity and learning combined constitute a great medicine.

A brahmin endowed with learning and austerity, devoted to silent recitation, / even if subsisting by blameworthy means, guilt does not affect him.

Thus ends the second chapter in the Smṛti of Atri.

He who has accomplished over a hundred rites and masters the Veda, / the Vedic fire burns away all of his [sin], just as fire burns fuel.

Just as a fire that has gained strength burns even moist trees, / so do knowers of the Veda burn away their own faults born of action.

Just as a lump of earth thrown into a great lake is completely dissolved, / so the threefold Veda burns the self-committed sin of an embodied soul.

One should not delight in sinful actions relying on the power of the Veda; / [action done] out of ignorance and negligence is burned away, not otherwise.

The sage who performs austerity in the forest, eating roots and fruits, / and he who recites a single Ṛgvedic verse—the fruit of that [recitation] equals all of those [austerities].

Repetition of the Veda according to ability, and performance of the great sacrifices, / quickly destroy sins, even those born of grave sins.

One should reinforce the Veda with the Itihāsas and the Purāṇas; / the Veda fears a man of little learning, thinking: 'He will betray me.'

From officiating at sacrifices, teaching, giving gifts, and likewise from accepting gifts, / they say no fault arises in brahmins; for they are equal to fire and the sun.

When a doubtful situation arises regarding food, eatables, or acceptance of gifts, / I will declare the purification of food; hear that from me as I speak.

Hereafter I shall declare the purifying texts of all the Vedas, / by whose silent recitations, fire oblations, and sesame rites vows are fulfilled:

The Aghamarṣaṇa, the Vedavrata, the Śuddhavatī verses, the Śaratsamas, / the Kūṣmāṇḍa mantras, the Pāvamāna hymns, the Durgā hymn, and the Sāvitrī;

the Śatarudrīya, the Dharmaśiras, the Trisuparṇa, the Mahāvrata, / the Aniṣaṅga and other stobhas, the sāmans, and the sacred utterances;

the Gāruḍa sāmans, the Gāyatrī, the Raivata, / the Puruṣavrata, the Bhāva, and those composed in the Vedas;

the Abliṅga verses, the Bārhaspatya, the Vāksūkta, the Amṛta, / the Gosūkta, the Aśvasūkta, and the two sāmans of Indraśuddhi;

the three Ājyadohas, the Rathantara, the Agnervrata, the Vāmadevya, and the Bṛhat— / these, when recited, purify from sin; and one attains remembrance of past births if one desires.

Gold is the firstborn child of Agni, the earth belongs to Viṣṇu, and cows are the daughters of Sūrya; / these three worlds are given by him who gives gold, a cow, and land.

The fruit of all other gifts lasts for a single birth, / [but] the fruit of [gifts of] gold, land, and milch cows extends through seven births.

Where trees yield all desired fruits, where rivers run with milk-porridge mud, / and where palaces are made of gold—thither go the givers of cows.

On the full-moon day of the month of Vaiśākha, having gratified according to rule / five or seven brahmins with sesame and honey,

or whatever is in one's mind, saying 'May Dharmarāja be pleased,' / the sin committed throughout one's life is destroyed that very moment.

He who gives [a cow] with a golden navel, handsome, and properly directed, / with sesame seeds—hear the fruit, the flower, and the merit thereof:

that cow becomes, without doubt, the earth of gold, / endowed with mountains and forests, reaching to the very ocean, that has been gifted.

He who, having placed sesame seeds on a black antelope skin with gold, honey, and clarified butter, / gives it to a brahmin, crosses over all evil deeds.

Thus ends the third chapter in the Smṛti of Atri.

Now we shall explain secret penances.

In the case of sexual intercourse with a common woman in secret, one should perform a secret purifying rite; in the case of a public one, a public purifying rite.

Or, in the case of intercourse with forbidden women or eating bad food, whether secret or public,

one should perform a purifying rite. Or, plunging into the waters, reciting the Samando'yaṃ hymn thrice, one becomes pure.

Upon killing a cow or a wild animal, or upon defiling a maiden, having drunk water with the Indraśuddhi hymn, one is released.

Repeating a Veda, or three times as much, is called an immediate purifier; / or, repeating the Rudra hymns eleven times, one is purified.

One is released from grave sins, minor sins, and polluting deeds. / The three-footed Gāyatrī mentioned in the Vājasaneyi Veda, / recited thrice while submerged in water, removes all sin.

After having intercourse with a brahmin woman, one should bathe and give water jars to a brahmin.

After having intercourse with a Kṣatriya or Vaiśya woman, one is purified by repeating the Tāpasa hymn three times.

After having intercourse with a Śūdra woman, one is purified by repeating the Aghamarṣaṇa three times.

Having approached the wives of one's guru, one is purified by twelve repetitions of the Vṛṣabha hymn.

Having drunk what is undrinkable, one is purified by drinking water with the Aghamarṣaṇa.

If incapable of penance, one is purified by grieving throughout the entire night.

Having recited 'Agnīṣomā' and 'Indrāsomā', the defiler of a maiden is released.

Having recited 'Somaṃ rājānam', poisoners and arsonists are released. / When a confusion of all sins has occurred,

the Gāyatrī repeated ten thousand times is the supreme purifier. / Whether a slayer of a brahmin, a violator of the guru's bed, or one who approaches forbidden women,

a thief of gold, a killer of cows, a destroyer of trust, / a slayer of one who sought refuge, a false witness, or a committer of forbidden acts—

even if devoted for a long time to these and other sins, / he who performs breath control facing the rising sun,

reaching the rising of the sun, spotless and cleansed of defilement, / such men become like the sun, like fires free of smoke.

Indeed, there is no purifier in this world equal to meditation; / even eating among outcaste dog-cookers, one is not stained here by virtue of meditation.

Meditation alone is the superior duty; meditation alone is supreme austerity; / meditation alone is supreme purity; therefore, one should be dedicated to meditation.

Even if addicted to all sins, one should regularly practice meditation; / always endowed with meditation, the ascetic is a purifier of the assembly row.

Furthermore, the ascetic becomes a purifier of the purifiers of the assembly row.

Thus ends the fourth chapter in the Smṛti of Atri.

Square for a brahmin, triangular for a Kṣatriya, / circular for a Vaiśya, and sprinkling with water is remembered for a Śūdra. / Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Rudra, Śrī, and Agni the oblation-eater—

Because they subsist on ritual circles, people make a ritual circle; / Yātudhānas, Piśācas, and cruel Rākṣasas

take away the essence of food that is devoid of a ritual circle; / having made a ritual circle with cow dung, one should eat: this is established.

Wherever one has eaten the food of a fallen outcaste, one must perform the lunar penance; / both the ascetic and the celibate student are the rightful masters of cooked food.

Having eaten without giving food to both of them, one must perform the lunar penance; / one should pour water into the ascetic's hand, give alms, and then pour water again.

That alms-food is equal to Mount Meru, and that water is like an ocean; / the twice-born who eats food or drinks milk with his left hand,

that is equal to drinking liquor; so Manu, the self-born, declared; / but fats, salt, condiments, and the like offered by hand

do not benefit the giver, and the eater eats fault; / the food of a brahmin invited by an outcaste is inedible,

and likewise the food of an outcaste invited by a brahmin; / a Śūdra giving a brahmin's food, or a brahmin giving a Śūdra's food—

both of these are persons whose food is inedible; having eaten it, one must perform the lunar penance; / a brahmin's food is considered nectar; a Kṣatriya's food is considered milk;

a Vaiśya's food is just food; a Śūdra's food is considered blood; / he who engages in sexual intercourse while a Śūdra's food is in his belly,

his sons belong to him whose food it was, for semen arises from food; / even if he studies daily, one whose limbs are nourished by the essence of a Śūdra's food,

even offering fire oblations or reciting silently, does not attain a higher realm; / but he who, while studying the Veda, partakes of a Śūdra's food,

the Śūdra attains the fruit of the Veda, and he himself falls into the condition of a Śūdra; / a twice-born man whose limbs are nourished by impurity of death or birth, who eats a Śūdra's food,

even I do not know into which wombs he will go; / a dog for seven births, a boar for nine births,

a vulture for twelve births: so declared Manu; / those householder twice-born who subsist on food cooked by others,

they indeed attain the nature of a donkey, a camel, and a dog; / he who, having given or eaten in an ancestral rite, engages in sexual intercourse,

his ancestors feed on semen during that month; / one touched by polluted food remnant, however, while holding an object in hand, must not under any circumstances [remain so];

having placed that object on the ground and sipped water for purification, he would attain purity; / drops that touch the feet of one who causes others to sip water for purification,

are to be considered as belonging to the earth; one does not become impure by them; / even though he has sipped water, he remains impure as long as the dish is not removed;

even when it is removed, he remains impure as long as the cleansing of the ritual circle [is not done]; / but that brahmin who eats with his foot placed upon the seat,

his food is like that vomited from the mouth, equal to eating beef; / or a remnant of seasoned food during a meal that has come out of the mouth,

is inedible food for the twice-born; having eaten it, one must perform the lunar penance; / whatever leftover water a brahmin drinks again after drinking,

that water becomes undrinkable; having drunk it, one must perform the lunar penance; / one should eat along the line of the house-beam, but one should not sleep along the line of the house-beam;

eating along the line of the house-beam, one attains long life; / one should eat with wet feet, but one should not sleep with wet feet;

eating with wet feet, one attains long life; / having dry feet when lying down, one attains enduring prosperity;

facing east one eats for long life; facing south for renown; / facing west one eats for prosperity; facing north one eats for truth.

In a death impurity, having gone to the house of the corpse, or to the cremation ground, or in between, / having paid respects to the afflicted, even if standing far away, one becomes impure.

When ten days have passed, however, one remains impure for three nights; / when a year has elapsed, he is purified merely by touching water.

Hearing of the death of a distant relative or the birth of a son, / plunging into water with his clothes on, a man becomes pure.

If a man who is not pure touches food that is by itself impure, / he is purified by fasting; if he eats it, that twice-born [is purified] by a kṛcchra penance.

Touching a birth-impure person during a birth impurity, ablution [is required], and also in death and birth impurities; / purification would occur only with the birth impurity; one is pure when the ten-day period of the deceased [ends].

Touching a birth-impure person during a birth impurity, ablution [is required], and also in death and birth impurities; / having eaten or drunk [such food] out of ignorance, there should be a three-day fast.

Purity of earthen vessels is prescribed after ten days; / for those used in ablutions and the like, discarding alone is enjoined.

In birth impurity and in death impurity, and when birth occurs at the end of a death impurity; / therefore, during an impurity contracted through contact, one is not purified during death impurity.

Death impurity is double a birth impurity; menstrual impurity is double a death impurity; / childbirth is double a menstrual impurity; and higher than that is the cremator of a corpse.

When one follows a deceased person, whether a relative or a non-relative, / bathing with one's clothes on, touching fire, and consuming ghee, he is purified.

A woman is purified by her menses; a river is purified by its current; / bell-metal is purified by ashes; an earthen vessel by re-firing.

Bathing in ocean waters and likewise shaving the head: / if the husband performs these while his wife is pregnant, he certainly will not have offspring.

The couple, together with the infant, on the tenth day of birth impurity, / should perform tonsure; then, purified, they have eligibility for gifts and dining.

One should not make a sesame-water libation on a bank defiled by hair and the like; / water should be offered in the midst of water for the ancestors who desire water; / it must not be given on dry ground; it does not reach the ancestors.

One should divide the night into three parts: the first two parts belong to the previous day; / the latter portion is joined to the dawn in the case of death and birth impurities.

If she should see menses first, death on an inauspicious weekday is stated; / seeing this, having eaten, mounting footwear is prescribed; / having bathed and undertaken the vow of Indra, he should offer it to the deities.

Having given flatbread, salt, kidney beans, and sacrificial ghee mixed with jaggery / to the wives of brahmins, and also a meal at night,

on the fourth day, shaving the head must be performed with great care; / having caused the declaration of an auspicious day to be recited at the end, one desiring purification should eat.

If a brahmin, ignorant of duty, eats on a day that is not declared auspicious, / he eats what belongs to his caste [only in part], and penance is certain for him.

When a marriage ceremony is underway and the time for fire oblation has arrived, / seeing the maiden menstruating, how do the sacrificers proceed?

Having bathed her with the [verse] *haviṣmatī* and adorned her with another garment, / and having made an oblation with the *yuñjānā* [mantra], the rite then proceeds.

On the first day she is [like] an outcaste woman, on the second a slayer of a brahmin, / on the third she is declared a washerwoman, and on the fourth day she becomes pure.

If a woman overflowing with menses, a caṇḍāla, a fallen man, or a dog / is encountered in the midst of eating, having bathed, one should silently recite the triad of verses beginning with *mā nas*.

If distressed by blindness, one eats having seen a woman overflowing with menses, / having vomited that food, he should drink water infused with kuśa grass.

Whoever eats having given [food] to her—the prājāpatya penance is the purifier; / and if one who is designated as overflowing with menses,

speaks to a woman overflowing with menses out of delusion, both of them must fast. / And having eaten from the hand of a menstruating woman, one should perform the lunar penance.

A prājāpatya penance [is prescribed] if [she is] untruthful; a three-night fast if one eats food she touched; / if eating from her hand, it is threefold; and [likewise] if eating together [with her].

It is fourfold for her polluted food remnant, and half of that for water. / Having eaten inadvertently food that was near a menstruating woman,

purification comes through a fast, and he should drink the brahma-suvarcalā [plant]. / If a menstruating woman sees a caṇḍāla while having food remnants,

she should not eat until the time of ablution, remaining seated outside and restrained in speech. / He who performs a quarter-kṛcchra penance should also drink [water with] the brahma-kṛcchra.

Afterwards he should feed brahmins in accordance with the instruction of the learned. / How should it be if one sees menses upon contact with birth or death impurity?

She should not eat until the time of ablution; if she has eaten, she should perform the lunar penance. / If a woman overflowing with menses touches a caṇḍāla,

or if a woman overflowing with menses touches another woman overflowing with menses, / having bathed, she should fast; and she is purified by the five products of the cow.

She should perform one kṛcchra penance; but half of that if separated [by cloth]. / How should the rite of ablution be for a sick woman who has completed her menstrual period?

Healthy women, bathing again and again, should touch her ten times; / having removed her garment, she should cleanse herself with ashes.

Having given a gift according to her ability, she is purified through an auspicious day declaration. / She should bear upon her head water released by the hands of brahmins.

It is declared to be superior to all holy ford banks. / A twice-born should not perform the funeral rite for a deceased menstruating woman.

After three nights, when she is bathed, he should cremate her according to the rule for a corpse. / If two menstruating women belonging to the four castes touch each other,

the higher [in caste] should perform an atikṛcchra penance, and the other one kṛcchra penance, in order. / If a menstruating woman, having bathed, becomes menstruating once again,

beyond twenty days she remains impure for three nights. / A woman who has given birth, however, [if bleeding occurs] beyond twenty days from ablution,

she is declared a menstruating woman; earlier, however, it is circumstantial blood. / A pure woman clad in clean garments, upon seeing menses again,

having cast off the soiled garment and bathing with sesame seeds, is purified. / When ablution is due for an invalid, a healthy person, having bathed again and again,

should touch him ten times; then he will become pure. / During an eclipse of the moon or sun one should not eat; they eat after bathing when it is released.

If they set unreleased, one may eat on the next day after seeing [them]. / In whose birth-asterism the moon and sun are eclipsed,

for him there is sickness, exile, death, poverty, and great fear. / Therefore, giving a gift, fire oblation, worship of the deity, and silent recitation

he should perform attentively on that day; for him there will be pacification. / All water is equal to the Gaṅgā when the sun is eclipsed by Rāhu.

The man who bathes in that sacred place, in the ocean, or at the Causeway, / having fasted for one night when the sun is eclipsed by Rāhu,

the sin committed in seven births is destroyed at that very instant. / In the case of the moon it is likewise equal to the sun; therefore one should perform everything.

Thus ends the fifth chapter in the Smṛti of Atri.

Having thus sacrificed with hundreds of rites, the lord of gods, of great splendor, / questioned his guru Bṛhaspati, the foremost among the eloquent:

“O venerable one, by what gift does one gone to heaven increase in happiness? / Tell that which is imperishable, O highly fortunate one, best among speakers!”

Thus questioned by Indra, Bṛhaspati, the priest of the god of gods, / the lord of speech, of great majesty, spoke:

“The gift of gold, the gift of cows, and the gift of land, O Vāsava— / one who offers these increases in happiness after going to heaven.

Gold, silver, cloth, pearls, gems, and treasures— / everything indeed is given by one who bestows the earth.

One should give land cleared for crops, endowed with seed, garlanded with harvest; / as long as there are sunbeams in the world, so long is he honored in heaven.”

Thus is completed the treatise on dharma in the Smṛti of Atri.