Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c8.112

c8.112

The second passage is this⁵—A Purana says, ‘No guilt⁶ attaches to him who smites (or kills)⁷ an assailant that intends to injure him; (it is,) wrath indeed touches wrath’. This is in prose, and apparently Āpastamba has not quoted literally but has summarized the dictum of the Purana. His citation is fully supported by the Matsya, which says¹—‘One may indeed unhesitatingly smite (or kill) a guru or a boy or an old man or a brahman very learned in the Vedas, who advances as an *ātatāyin* against one: the smiter (or killer) incurs no guilt whatever in killing an *ātatāyin*; (it is,) wrath meets that wrath’. The agreement in phraseology shows that this is evidently the passage that Āpastamba had in mind. The Padma has a similar passage about the *ātatāyin*, though differently expressed.²