Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c9.15

c9.15

§ 37. The penances. As old as the lists of sins is the theory of penances (*prāyaścitta*) the determination and prescription of which was one of the most essential means of maintaining the influence of the Brahmans and frequently was also a lucrative source of income for them. It is not improbable that the principle of spiritual punishment goes back even to the Indo-Germanic epoch, because frequent use of prayers, presents of every kind to the priests and the use of cow’s urine on the occasion of penances are often met with also in the Vendidad. In India the Sāmavidhāna-brāhmaṇa, as already mentioned, seems to contain the oldest detailed exposition of the penances. On account of its connection with the Sāmaveda it mentions particularly many Sāmans the chanting of which is said to produce the effect of a penance; in 1, 3 however it also mentions the three penances (*kṛcchra*). The Kṛcchra in the narrow sense consists of taking unspiced food during the first three days only in the morning, during the next three days only in the evening, for further three days eating only that food which may be obtained without asking for it and fasting during the last three days. The Atikṛcchra is an intensified form of this penance in which one may eat only as much at each meal as the mouth can hold at a time; the Kṛcchrātikṛcchra however is to be regarded as the most difficult of penances in which one has to live only on water.