Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c9.19

c9.19

Another mode of atonement with which the authors of the Smṛtis are naturally in full sympathy consists of presents given to Brahmans. Baudh. 3, 10, 14 mentions as fitting substances of present gold, cows, dresses, land, sesamum, clarified butter and food stuff; Gaut. 19, 16 mentions moreover the horse; in the case of particular sins however many more presents are mentioned which have to be given for their expiation. Thus in connection with the penance for killing beasts it is laid down that for killing a snake an iron spade should be given, for a boar a pot of clarified butter, for a partridge one Droṇa of sesamum, for a parrot a two-year-old calf, for a peacock and other birds or for an ape a cow, for a horse a garment, for an elephant 5 black bulls, for an ass a one-year-old calf, for a camel one Kṛṣṇala of gold, for a beast of prey a milch-cow and for stealing gold belonging to a Brahman one's own weight of gold should have to be given, etc. (Vi. 50, 25 ff. etc.). That the presents are intended for Brahmans, and primarily for the Ācārya who has prescribed the penance, is indeed expressly mentioned only in a few passages (Vi. 50, 31, 33; M. 11, 131 etc.) but it is implied in the connection in which it is mentioned. In Baudh. 1, 19, 6 of course the expiatory presents for killing a swan and other animals are set on an equal footing with the indemnity that is to be paid for killing a Śudra,—the source of the very important penance, often amounting to 1000 cows, which is to be performed in expiation of homicide, is at all events to be sought in blood-money (§ 44). Yet presents and gifts of every kind form an important feature of the religious law even from its very beginning, cf. § 30. Other means of expiation are visiting holy places, of which Vi. 85 alone enumerates 51 in all parts of India, a mendicant life in which one lives only on alms, baths mostly with the clothes on, sacrifice, sleeping on the ground, sitting in the sun, shaving of the hair, living in the forest, humble apologies and obeisance, etc. The penances for secret crimes (rahasyaprāyaścitta) form a particular category; according to Mit. on Y. 3, 301, a sinner who is well-acquainted with the Dharmaśātras should impose on himself these penances which mostly consist of prayers; an ignorant man on the other hand should approach one who knows these things and enquire about the proper penance under the pretext that somebody else has committed the crime.