Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c9.47

c9.47

Yet often Prāyaścittas are prescribed for the expiation of intentionally committed crimes. Thus according to M. 11, 46 prayers are to be resorted to in the case of unintentional crimes and Prāyaścittas in the case of intentionally committed crimes. The general rule is that the penances for unintentional crimes are doubled when there is evil intention in evidence (Mit. on Y. 3,226). According to Viśvāmitra the intentional killing of a cow is to be expiated for by 4 Kṛcchras and unintentional killing by 2 Kṛcchras. Raghunandana (228 Calc. ed.) explains it in this way: it is not to be regarded as intentional killing of a cow if anybody mistakes it to be a bos gavaeus and strikes it dead or if the arrow meant for another object accidentally hurts a cow. The commentators such as Nandapaṇḍita mention all the penances referred to in the Smṛtis whether connected with intentional or unintentional crimes. Accordingly the conceptions of dolus (evil design) and culpa (crime) are as much in evidence in the religious law as in the secular law, cf. § 32.