History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.157

v2.c20.157

(9) The person of the brāhmaṇa was regarded as very sacred from ancient times and so *brahmahatyā* (killing a brāhmaṇa) was looked upon as the greatest sin. The Tai. S.³³³ (V. 3. 12. 1-2) says that he who performs the horse-sacrifice goes beyond (i. e. gets rid of) all sins, even the sin of brāhmaṇa-murder. The Tai. S. II. 5. 1. 1 narrates how Indra incurred the sin of *brahmahatyā* by killing Viśvarūpa and how all beings ran him down as 'brahmahan'. In the Śat. Br. XIII. 3. 1. 1 we read (S. B. E. vol. 44 p. 328) 'thereby the gods redeem all sin, yea, even the slaying of a brāhmaṇa they thereby redeem' and 'whosoever kills a human brāhmaṇa here he forsooth is deemed guilty, how much more so who strikes him (Soma), for Soma is god' (S. B. E. vol. 26 p. 243). The Chāndogya Up. V. 10. 9 quotes a verse declaring brāhmaṇa murder as one of the five mortal sins (*mahāpātakas*). Gaut. (21. 1) places the murderer of a brāhmaṇa at the head of his list of *patitas* (persons guilty of mortal sins). Vas. Dh. S. (I. 20) uses the word *bhrūṇahatyā*.³³⁴ Manu XI. 54, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 35. 1, Yāj. III. 227 enumerate five mahāpātakas of which brāhmaṇa-murder is one. Manu VIII. 381 declares that there is no worse sin in the world than brāhmaṇa-murder.