History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.884

v4.c63.t2.884

25. 'Sacrificing one's life for the sake of another' (l. 20). The Viṣṇu Dh. S. III. 45 states¹⁸³⁹ that those who are killed in saving the life of a cow, a brāhmaṇa, the king, a friend, one's wealth and one's wife go to heaven and XVI. 18 provides that even those (untouchables) who are outside (the pale of the four varṇas) and sacrifice their life for brāhmaṇas, for cows and for women and children attain heaven. The Ādityapurāṇa quoted in Rājadharmakāṇḍa (p. 91) has a similar verse. The Samayamayūkha and Bhaṭṭoji quote a smṛti, 'one should at once sacrifice one's life for cows and brāhmaṇas'.¹⁸⁴⁰ This text forbids self-sacrifice of one's life simply for the promised reward of heaven in the cases specified. The K. V. N. (folio 9b) offers two more (rather far-fetched) explanations of this phrase, one of which is 'offering one's services as a serf to another'. This is prohibited to members of the three twice-born classes in Kali, but not to the śūdras, acc. to K. V. N.