History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.109
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.109
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*Upapātakas* (minor sins). The number of these has greatly varied from time to time and from smṛti to smṛti. Vas I 23 speaks⁷⁶ of only five upapātakas viz. forsaking the sacred fires (after beginning Agnihotra), offending the guru, being an atheist, taking one's livelihood from an atheist, selling the soma plant. Śātātapa as quoted by Viśvarūpa on Yāj. III. 229-236 mentions only eight. Baud. Dh. S. (II 1 60-61) mentions a small number as upapātakas. Gaut. 21.11 states⁷⁷ that the guilt of upapātaka attaches to those who have been declared to defile the company at a Śrāddha dinner and have been named above before the bald man (in Gaut. XV. 18), killers of kine, those who forget the Veda, those who pronounce Vedic texts for these last, Vedic students who break the vow of chastity and those who allow the time for upanayana to pass without performing it. Śaṅkha quoted by Viśvarūpa on Yāj III 229-236 mentions only 18 upapātakas and styles them *upapatanīyas* The longest lists are contained in Manu XI 59-66, Yāj III 234-242, Vṛddha-Hārīta IX. 208-210, Viṣṇudharmasūtra 37 and Agnipurāṇa (168 29-37). According to the Pr. V. (p 195)⁷⁸ the upapātakas mentioned by Manu come to 49. Those enumerated by Yāj. are set out below⁷⁹ (they are 51 according to Viśvarūpa on Yāj. III. 229-236, who omits one verse commented on by the Mit. viz 'śūdrapreṣyam' &c. which contains five): slaying kine, being a *vrātya* (i. e.
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one whose *upanayana* was not performed at the prescribed age), theft (other than that of brāhmaṇa's gold or other than what is described as equal to theft of the mahāpātaka type), non-payment of debts borrowed (and not satisfying the three debts due to gods, sages and *pitṛs*), not establishing the *śrauta* fires (even though one has the capacity to do so); selling what ought not to be sold (such as salt); parivedana (a younger brother's marrying before an elder brother or establishing sacred fires before him); learning (the Veda) from a paid teacher; teaching the Veda for payment; adultery (with women other than those referred to in *guru-talpagamana* or those lapses equal to it); an elder brother's remaining unmarried when a younger brother has married; usury (i. e taking more interest than is allowed by the smṛtis); manufacture of salt; killing a woman (of any caste, except an ātreyī); killing a śūdra; killing a kṣatriya or vaiśya (who is not initiated for a *śrauta* sacrifice); maintaining oneself on wealth which is condemned; atheism (denial of the soul and a world after death); giving up the observances peculiar to one's status (e. g. a vedic student having sexual intercourse or one guilty of brāhmaṇa murder or the like giving up the performance of the expiation already begun); sale of one's children; theft⁸⁰ of corn, inferior metals (like lead and copper) or cattle;
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officiating as a priest at a sacrifice for those who are not entitled to sacrifice (such as śūdras or *vrātyas* &c); driving out of the house one's father, mother or son (without a proper cause such as that mentioned by Gautama 20.1); the sale of a tank or of a park intended for a charitable object (though not actually dedicated to the public), ascribing demerits to an unmarried girl (or interfering with her private parts by means of a finger or the like); officiating as a priest (at the marriage) of one who though a younger brother marries before an elder brother, giving one's daughter in marriage to one who marries before his elder brother; cheating or following crooked ways (except against one's guru, which is equal to surāpāna), giving up an observance voluntarily undertaken⁸¹, cooking for the sake of oneself only (and not for deities, guests &c, which attitude is condemned by Ṛg X 117 6 and Manu III 118), sexual intercourse with a woman (even one's own wife) who is given to drinking wine, giving up the Veda already learnt so as to forget it by the study of other subjects);
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not tending one's *śrauta* or *smārta* fire, abandoning one's son⁸², not maintaining one's relatives (such as the maternal or paternal uncle, when one has the means), cutting down a big tree for fuel (to be used only in cooking one's food⁸³), maintaining one's self on one's wife (i e on her immoral earnings or by means of her strīdhana) or by killing animals or by herbs (used as charms), setting up of machines that cause death or injury to beings (such as for pressing oil from sesame or for crushing sugarcane stalks); addiction to the vices (declared to be eighteen by Manu VII. 45–48); selling one's self (as a slave for money), being the servant of a śūdra, friendship with low persons, intercourse with a woman of a lower caste (either as a wife or as a concubine); living outside of the four āśramas⁸⁴, fattening oneself on food charitably supplied by others, studying the works of false śāstras (such as those of atheists like Cārvāka); holding the office of the superintendent of mines (of gold and the like); sale of one's wife The above list, though long, is not thoroughly exhaustive Vas I 18 quoted above mentions several persons as *enasvinaḥ* (who acc. to Viśvarūpa on Yāj III. 229-236 are upapātakinaḥ), some of whom (such as one who is asleep when the sun rises or sets) are not included by Yāj. in his list of upapātakas.
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Though almost all of the upapātakas listed by Yāj occur in Manu (XI 59-66), yet some of them such as 'abhicāra' (performing a sacrifice like Śyenayāga for the destruction of an enemy), 'mūlakarma' (employment of herbs for bringing under one's control a person) are not noted by Yāj The Mit on Yāj. III. 242 observes that some upapātakas if repeatedly indulged in make a man *patita* (as provided by Gaut 21. 1) Viśvarūpa, therefore, derives upapātaka as one 'that may become a pātaka by constant addition (*upacaya*) or by constant practice' (*upetya*⁸⁵).