History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.146

v5.c71.s1.146

*Repentance* (*anutāpa*)—Manu⁹⁹ XI. 229-230 (=Viṣṇudharmottara II. 73 231-32) provide: "The more a man's mind loathes his own evil deed the more does his body become freed from the unrighteousness (committed by him). If after committing a sin a man feels repentance for having done it he becomes free from that sin. He becomes purified only by the resolution of ceasing to sin and thinking 'I shall not do so again'".¹⁰⁰ The Viṣṇupurāṇa II. 6.40 lays emphasis on repentance and humble devotion to Kṛṣṇa. Pr. V. (p. 30) quotes a verse of Aṅgiras 'A man after committing sins, if he is consumed by repentance and is sorry day and night (for his misdeed), is purified by prāṇāyāma'. The view of digests like the Pr. Prakāśa is that repentance by itself is not enough to destroy sins, but that repentance renders the sinners fit to receive penance, just as paring the nails and the like make the person intending to perform a Vedic sacrifice fit to be a *dīkṣita* Yama quoted by Aparārka (p 1231) states that repentance and stopping from repeating the sin are merely the *aṅgas* (subsidiary elements) of prāyaścittas and cannot independently take the place of penances.