History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.230.3

v5.c71.s1.230.3

46) that sins committed unintentionally are destroyed by the recitation of Vedic texts and sins committed intentionally through folly are destroyed by various prāyaścittas. Yāj. III. 226 (latter half) appears to hold that prāyaścittas do not destroy sins intentionally committed, but the sinner undergoing the prescribed penance becomes fit to be associated with other people on account of the texts (laying down the prāyaścittas); but Yāj. implies, it seems, that the results of sin intentionally committed (such as Hell and the like) are not got rid of. Manu XI. 189 prohibiting social intercourse with sinners who have not performed penance practically conveys the same idea as that of Yāj in III. 226 (latter half). Yāj. III. 220 observes that a man guilty of *pātakas* should perform prāyaścitta for his own purification (here and in the next world); in this way (i. e if he performs penance) his inner soul recovers its composure and the people also become satisfied. This verse puts in a nutshell the purposes of prāyaścittas as conceived by the smṛtis, viz. purging of sin (or purification), the satisfaction of the sinner's mind, admission to intercourse with all people. Chāgaleya¹⁵⁷ holds that prāyaścittas free the sinner from the consequences of sins committed unintentionally, but no penance exists which frees a man from the consequences of sins knowingly committed except in the case of upapātakas and in suicides or attempts at suicide. The Par. M. (II.