History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.257.4

v5.c71.s1.257.4

20. 13, Manu XI 104, Yāj. III 259 and several other smṛtikāras prescribe for incest the penance of the excision of the testicles and penis and proceeding toward the south or south-west till the body falls Nārada as quoted above prescribes for incest the punishment (*daṇḍa*) of the excision of the testicles The Mit. on Yāj. III. 233 quotes Nārada and remarks that the punishment of excision and death prescribed by Yāj III. 233 applies only to non-brāhmaṇas and that in such cases the punishment of death itself is the prāyaścitta There were works like the Madanapārijāta¹⁷² (p. 827) and the Mitākṣarā that held that the prohibition against corporal harm to brāhmaṇas (Manu VIII. 380) applies only to matters other than prāyaścittas and that since the Manusmṛti itself (XI. 100) states that a brāhmaṇa guilty of theft of brāhmaṇa's gold may go to the king with an iron club and have his head smashed by the king, the death of a brāhmaṇa as a penance for theft by being struck with a club presented by himself was not ruled out. In some cases punishment by the king was deemed to have purged a man of sin and no penance seems to have been thought necessary, as Manu VIII. 318 (=Vas 19.45) says 'men that commit sins and are punished by the king become purified and reach heaven like good men who perform meritorious deeds.' The Mit on Yāj. III. 259 explains that this holds good only where the punishment is death, as in the case of incest noted above. Āp. Dh. S. II. 10 27.