History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.295

v5.c71.s1.295

Severity and extent of prāyaścitta depended also on the question whether a sinner had repeated the lapse or was a first offender. The Āp Dh S (II. 10. 27. 11–13) prescribes that a brāhmaṇa who has once committed adultery with a married woman of equal class shall perform one-fourth of the penance prescribed for a śūdra having intercourse with a woman of the three upper castes, that for every repetition (of the crime) one fourth of the penance must be added and if (he commits adultery) for the fourth time, the whole penance (of 12 years must be performed¹⁹⁷). The Mit on Yāj. III. 293 remarks that for a sin that is committed knowingly the prāyaścitta is double of what is prescribed for the same sin if committed unintentionally and that if a sin is committed intentionally and is repeated then for the repeated lapse prāyaścitta is four times as much as that for the same deed done unintentionally. Similarly, the āśrama to which the sinner belonged made a difference in the prāyaścitta as stated by Aṅgiras 'when persons in other āśramas are guilty of sins for which penance is prescribed if committed by householders, then the prāyaścitta is increased in the same proportion that is laid down for śauca (bodily purity¹⁹⁸). Manu V. 137, Vas. VI. 19, Viṣṇu Dh. S 60 26, Śaṅkha 16. 23-24 provide that Vedic students, forest hermits and sannyāsins have respectively to perform twice, thrice and four times as much śauca as is prescribed for householders (e. g. by Manu V. 136 = Viṣṇu 60. 25).