History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.345

v5.c71.s1.345

If a brāhmaṇa killed his own father, mother, full brother, his teacher of the Veda, a brāhmaṇa who has studied the Veda or has consecrated sacred Vedic fires, he had to undergo penance till his last breath (acc. to Pr. Prakaraṇa p. 13 quoting Bhaviṣyapurāṇa, Pr. V. pp. 70-71, Smṛtimuktāphala Pr. p 873 quoting Dakṣa III. 27-28 and Āp. Dh. S I.9 24). If a man killed a priest that was engaged at a *soma* sacrifice the penance was double (Yāj III. 252). The Pr. Prakaraṇa (p 13) says that this means that the murderer should perform 12 years' penance and then donate cows²²¹ in proportion to the difference between his age at the time of finishing twelve years and 120 years (which is regarded as the highest limit of life). If a person strikes a brāhmaṇa intending to kill him but only injures him he should perform the *vrata* for *brahmahatyā* (acc. to Yāj. III. 252, Gaut. 22.11). The Mit. explains that this is an extension (*atideśa*) of the rules about *brahmahatyā* and so the penance is a little less than the full one (i. e. 9 years). Where certain sins are said to be equal (*sama*) to *brahmahatyā* or *surāpāna*, the penance for them is half of what is prescribed for the latter. If a person intending to commit suicide by entering water or fire or by hanging himself or by taking poison or by falling from a precipice or the dome of a temple or by cutting his belly with a weapon or by fasting, does not die, but luckily lives, he has to undergo a prāyaścitta for three years (acc. to Pr. Prakaraṇa p. 15). Vas. 23. 18-19 and Parāśara XII. 5-8 prescribe other prāyaścittas for such persons (who are styled '*pratyavasita*'). Pr. Prakaraṇa (p. 15) and Pr. V. (p. 75) quote two verses of Yama221a for nine kinds of *pratyavasita* and prescribe Cāndrāyaṇa or two Taptakṛcchras for them.