History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.373

v5.c71.s1.373

Parāśara (X. 10-11) provides three different prāyaścittas, viz. excision of the organ, three *kṛcchas* or three *cāndrāyaṇas* if a man commits incest with his mother, sister, or daughter and in X. 12-14 prescribes other penances for adultery with other near female relatives. The Mit. on Yāj. III. 259 quotes Śaṅkha for twelve years' penance for all four kinds of Mahāpātakas, which applies acc. to it to intercourse with guru's wife of the same class. It is not necessary to quote further smṛti passages which vary greatly as to the extent of the penance Manu XI. 178 (= Viṣṇu Dh. S. 53. 9 = Agnipurāṇa 169. 41), Śānti 165 29 state that the sin which a twice-born man commits by sexual intercourse for one night with a *vṛṣalī*²³⁶ (a cāṇḍāla woman) is removed by him by the penance of subsisting on alms for three years and reciting mantras (like the Gāyatrī). Āp. Dh S. I. 9. 27. 11 has a somewhat similar verse about a brāhmaṇa's intercourse with a śūdra woman²³⁷. Yāj III. 233 prescribes for women death as a legal penalty and the same prāyaścitta as for a male if a man has sexual intercourse with his paternal or maternal aunt, or daughter-in-law, maternal uncle's wife and others (enumerated above) with their consent. Manu XI. 175 (= Laghu-Śātātapa 155 = Agnipurāṇa 169. 38) holds that a brāhmaṇa, who has sexual intercourse with a *cāṇḍāla* woman or *mleccha* woman or dines with *cāṇḍālas* or *mlecchas* or accepts gifts from them, has to perform penance as if he were *patita* if he unknowingly did these things, and becomes like them by committing these sins knowingly. Compare Vasiṣṭha 23 41, Viṣṇu Dh. S 53 5-6.