History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.408

v5.c71.s1.408

If an ascetic reverted to the life of a householder, Saṃvarta (171-172) prescribes the penance of kṛcchra for six months²⁵⁷. Such a man is called *pratyavasita*. The pratyavasitas are said to be of nine kinds²⁵⁸ by Yama (22-23), Bṛhad-Yama (3-4) and others viz. those who turn back from water, fire, halter (by means of which they wanted to kill themselves), those who revert back from the stage of *sannyāsa* or from a fast (unto death), or from poison, precipice or sitting *dharnā* and those who (desiring to commit suicide) strike themselves with a weapon (but are not killed), these nine are called *pratyavasita* and are beyond commerce with people, become pure by the penance of *Cāndrāyaṇa* or two *Taptakṛcchras*. Vṛddha-Parāśara quoted by Par. M. and Prāyaścitta-muktāvalī provides that sannyāsins, who revert to the life of the householder, are to be treated as cāṇḍālas even after undergoing penance and their children born after they fall from the ascetic stage are to be made to dwell among cāṇḍālas. This explains the harsh treatment alleged to have been meted to the great saint Jñāneśvara and his brothers at Paithan in the 13th century. A person who after becoming a sannyāsin reverts to another āśrama or acts contrary to the rules of his āśrama is called *ārūḍhapatita* also (vide Par M. II. part I p 373 quoting Hārīta).