History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.86

v5.c71.s1.86

*Gurvaṅganāgamaḥ* (sexual intercourse with the wife of the *guru*). Manu (XI.54) employs this word, while Yāj. III. 227 and Vas. 20.13 speak of the offender as *gurutalpaga* (who violates the bed of the guru) and Vas. I. 20 mentions the sin as '*gurutalpam*' (the bed i. e. wife of the *guru*) Guru primarily means acc to Manu II.142 and Yāj. I 34 (=Śaṅkha III 2) the father. Acc to Gautama II.56 'the teacher (of the Veda) is the foremost amongst *gurus* while some say that the mother is so'. Samvarta ⁵⁷ 160 and Parāśara X. 13 (employing the words 'pitṛdārān samāruhya') convey that the primary meaning of *guru* here is 'father' as stated by the Mit. on Yāj III. 259. Acc to many digests such as the Mit and the Madanapārijāta p 835 *gurvaṅganā* means one's own mother Bhavadeva in his Pr. Prakaraṇa (p. 80) takes *gurvaṅganā*⁵⁸ as a *karmadhāraya* compound, following what is called the *niṣādasthapati-nyāya* (Jai. VI. 1 51) After quoting Devala's dictum ⁵⁹ that there are eleven persons among males who are to be looked upon as *gurus*, and adverting to the way in which the word 'gurvaṅganā' is explained by the Pr Prakaraṇa, the Prāyaścitta-viveka expresses its dissent from the views of the Pr. Prakaraṇa and holds that 'gurvaṅganā' or 'gurupatnī' means not only one's mother but also one's step-mother of the same varṇa as the father The Madanapārijāta (p. 835) holds the same view as the Pr V The Pr. M. p. 73 finds fault with Bhavadeva (author of Prāyaścitta-prakaraṇa) and also with the Pr V. that held the view that sexual intercourse with one's Vedic teacher's wife was also a mahāpātaka. The Pr. M. relies on Yāj. (III. 233) where there is an express extension of the sin of *gurutalpagamana* to intercourse with one's teacher's wife, or one's daughter and other nearly related women. This would have been unnecessary if *gurutalpa* was primarily meant to include the teacher's wife; while the Pr. V. relies upon Gaut. II. 56 ('the ācārya is the most eminent among gurus, some say that the mother is so'), Viṣṇu Dh. S. 31. 1–2 'three persons are *atigurus* (exceed even guru in their greatness) viz. the mother, the father and the ācārya and Devala who mentions eleven persons as gurus. The Pr. M. does not seem to be quite correct since the Pr. V. ultimately (pp. 134–135) states its final view that guru here means only the father and not the ācārya and others and that Viṣṇu Dh. S. 36. 4–8 holds that sexual intercourse with the wife of the teacher and several other women relatives is an anupātaka.