The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s22: § 22. The Expiations
The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s22
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§ 22. The Expiations
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In the intolerable complications of the Vedic sacrifice, coupled with the tendency to inaccuracy of the Indian mind of the Vedic period, may be found ample excuse for the number of prescriptions which are laid down for the purpose of expiating errors in the sacrifice.³ In some cases the expiations are elaborate in the extreme: in most they are fairly simple. Of the former the most notorious case is that of the Kuṣmāṇḍa,⁴ which serves as a means of purification from grave sins, and which is dealt with in detail in the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, whereas most of the other expiations are confined to the Sūtras or to the later portions of the Brāhmaṇas.
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³ ĀpÇS. ix; xiv. 16 ff.; MÇS. iv; KÇS. xxv; ĀÇS. iii. 10–14; vi. 6–10; ÇÇS. iii. 19–21; xiii. 2–12; Atharva Prāyaçcitta (von Negelein, JAOS. xxxiii. 71–144).
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⁴ TA. ii. 7, 8.
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Of these expiations the most interesting are given in the Kauçika Sūtra,⁵ which details magic ceremonies intended to remove the evil results of the violation of certain taboos. One of these is the primitive dread of disturbing the earth, for which a natural explanation can be found in the deadly character of the work of commencing agricultural operations in a tropical climate: the earth must be consoled for the wound on her by the operation of opening her body.¹ An expiation is equally required for the eating of food which has been buried in the ground: it takes the homoeopathic form of offering in the fire grains which have been so buried.² In domestic life the sin of marrying before an elder brother must be expiated and two hymns are provided for this express purpose.³ Expiations are also provided against Agni as Kravyād, the term which applies to the fire by which the body of the dead is burned, but which denotes also a definite aspect of Agni which he may assume without the actual contact with the dead.⁴ But the list of expiations is endless: there is hardly any sphere in which errors cannot be committed and expiations required, and the Brahman is the author *par excellence* of these rites.
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⁵ Henry, *La magie dans l'Inde antique*, pp. 211–19.
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¹ Kauç. xlvi. 51, 52; AV. xii. 1. 35, 61.
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² Kauç. xlvi. 33–5.
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³ Kauç. xlvi. 28, 29; AV. vi. 112, 113.
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⁴ Kauç. xliii. 16–21; AV. iii. 21.
Linked texts (8)
- Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit
- Āpastambaśrautasūtra — Āpastamba, Sanskrit
- Śāṅkhāyanaśrautasūtra — Śāṅkhāyana, Sanskrit
- Mānavaśrautasūtra — Sanskrit
- Kātyāyanaśrautasūtra — Kātyāyana (Vājasaneyi sūtrakāra), Sanskrit
- Āśvalāyanaśrautasūtra — Āśvalāyana, Sanskrit
- Kauśikasūtra — Kauśika, Sanskrit
- Taittirīyāraṇyaka — Sanskrit