Verse 11.73

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

लक्ष्यं शस्त्रभृतां वा स्याद् विदुषामिच्छयाऽत्मनः ।
प्रास्येदात्मानमग्नौ वा समिद्धे त्रिरवाक्षिराः ॥ ७३ ॥

lakṣyaṃ śastrabhṛtāṃ vā syād viduṣāmicchayā'tmanaḥ |
prāsyedātmānamagnau vā samiddhe triravākṣirāḥ || 73 ||

Or, by his own will, he should become the target of armed men cognisant (of his purpose); or he may thrice throw himself headlong into blazing fire.—(73)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

He should offer himself as the target, when archers are practising. Or, ho may invite, in battle, the strokes of the weapons of the armed men.

‘By his own will.’—This shows that if he happens to go to the place and he struck dead only by chance,—this would not purify him.

‘Cognisant’— who knows that the man is exposing himself as an expiation. Or, it may mean that, they should be well-versed in the Science of Archery.

‘He may throw himself into fire, thrice.’—Rising, he should throw himself again and again, three times.—(73)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

“According to the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, which Kullūka and Rāghavānanda quote, these two penances and that mentioned in the next verse are to be performed by a Kṣatriya who slew a Brāhmaṇa,—those ending in death by an offender who, himself destitute of good qualities, killed a learned Śrotriya, and the lighter ones by an eminent king who unintentionally caused the death of a worthless Brāhmaṇa.” (Buhler).

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 405), which adds that the various alternatives here laid down are to be understood to vary with such circumstances of each case as that of the act being intentional or otherwise, the person killed being learned or ignorant and so forth;—in Aparārka (p. 1060), which explains ‘viduṣām’ as ‘persons prescribing the expiation for him’; and adds that in the absence of such persons he should voluntarily make himself the target of persons who may be engaged in fighting.

It is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.244) as indicating that there is freedom of choice for the man who has committed the offence;—again under 2.247, where the meaning is explained as the man should throw himself into the fire by plunging into it headlong three times.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 11.72-86)

See Comparative notes for Verse 11.72.