Verse 11.89

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

इयं विशुद्धिरुदिता प्रमाप्याकामतो द्विजम् ।
कामतो ब्राह्मणवधे निष्कृतिर्न विधीयते ॥ ८९ ॥

iyaṃ viśuddhiruditā pramāpyākāmato dvijam |
kāmato brāhmaṇavadhe niṣkṛtirna vidhīyate || 89 ||

All this expiation has been laid down for killing a Brāhmaṇa unintentionally; for killing a Brāhmaṇa intentionally no atonement has been ordained.—(89)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Killed’—murdered.

This verse has been already explained above as meant to indicate that the expiation for intentional ‘Brāhmaṇa- killing’ should be very heavy.—(89)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Iyam’.—According to some this refers to verse 72, and these people hold that “in the case of wilful murder the penance has to be made severer by doubling or trebling the term of twelve years.”—Buhler.

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.226), where it is put forward (by the Pūrvapakṣin) in support of the view that in the case of wilful murder there is no expiation at all;—but the Siddhānta view is that ‘iyam’ refers to the ‘Twelve Years’ Penance mentioned before (verse 72), and the latter half of the verse does not entirely deny all expiation; since several texts have definitely prescribed expiation by death in such cases.—It is quoted again under 3.243, in support of the view that the ‘Twelve Years’ Penance is meant to meet cases of unintentional murder;—in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 77);—in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Prāyaścitta 2a);—in Smṛtisāroddhāra (p. 354), which says that this precludes only the ‘Twelve Years Penance,’ and not all kinds of expiation, as suicide is actually laid down as the expiation for intentional Brāhmaṇa-murder;—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 65), wḥich says that the meaning is that the ‘Twelve Years’ and other penances are precluded from intentional Brāhmaṇa-murder, and the implication is that there is no expiation for it.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (21.7).—‘Manu declares that the first three crimes (Brāhmaṇa-killing, wine-drinking and violating of Guru’s bed) cannot be expiated.’

Baudhāyana (2.1-6).—‘They quote the following—“He who unintentionally slays a Brāhmaṇa becomes sinful”... The sages declare that he may be purified if he did it unintentionally; but no expiation is found for wilful murder.’