Verse 11.124 [Expiation for Offences causing Loss of Caste]

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

जातिभ्रंशकरं कर्म कृत्वाऽन्यतममिच्छया ।
चरेत् सान्तपनं कृच्छ्रं प्राजापत्यमनिच्छया ॥ १२४ ॥

jātibhraṃśakaraṃ karma kṛtvā'nyatamamicchayā |
caret sāntapanaṃ kṛcchraṃ prājāpatyamanicchayā || 124 ||

On having intention ally done any one of those acts which cause loss of caste, one should perform a Sāntapana-Kṛcchra; and the Prājāpatya, when it is done unintentionally.—(124)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The treatment of Minor Offences has been finished.

‘Any one.’—This is only by way of reference; as a combination of occasions is not possible; and further, if all the offences were meant to be taken together, the expiation here spoken of would not be meant for any one; what man is there who could ever commit all those deeds that lead to the loss of caste? On the other hand, if expiation were to be prescribed separately for each offence, there would be no end to the teaching at all Nor would combination be otherwise advisable; as the occasions and conditions of the expiation are set forth only as qualifying the human agent For these reasons the declaration should be taken as complete with each individual offence. Just as in connection with the assertion ‘he whose father or grandfather has not drunk Soma (shall perform a certain expiatory rite),’—the conclusion is that the expiatory Animal-sacrifice becomes necessary when either one of the ancestors—the father or the grandfather—has failed to drink Soma;—and similarly in the declaration—‘when both sacrificial materials become spoilt, etc.,’—even though it contains the term ‘both,’ yet the expiatory ‘Pañcaśarāva’ sacrifice has to be performed even when only one material becomes spoilt. The same principle is to be observed in the case of all expiations.

‘Intentionally.’—This is meant to be emphasised; as also the qualification ‘unintentionally.’

The exact form of the two penances, ‘Prājāpatya’ and ‘Sāntapana,’ shall be described later on.—(124)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

The ‘Jātibhraṃśakara’ offences have been enumerated above in verse 67.

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.254),—and again under 3.290);—in Smṛtitattva (p. 542);—in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta p. 441), as laying down the expiation common to all ‘Jātibhraṃśakara’ offences;—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (pp. 464 and 542), which says that when the offence is committed intentionally, the penance to be performed is the Sāntapana, and when it is committed unintentionally, it is Prājāpatya.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (38.7).—‘He who has knowingly committed an act causing loss of caste shall perform the Sāntapana penance; he who has done so unawares shall perform the Prājāpatya penance.’