Verse 11.191 [Expiation for the Neglect of ‘Sāvitrī’]

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

येषां द्विजानां सावित्री नानूच्येत यथाविधि ।
तांश्चारयित्वा त्रीन् कृच्छ्रान् यथाविध्योपनाययेत् ॥ १९१ ॥

yeṣāṃ dvijānāṃ sāvitrī nānūcyeta yathāvidhi |
tāṃścārayitvā trīn kṛcchrān yathāvidhyopanāyayet || 191 ||

Though twice-born men to whom the Sāvitrī has not been taught according to rule, should be made to perform three Kṛcchra penances and then initiated in due form.—(191)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The time for the Brāhmaṇa’s Initiation has been laid down as extending up to the sixteenth year of his age; and the present text lays down the expiation for transgressing this limit.

If to a Brāhmaṇa the Sāvitrī has not been taught—from the seventh to the sixteenth year of his age—the ‘teaching of the Sāvitrī’ stands here for the sacrament of Initiation; hence the meaning is ‘if the Initiation has not been performed at the said time’; similarly up to the twenty-second year for the Kṣatriya, and the twenty-fourth year for the Vaiśya,—then after the lapse of this time, he should be made to perform three ‘Kṛcchra’ penances. Where the term ‘Kṛcchra’ stands without an epithet, it means the Prājāpatya penance,—such is the well-known usage of Smṛti.

Others explain the ‘Kṛcchra’ here as standing for the Kṛcchātikṛcchra.

After these Kṛcchra penances have been performed, he should be initiated.

‘In due form’— This is purely reiterative.—(191)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

See 2.38.

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 433), as laying down the expiation for the ‘Vrātya’;—in Madanapārijāta (p. 871), which adds that—(a) in the case of the omission being due to the absence of an initiator, the expiation should he that prescribed by Manu and Yājñavalkya, and (b) in the case of omission being due to no such unavoidable circumstances, nor in times of digress, it should be ‘Three Years’ Penance’ prescribed under the section on cow-slaughter.

It is quoted in Aparārka (p. 1107), which explains ‘trīn kṛcchrān’ as meaning—(1) The Prājāpatya, (2) the Kṛcchra and (3) the Atikṛcchra;—in Mitākṣarā (3.265), as laying down what should be done when one has become a ‘vrātya’;—in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 350);—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 384.)

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (54-26).—‘Those twice-born men by whom the Gāyatrī has not been repeated, nor the other ceremonies performed, as the law directs, must be made to perform three Prājāpatya penances and then initiated according to custom.’

Āpastamba (1.1.28-29).—‘If the proper time for initiation has passed, he shall observe, for the space of two months, the duties of a Student, as observed by those who are studying the three Vedas; after that he may be initiated; and after that he may be instructed.’

Vaśiṣṭha (11.76-78).—‘A man who has missed the Sāvitrī may undergo the Uddālaka penance. Let him subsist, during two months, on barley-gruel, during one month on milk, during half a month on curds, during eight days on clarified butter, during six days on alms given without asking, and during three days on water; and let him fast for one day and night. Or, he may go to bathe with the priests at the end of an Āśvamedha sacrifice. Or, he may perform the Vrātya-stoma.’