1. Concept of Expiation and the Term Prāyaścitta

The predominant meaning of the term Prāyaścitta is expiation or atonement for the removal of errors in the performance of sacrifices or ritualistic practices:

vidhyaparādhe prāyaścittam |^[1]

Taittarīyasaṃhitā frequently used the word Prāyaścitti in the sense of expiatory rites.^[2] In Āśvalāyanaśrautasūtra also the word Prāyaścittiḥ occurs in the same sense.^[3] Patañjali uses both words Prāyaścitta and Prāyaścitti.^[4] Śabara in his Bhāṣya describes, Prāyaścittas are of two kinds. Some of them are meant to correct the defects, which arise or befall through some neglect in the procedure, and materials used in the rituals. Others are subsidiary parts of a rite when an occasion arises i.e., when they are undertaken to atone for not doing what is ordained or for doing something which is forbidden (For instance the non-performance of daily Agnihotra even though the sun rises).^[5]

There are different etymological meanings of the word Prāyaścitta. It is said that the word Prāyaścitta is formed by combining two words, ‘Prāya’ and ‘Citta’. Gautamadharmasūtra states that Prāya means Tapas (Austerity) and Citta means the resolution or determination and so Prāyaścitta is a resolve to undergo austerity or the firm belief that it will be a means for the removal of the sin.^[6]

Sāyaṇa’s commentary on Sāmavidhānabrāhmaṇa comments that the word Prāyaḥ is divided into two parts Pra and Ayaḥ.^[7] Referring to this, P.V. Kane says that the religious observances after knowing a certain happening are called Prāyaścittas.^[8] The commentary of Vijñāneśvara on Yājñavalkyasmṛti, Bālabhaṭṭi gives another derivation of the term.

Here Prāyaḥ means sin and Citta means purification:

prāyaḥ pāpaṃ vinirdiṣṭaṃ cittaṃ tasya viśodhanam |^[9]

And thus the word Prāyaścitta fixed in the meaning of righteous actions that can remove sins.^[10] Explaining Prāya as destruction and Citta as joining, Hemādri gives another etymological meaning denoting an occasional action making good of what is lost by sin.^[11]

According to Yājñikadeva, the meaning of the word Prāyaścitta is as follows:

prāyo vināśaḥ vidhyatikrama-janito doṣaḥ citi saṃjñāna ityasya dhātościttam | anekārthatvāt dhātoḥ saṃjñānaṃ cittaṃ prāyaścittaṃ vinaṣṭasya karmaṇaḥ sandhānaṃ ityarthaḥ |^[12]

Here the word Prāya denotes what is ruined or broken and Citta means joining of the broken space, and thus the word Prāyaścitta means joining together the Chidras or broken acts. Whereas Hārita implicitly says that Prāyaścitta is an act which destroys the bad effects of ritual mistakes, according to which Prāyaścitta means: prayatatvād upacitamaśubhaṃ karma nāśayati iti prāyaścittamiti.^[13] At this point, the noticeable fact is that in the earlier period, Prāyaḥ had meant Tapas and later it meant sin, destruction, what is ruined or broken. Even as in the earlier period, the word Citta meant resolution or determination and later it meant purification, joining or joining of the broken space (Chidra). Therefore, Prāyaścitta means such actions like Tapas, gifts and sacrifices that destroy one’s sins and purify him.

Modern scholars also analyze the concept and etymological meanings of the word Prāyaścitta. The study of Michael Axel is very important in this field.

Michael says that the meaning of the word Prāyaścitta is generally,

“One of the most prominent and traditional means to reduce sins”.^[14]

According to the etymological evolution of the term Prāyaścitta, Michaels writes:

“In classical Dharmaśāstra sources, e.g. Manusmṛti, Prāyaścitta was often used as a synonym for Niṣkṛti, (ni) Śuddhi or Kṛcchra, and sometimes even Vrata. The term, therefore, covers the expiative means of purification […..] however, Prāyaścitta focused on the expiative aspects of rehabilitation, while Patiyā was mostly used to denote the readmission to one’s commensally group after punishment and/or paying a fine. In short (and in accordance with the Dharmaśāstra), Patiyā (as a punishment) concerned itself more with social purification, Prāyaścitta (as expiation) concerned itself more with religious purification. The latter aimed to remove the evil of sins, either in this life or in the after-life, while the former sought to prevent others from the evil consequences of evil deeds.”^[15]

Monier Williams has significantly thought out that the word Prāyaścitta means atonement or expiation.^[16]

The Brāhmaṇa texts have not given the etymology and meaning of the word Prāyaścitta or Prāyaścitti. However, in the period of Brāhmaṇa texts, expiatory rites were very complex in nature and they gradually increased due to the development of the sacrificial culture. Though the concept of Prāyaścitta or Prāyaścitti originated in the period of Saṃhitās, it evolved and developed during the period of Sūtras and Smṛtis. The Ṛgvedic seers did not perform expiation in the real sense of Prāyaścitta. The seers of Ṛgveda praised Varuṇa, Agni and Indra only for their domestic and social sins. They offered Havis and Soma to various deities for their own sins. The concept of ritual mistake and related sins pervades after the period of Ṛgveda. The concept of ritual mistakes was developed during the periods of Brāhmaṇas. So implicitly, it can be seen that the concept of expiations is interrelated with ritual mistakes in later periods.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Śāṅkhāyanaśrautasūtra, 3.19.1.

[2]:

āsāvādityo vyarocata tasmai devāḥ prāyaścittimaicchan | Taittarīya-saṃhitā, 3.1.2.4 and 3.1.4.10.
yadi bhidyate taireva kapālaiḥ saṃsṛjetsaiva tataḥ prāyaścittiḥ | Ibid., 5.1.9.3.

[3]:

Āśvalāyana-śrautasūtra, 3.10.

[4]:

prāyasya citticittayoḥ suḍaskāro vā vaktavyaḥ | prāyaścittiḥ prāyaścittam | Mahābhāṣya, 6.1.157.

[5]:

Śabarabhāṣya, 12.3.16.

[6]:

prāyo nāma tapaḥ proktaṃ cittaṃ niścaya ucyate |
taponiścayasaṃyogātprāyaścittamiti smṛtam || Gautama-dharmasūtra, 22.1. Also see Āṅgirasasmṛti, 2.4.

[7]:

ayaṃ ayaḥ prāptiḥ prakarṣeṇāya prāyaḥ | vihita dharmākaraṇasya prāptirityarthaḥ | tatprakāraviṣayaṃ cittaṃ cittirjñānam | tatpūrvakānuṣṭhānāni prāyaścittāni | Sāmavidhānabrāhmaṇa, 1.5.1.

[8]:

Kane, P.V., History of Dharmasastra, Vol. IV, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, 1991, p. 59.

[9]:

Yājñavalkya-smṛti, 3.206.

[10]:

prāyo vināśaḥ cittaṃ saṃdhānaṃ vinaṣṭasya saṃdhānamiti vibhāgayogena prāyaścittaśabdaḥ | pāpakṣayārthe naimittike karmaviśeṣe vartate | Prāyaścittamayūkha, p.2 (quoted by Kane, P.V., op.cit., pp. 58-59).

[11]:

Ibid., p. 15.

[12]:

Kātyāyanaśrautasūtra, 25.1.1.

[13]:

Jha, D.N., ed., Dharmaśāstra and Social Awareness, Sri Satguru Publications, New Delhi, 1996, p. 291. According to Patrick Olivelle, the word ‘prayata’ is to denote Śuci. He notes: “Āpastmba, possibly the earliest Dharma text, uses ‘Prayata’ in preference to Śuci with regard to personal purity, using the later mostly in its second meaning”, Olivelle, P., “Caste and Purity: A study in the language of the Dharma literature”, Tradition Pluralism and Identity in Honour of T N Madan, ed. Veena Das et.al, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1999, p. 52.

[14]:

Michaels, Axel, The Price of Purity: The Religious Judge in 19^th Century Nepal; Containing the Edition and Translation of the Chapters on the Dharmādhikārin in Two (Mulukī) Ains. Corpus Iuris Sanscriticum 6. Torino: Comitato Corpus Iuris Sanscriticum et fontes iuris Asiae Meridianae et Centralis, 2005, p. 57.

[15]:

Ibid., p. 37 and 57. In this context Michael lists traditional means referred to in the Dharmaśāstras, such as (a) Purification (Śodhana, Pāvana, Pavitra, Śuddhi) (b) Appeasement (Śānti) (c) Retribution (Niṣkṛti, Nirveśa, Nirveṣa) (d) Indulgences (Niṣkraya).

[16]:

Monier Williams, M., A Sanskrit English Dictionary, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2011, p. 708.