Expiatory Rites in Keralite Tantra

by T. S. Syamkumar | 2017 | 59,416 words

This page relates ‘Prayashcitta and Punarjanma’ of the study on Expiatory Rites in Sanskrit literature and ancient Indian religion and society, with special reference to Keralite Tantra. Further references to texts include those found in Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism as well as Dharmashastra literature. This study also investigates temple records and inscriptions of Kerala in order to demonstrate the connection between social life and expiatory rites and its evolution.

4.1. Prāyaścitta and Punarjanma

The Punarjanma concept is directly related to the Karma concept. It is believed that the sinners, who do not perform expiation for removing their Pāpa, acquire birth in lower bodies, i.e., in the form of lower class people or in the form of animals. The Dharma literature attests these views. Manu says that, if sins are not expiated, human beings are to be born with deformities.[1] Moreover, he asserts that the un-expiated sinners would lead to hell and then attain various rebirths.[2] Viṣṇudharmasūtra has pointed out that sinners, who have not performed an expiation will have to go to hells and then take birth in animal bodies and then as human beings.[3] Śatātapasaṃhitā declares that those who have not performed expiation for removing their sins, would go to the hell and then born with signs of sins.[4] Thus, it can be said according to the Dharmaśāstra texts, that one who refrains from expiatory rituals, will get punishment in the form of inferior birth or diseases.

The Prāyaścitta and Punarjanma faiths of a society became influential in the arenas of production and thereby in concentrating the wealth towards the ruling class and priestly class. The Punarjanma stories present the picture of the extending authority of the society, which had enough agricultural resources, to tap the human potential in any sector.[5]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

evaṃ karmaviśeṣeṇa jāyante sadvigarhitāḥ |
jaḍamūkāndhabadhirā vikṛtākṛtayastathā ||
caritavyamato nityaṃ prāyaścittaṃ viśuddhaye |
nindyairhi lakṣaṇairyuktā jāyante'niṣkṛtainasaḥ || Manusmṛti
, 11.53-54.

[2]:

Manusmṛti, 12.53-81.

[3]:

atha narakāḥ tāmisram andhatāmisram rauravam mahārauravam..... lohacārakamiti eteṣvakṛtaprāyaścittā atipātakinaḥ paryāyeṇa kalpaṃ pacyanteprakīrṇapātakinaśca bahūnvarṣapūgān || atha pāpātmanāṃ narakeṣvanubhūta-duḥkhānāṃ tiryagyonayo bhavanti atipātakināṃ paryāyeṇa sarvāḥ sthavarayonayaḥ mahāpātakināṃ ca kṛmiyonayaḥ anupātakināṃ pakṣiyonayaḥ upapātakināṃ jalajayonayaḥ.........kṛtamalinīkaraṇakarmaṇāṃ manuṣyeṣvaspṛśyayonayaḥ bhavanti || Viṣṇudharmasūtra, 43.23, 44.1, 45.

[4]:

Śatātapasaṃhitā, 1.1.

[5]:

For details vide Rajan Gurukkal, Mittum Samūhavuṃ, National Book stall, Kottayam, 2013, p. 54. As far as the Karma and Punarjanma concepts are concerned, A.L.Basham notes: “In whatever way the doctrine of transmigration was developed it involved belief in the repeated passage of the soul from life to life, either for all eternity or for an inestimably long time. It linked all forms of life in to a single system. The gods themselves must pass away, and be replaced by other gods. As one Indra died, another was born. The souls of the departed, though now in bliss, would sooner or later pass to new abodes. Animals, insects, and according to some sects plants, all lived under the same law. With remarkable imaginative insight some sages taught that even water, dust and air were filled with minute animalculae, and that these too had souls which were the same, in essence, as those of men. The whole of life thus passed through innumerable changes…. This doctrine of Karma soon became fundamental to most Indian thought. It provided a satisfactory explanation of the mystery of suffering, which has troubled many thoughtful souls all over the world, and it has justified the manifest social inequalities of the Āryan community.” Basham, A.L., The Wonder That Was India, Picador, London, 2004, pp. 244-45.

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