7. Expiatory Rites in Epics and Purāṇas

Epics and Purāṇas reflect some major features of Indian culture and religion. The famous Indian epic Mahābhārata allocate the idea of sin and its expiation in a meticulous way.

It says:

akurvan vihitaṃ karma pratiṣiddhāni cācaran |
prāyaścittīyate hyevaṃ naro mithyāṃ tu vartayan |^[1]

A comparative study of the notion of expiation in Mahābhārata and Manusmṛti is more or less the same.^[2] According to Mahābhārata, pilgrimage (Tīrthāṭana), donation (Dāna), chanting hymns and vows are sin cleansing activities.^[3] The influence of Dharmaśāstra and Purāṇic ideologies can be clearly seen in Mahābhārata.

The Purāṇas, being the socio-religious texts, have deeply influenced the Indian society.^[4] The study of the Purāṇic expiatory rites reveals that all of them are not Vedic, the features of Vedic and non-Vedic cultures are seen in Purāṇas. Vijay Nath says that the building of a Purāṇic tradition naturally involved the development of certain ideological constructs, which would serve as control mechanisms.^[5] A reformed concept of expiation influenced by these ideological constructs and Brahmanical acculturation is seen in Purāṇic age. Purāṇic atonement rite is a wide ranged subject, the detailed descriptions can be seen in some major Purāṇas such as Viṣṇupurāṇa, Varāhapurāṇa, Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, Garuḍapurāṇa and Nārada-purāṇa.^[6] Purāṇas frequently recommended Japa (Chanting of Mantras), Vrata (vows), Dāna (ritual gift offerings), visiting Tīrthas and temples for expiations. And the Purāṇas followed the customs and laws in Dharmasūtras and Smṛtis. For instance, Garuḍapurāṇa describes the various expiatory rites such as, one, committing the sin of Brahminicide, should make a cottage in a forest and live there for twelve years; or he should fast or make flat the summit of a mountain or he should himself either enter into fire or water. For the Brāhmaṇas or the kine, he should entirely give up his life.^[7] This type of expiations are also seen in Various Sūtras and Smṛtis. The expiatory rites for killing a Brāhmaṇa is performing horse sacrifice or bathing in sacred shrine.^[8] One should bathe thrice a day at the sacred and celebrated confluence of all the streams of the river Sarasvatī and fast for three nights. By bathing at the Setubandhana, at Kapālamocana and Banaras, one is freed from the sin of Brahmanicide.^[9] A Brāhmaṇa, who has company with tainted people, should remain sleepless for one whole year, offer all belongings to a Brahmin, perform lunar vows and visit sacred places like Gaya, in order to get away from the sin.^[10] Ritual performance in Amāvāsya and giving food for Brāhmaṇas shall also free one from all sins.^[11] These examples point out that most of the Purāṇic concepts of sin and expiation were also influenced by Dharmaśāstras. Even the Tīrtha concept is frequently seen in Purāṇic age as an expiation. The names of several Tīrthas can be seen in Purāṇic literature. The Purāṇas give an important position of Tīrtha-Prāyaścitta.

The Purāṇic concept of Tīrtha-Prāyaścitta and its socio-cultural impacts are clearly asserted in Vijay Nath’s study. She notes:

“Whereas in Dharmasūtras and Dharmaśāstras the concept of pilgrimage occurs in an incipient form, in the subsequent period it is found to have grown in to fully evolved and well structured institution to which large sections are devoted in the Mahābhārata and almost all major Purāṇas. Amongst some of the more fundamental changes which are perceptible in the institution, we may specially take note of unprecedented proliferation in the number of Tīrthas listed in the texts and which are said to be located in some of the more remote areas of the subcontinent. Majority of them betray a prominent regional and tribal affiliation. The ritual act of pilgrimage now became both a substitute for Vedic Yajñas and an important expiatory measure. It was also a means of earning spiritual merit by one and all, regardless of their caste and sex. The later development implied a significant change in the Brahmanical attitude towards woman and lower caste groups which until had now been denied the right of ritual participation”^[12]

Again, Vijay Nath observed that this pilgrimage concept leads to the land grabbing of the tribal’s.^[13] Moreover, the concept of Naraka (hell) has a strong persuasion in the performance of expiatory rites.^[14]

The Purāṇas also considered that impurity and ritual mistakes affects the temple premises. Hence, it suggests temple related Tantric expiations. Agnipurāṇa refers to the expiatory rites to remedy the flaws in connection with temple worship.^[15] If an elision happens in the worship rituals, it is directed to chant the Mantras like that of Sūrya and Śakti one hundred and eight times. It is also enjoined that through the chanting of Gāyatri and Praṇava Mantras all sins of worship ritual flaws shall be atoned. In addition, the chants suggested include Bījamantras like Hrīṃ.^[16] The Purāṇic expiations are the mixture of Tantric and Vedic expiatory rites. The Purāṇas discuss various expiatory rites related to temple rituals. It is the influence of temple related Tantric culture.

S.R. Goyal has rightly observed on the cause of the influence of Tantrism in Purāṇic literature. He says thus:

“In the post-Gupta period rise and growth of Tantrism affected the nature of Brahmanism quite seriously. So the authors of the contemporary Purāṇas deemed it necessary to add chapters on Pūja, Vrata, Homa, Sandhyā, Utsarga etc., in these texts, which they try to render free from Tantric elements as far as practicable and infuse them with Vedic rituals.”^[17]

It is also observed that the early medieval period, from about fifth century to the thirteenth, saw a decline in the role of Śrauta sacrifice in the religious ceremonies undertaken by Indian rulers.^[18] Besides, the concept of Purāṇic expiations helped to maintain the Brahmanical rules and regulations and gradually this facilitated to popularize these expiations. As a result, the regional cultures were reformed and shifted to the Brahmanical cultural extremity. The concept of Bhakti and Kaliyuga concepts also have increased the expiatory rites in all ways.

The expiatory rites in Vedic Saṃhitas, Brāhmṇas, Dharmasūtras, Smṛti literature, epics and Purāṇas indicate a gradual development in the concept and its performance. The impact of expiatory rites related to the Vedic Brahminic culture is clearly visible in Indian society. The expiatory rites are also seen performed out of the Vedic and Brahminic religion. Therefore, a view into the expiatory rites of non-Brahmanical religions like Buddhism and Jainism is also relevant.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Mahābhārata, Śāntiparava, 34.2.

[2]:

Manusmṛti, 11.44.

[3]:

Mahābhārata, 13.108.2, 3.30, 3.9-12, 3.83.1, 13.59,5-8. Also See, Urmila Rani Trikha, The Concepts of Religion in the Mahābhārata, Nag Publishers, Delhi, 1980.

[4]:

Vijay Nath asserts thus: “[….] the term Purāṇa as signifying a distinct class of Sanskrit literature had been in vogue prior to the beginning of the Christian era, yet the actual compilation of the extant major Purāṇas had not commenced much earlier than the third or even the fourth century AD. The period coincides remarkably with what proved to be a cultural watershed in the history of India. It was around this time that a thriving urban-based market system gradually started giving way to a closed landed economy having a prominent rural base.” Purāṇas and Acculturation, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi, 2001, pp. 9-12.

[5]:

Vijay Nath, op. cit., p. 157.

[6]:

Viṣṇupurāṇa, 2.6, Varāhapurāṇa, 129.5, Viṣṇudharmottara, 2.73, Garuḍa-purāṇa, 2.222 and Nāradapurāṇa, 2.30.

[7]:

brahmahā dvādaśābdāni kuṭīṃ kṛtvā vane vaset |
kuryādanaśanaṃ vā'tha bhṛgoḥ etanameva ca || Garuḍapurāṇa, 2.52.3.

[8]:

datvā cānnaṃ viduṣe brahmahatyāṃ vyapohati |
aśvamedha avabhṛtake snātvā vā mucyate dvijaḥ || Garuḍapurāṇa, 2.52.4.

[9]:

Garuḍapurāṇa, 2.52.7.

[10]:

Garuḍapurāṇa, 2.52.13-14.

[11]:

Garuḍapurāṇa, 2.52.15.

[12]:

Ibid., p. 126.

[13]:

Vijay Nath stated that the development connected with the rise of new Tīrthas made it relatively easy for the aggrandizing cultural agents to acquire tribal land in the name of upcoming centers of Pilgrimage. Ibid., p. 134.

[14]:

Vijay Nath here observes: “Added to the dread of the Mahāpātaka also the fear of punishment and suffering, not so much in the temporal sense as in terms of the unknown and a state of existence hereafter. According to the belief, which is found to be generally current in all early traditional societies, and moral transgression if not duly expiated, could subject the guilty person after death to the most excruciating divine inquisition and retribution in a specially designed purgatory. It was the fear of impending torture and suffering in hell, which served as a most serious deterrent for simple-minded gullible folk; and helped to augment and reinforce the traditional value system.” Ibid., p. 160. For the concept and detail list of Narka’s see the Purāṇas like, Viṣṇu, 2.6, Brahma, 1.20-21, Vāmana, 2.42, Varāha, 193.23 and 198.71, Viṣṇudharmottara, 118, and Agnipurāṇa, 203 and 371.

[15]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.1.

[16]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.1.

[17]:

Goyal, S.R., “The Relation of Smārta and Epic-Paurāṇika Religion with the Vedic Tradition”, Vedic Culture and its Continuity, ed. S. R. Dube, Pratibha Prakashan, Delhi, 2006, p. 77.

[18]:

For details vide Sanderson, Alexis., “The Śaiva Age-The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period”, Genesis and Development of Tantrism, ed. Shingo Einoo, Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009, p. 41.