Brahmahatya
Brahmahatya (Sanskrit: ब्रह्महत्या, romanized: Brahmahatyā), also rendered Brahmanahatya (Sanskrit: ब्राह्मणहत्या, romanized: Brāhmaṇahatyā), refers to Brahminicide or killing of a Brahmin, one of the varnas (social classes). The Manusmriti regards the murder of a Brahmin to be one of the five greatest sins (maha patakas).
Description
[edit]Brahmahatya refers to the killing of a Brahmin, one of the varnas (social classes) of ancient Hindu society.[1][2][3][4] The Manusmriti regards the murder of a Brahmin to be one of the five greatest sins (maha patakas).[5]
In the Hindu texts such as the Puranas, Brahmahatya is personified as a hideous woman possessing red hair and wearing blue robes, and laughing boisterously, chasing the murderers of Brahmins.[6]
There are other activities (anupatakas) such as murder of a menstruating or pregnant woman, killing of a kshatriya or one who has given a sacrifice, causing harm to a child or causing an abortion, and harming someone who has sought refuge, are mentioned as equivalent to committing Brahmahatya.[7][8][9]
Literature
[edit]Vedic
[edit]Taittirīya Saṃhitā
[edit]The legend[10] of the Brahmahatyā is first mentioned in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā of the Black Yajurveda:
Indra seized with his hand the guilt of slaying Vishvarupa, and bore it for a year. Creatures called out upon him, 'Thou art a Brahman slayer.' He appealed to the earth, 'Take a third part of my guilt.' She said, 'Let me choose a boon. I deem that I shall be overcome through digging. Let me not be overcome by that.' He replied, 'Before a year is out it will grow up for thee.' Therefore before the year is out the dug-out portion of earth grows up again, for that was what she chose as a boon. She took a third of his guilt. That became a natural fissure; therefore one who has piled up a fire-altar and whose deity is faith should not choose a natural fissure, for that is the colour of guilt. He appealed to the trees, 'Take a third part of my guilt.' They said, 'Let us choose a boon. We deem that we shall be overcome through pruning. Let us not be overcome by that.' He replied, 'From pruning shall more (shoots) spring up for you.' Therefore from the pruning of trees more (shoots) spring up, for that was what they chose as a boon. They took a third part of his guilt, it became sap; therefore one should not partake of sap, for it is the colour of guilt. Or rather of the sap which is red or which comes from the pruning one should not partake, but of other sap at will. He appealed to a concourse of women, 'Take the third of my guilt.' They said, 'Let us choose a boon; let us obtain offspring from after the menses; let us enjoy intercourse at will up to birth.' Therefore women obtain offspring from after the menses, and enjoy intercourse at will up to birth, for that was what they chose as a boon. They took a third of his guilt, it became (a woman) with stained garments.
— Taittirīya Saṃhitā 2.5.1
Epic-Puranic
[edit]In the Hindu epic of Ramayana, when Indra kills Vritra, he incurs the sin of brahmahatya and is immediately paralysed, falling unconscious. The deities arrange for the purification of Indra's sin with the performance of the ashvamedha sacrifice.[11] In the same epic, to expiate Rama's sin of brahmahatya for the killing of Ravana, his wife, Sita, worships a lingam, a form of Shiva, created out of sand at Rameswaram.[12]
The Matsya Purana describes the legend of Shiva taking the form of Bhikshatana. Having decapitated one of Brahma's heads, Shiva incurs the sin of brahmahatya, and the skull of the deity stuck to his palm. For the atonement of this sin, Shiva assumed the guise of a mendicant and wandered across the land until he reached Varanasi, where he achieved redemption.[13][14]
Hindu texts state that bathing at the water bodies of a tirtha, a Hindu site of pilgrimage, cleanses one of the sin.[15]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Hudson, D. Dennis (25 September 2008). The Body of God: An Emperor's Palace for Krishna in Eighth-Century Kanchipuram. Oxford University Press. p. 579. ISBN 978-0-199-70902-1.
- ↑ Williams, George M. (27 March 2008). Handbook of Hindu Mythology. Oxford University Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-195-33261-2.
- ↑ Doniger, Wendy (30 September 2010). The Hindus: An Alternative History. Oxford University Press. p. 409. ISBN 978-0-199-59334-7.
- ↑ Patton, Laurie L. (1 July 1994). Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation. State University of New York Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-791-41938-0.
- ↑ Morgan, Peggy (16 February 2007). Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions. Edinburgh University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-748-63002-8.
- ↑ Shastri, J. L.; Bhatt, G. P. (1993). The Skanda Purana Part 4: Ancient Indian Tradition And Mythology [Volume 52]. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 162. ISBN 978-8-120-81082-2.
- ↑ Terence Day (1982). The Conception of Punishment in Early Indian Literature. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-919-81215-4.
- ↑ Monier Monier-Williams (1882). Hinduism. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. p. 64.
- ↑ Saral Jhingran (1989). Aspects of Hindu morality. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 62. ISBN 978-8-120-80574-3.
- ↑ Archive, Internet Sacred Text. "Yajur Veda Kanda II". Internet Sacred Text Archive. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
- ↑ The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India, Volume VII: Uttarakāṇḍa. Princeton University Press. 20 December 2016. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-400-88456-8.
- ↑ When the Goddess was a Woman: Mahābhārata Ethnographies - Essays by Alf Hiltebeitel, volume 2. BRILL. 27 July 2011. p. 163. ISBN 978-9-004-21622-8.
- ↑ Stutley, Margaret and James (9 April 2019). A Dictionary of Hinduism: Its Mythology, Folklore and Development 1500 B.C.-A.D. 1500. Routledge. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-429-62754-5.
- ↑ Kramrisch, Stella (1988). The Presence of Siva. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 294. ISBN 978-8-120-80491-3.
- ↑ Jacobsen, Knut A. (2013). Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition: Salvific Space. Routledge. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-415-59038-9.