Brahmahatya Explained

Brahmahatya, also rendered Brahmanahatya is the Sanskrit term for "the killing of a Brahmin".^{[1] [2]} It is translated as Brahminicide in English.^{[3] [4]} The Manusmriti regards the murder of a Brahmin to be the greatest of sins, and the highest of the mahapatakas (mortal sins).^[5]

Brahmahatya is also personified as a hideous woman in Hindu texts such as the Puranas. Described to possess red hair and wear blue robes, she is stated to laugh boisterously, chasing the murderers of Brahmins.^[6]

Literature

The Ramayana describes the conflict between Indra and Vritra. After Indra slays 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.^[7] In the same epic, to expiate Rama's sin of brahmahatya for the killing of Ravana, Sita creates a lingam out of sand for the worship of Shiva, which was installed at the temple of Rameswaram.^[8]

The Matsya Purana describes the legend of Shiva's form of Bhikshatana. Having decapitated one of Brahma's heads, Shiva incurs the sin of brahmahatya, with the skull of the deity stuck to his palm. For the atonement of this sin, the deity assumed the guise of a mendicant and wandered across the land until he reached Kashi, where he achieved redemption.^{[9] [10]}

Some texts state that bathing at the water bodies of a tirtha, a Hindu site of pilgrimage, cleanses one of the sin of brahmahatya.^[11]

See also

• Prāyaścitta
• Vrata

Notes and References

1. Book: Hudson, D. Dennis . The Body of God: An Emperor's Palace for Krishna in Eighth-Century Kanchipuram . 2008-09-25 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-970902-1 . 579 . en.
2. Book: Williams, George M. . Handbook of Hindu Mythology . 2008-03-27 . OUP USA . 978-0-19-533261-2 . 96 . en.
3. Book: Doniger, Wendy . The Hindus: An Alternative History . 2010-09-30 . OUP Oxford . 978-0-19-959334-7 . 409 . en.
4. Book: Patton, Laurie L. . Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation . 1994-07-01 . SUNY Press . 978-0-7914-1938-0 . 119 . en.
5. Book: Morgan, Peggy . Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions . 2007-02-16 . Edinburgh University Press . 978-0-7486-3002-8 . 41 . en.
6. Book: Shastri . J. L. . The Skanda Purana Part 4: Ancient Indian Tradition And Mythology [Volume 52] ]. Bhatt . G. P. . 1993 . Motilal Banarsidass . 978-81-208-1082-2 . 162 . en.
7. Book: The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India, Volume VII: Uttarakāṇḍa . 2016-12-20 . Princeton University Press . 978-1-4008-8456-8 . 129 . en.
8. Book: When the Goddess was a Woman: Mahābhārata Ethnographies - Essays by Alf Hiltebeitel, volume 2 . 2011-07-27 . BRILL . 978-90-04-21622-8 . 163 . en.
9. Book: Stutley, Margaret and James . A Dictionary of Hinduism: Its Mythology, Folklore and Development 1500 B.C.-A.D. 1500 . 2019-04-09 . Routledge . 978-0-429-62754-5 . 96 . en.
10. Book: Kramrisch, Stella . The Presence of Siva . 1988 . Motilal Banarsidass Publ. . 978-81-208-0491-3 . 294 . en.
11. Book: Jacobsen, Knut A. . Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition: Salvific Space . 2013 . Routledge . 978-0-415-59038-9 . 159 . en.