Beating Of Brahmins

Author(s): Colette Caillat
Publisher: Colette Caillat
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/269641/1

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The Beating of the Brahmins
(Uttaradhyayana 12)
COLETTE CAILLAT
In his book Juridical studies in ancient Indian law, Ludwik Sternbach has shown how Indian narrative literature can often be read in the light of the law-books. More recently, analysing the motif of the 'shattered head split" in the Brahmanic and Buddhist traditions, Prof. S. Insler has suggested that one category of these tales also probably relates to some ancient custom to which Manu and others refer in passing.' In the present paper an attempt is made to see whether there exist any connections between criminal law and some of the situations depicted in a Jain pamphlet, viz. the 12th chapter of the canonical Uttaradhyayana-sútra.
But first, after a summary of the Utt narrative, it will be argued that the motif of the divine punishment befalling boasting, slandering, violent brahmin youths which features in this lesson appears as a sort of negative counterpart to the solemn proclamation of Truth which in the same development is made by an unexpected witness.
Abbreviations. - Languages: AMg. - Ardhamagadhl; Pa = Pali; Sk. = Sanskrit. Texts: AS = Arthaldstra (Ed.-Trsl.-Study: R.P. Kangle. The Kaurillya Arthalstra I. II. III. Bombay 1960, 1963, 1965, Univ. of Bombay Series, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Pali, 1, 2, 3): Mn = Manava Dharma-Sastra (ed. Jolly, London 1887, trsl. Bähler, Sacred Books of the East 25, Oxford 1886); U = Umaradhyayanasura = Untaraljhaya (ed. Jarl Charpentier, Uppsala 1921-1922 - Ee); trsl. Jacobi, SBE 45, 1895 (generally followed below); Punyavijaya-Bhojak, Bombay 1977, Jaina-Agama. Series (= JAS) 15). -Pa. texts are quoted as in A Critical Pall Dictionary: D - DighaNikdya: Ja = Jotaka; Vin = Vinayapitaka.
Ludwik Sternbach, Juridical studies in ancient Indian law, Delhi ... (1965-1967). Part II, Indian tales and the Dharma- and Artha-sources, cf. p. 1-3. Also see the review by J.M. Derrett, JAOS 1969.1. p. 185-7: 'The legal aspects of daily life are conventionally undervalued and underexamined ... far more of dharma and nirl was generally known to, and appreciated by the general literate public of India than would be expected by the antilegal... academic of our age (p. 185).
Stanley Insler, "The shattered bead split and the epic tale of Sakuntala', Bulletin d'Erudes Indiennes 7-8 (1989-1990), p. 97-139, especially p. 102-109 (for the reference to M. Witzel's article, "The case of the shattered head", ibid. p. 97).
• Cr, Pasaccakiriyd, Sk. *saryo-kriya. For a general survey of this belief, see W. Norman Brown, "Duty as Truth in ancient India, in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Sociery, 116 (1972), 252-68. Reprinted in India and Indology. Selected articles by W. Norman Brown. Edited by
Festschrift Klaus Bruhn, StIT (1994) pp. 255-266

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For whereas the hero, the framana Harikeśa-bala, is safe immediately after such a declaration has been made, his enemies who harass him with false arguments and molest him physically meet with severe beating which nearly results in death. Finally, an attempt will be made to see whether the offences and punishment mentioned in Utt 12 can, mutatis mutandis, be compared with the grave faults and supreme penance prescribed in the Buddhist religious codes, viz. the 4th părăjika, i.e. a kind of religious death for whatever monk should boast, with reference to himself, of a state of further-men, sufficient ariyan knowledge and insight, though not knowing it ful
the coinposition of these vivid tracts which, in fact, can be shown to be clever patchworks of stereotypes currently used throughout the Indian "ascetic" literature.
Leaving these problems aside, the present paper will mainly deal with the con flict opposing the framaņa and brähmaņas, that is with some aspects of what Prof. K. Bruhn, in his "Sectional studies in Jainology" has defined as pertaining to "SITUATIONS" and to 'THE EXISTENCE OF A MONK"; incidentally the Harikesabaladhyayana points to some of the damage caused by pride (mana), especially by pride in birth (jai-maya = jari-mada).
ly....5
As far as Utt 12 is concerned, it extolls asceticism (tapas), deprecates birth and social status (jari), and is especially famous as a vigorous antibrahmanic pamphlet - a topic which recurs in the 25th lecture of the same canonical book. Further the arguments developed and the wording used in its 47 stanzas can be and have been compared with the text of the well known Buddhist Matanga-Jataka': the main characters of the latter are in many respects similar to those in the Jain Harikesabaladhyayana: on one side the challenger, a virtuous candála, on the other brahmins and he or those who side with them. Jarl Charpentier pointed to these similarities, systematically compared the two texts and, in Utt, detected several layers, some more some less ancient. More recently, Ludwig Alsdorf and Michihiko Yajima have each devoted a study to several points of textual criticism: they have thrown more light on
1. The small drama enacted in Utt 12 can be summarized as follows. The characters are on the one hand the "muni" Harikeśabala who was born in a svapaka family, but is a perfect restrained "bhikṣu' (1-3b), here begging for alms (3c-d), and, on the other hand brahmins on their sacrificial ground (bambha-lijammi, 3), with their young attendants (kumara);" moreover Yaksa(s) and Bhadra (a princess by birth) who will side with Harikesabala.
(1) As the emaciated and miserably clad ascetic, on his begging tour, approaches the enclosure of the sacrifice, the brahmins mock and rebuke him (3-7). In an attempt to win them over, an invisible Yakşa-devotee of the muni, speaking in his place, states that his condition is that of a well-controlled, chaste framana (samano aham sanjao bambhayari)," who lives on alms (9c); he concludes: "let the ascetic receive what is left of the rest of the sacrificial meal (seså vasesam lahau tavassi, 10d). In return the brahmins utter threats, so that their many attendants all rush forward and "beat the sage with sticks, canes and whips
Rosane Rocher, Delhi ... (1978), p. 102-119. ubi alia. Also see, in particular, for a number of examples and many useful remarks, H. Lüders, Varuna, Aus dem Nachlass hrsg. von L. Alsdorf. II, Göttingen 1959, p. 486-509, "Die Satyakriya".
Vin 1 90; cf. The Book of the Discipline (Vinaya-Pisaka), Vol. 1 (Suttavibhanga). Translated by I.B. Horner. See p. xxiv-xxv.
Cl. Ut 12.4, and, very clearly, 12.37:
sakkham khu disai tavo-viseso na disai jāi-visesa koi, "Here can be clearly seen the excellence of penance, can be seen that birth confers no excellence whatever (ed. and trsl. by L. Alsdorf, Kl. Schr. [infra, n. 9). p. 244).
Ja IV 375-390 in the Pa, tradition: 24 gåthås. For other antibrahmanic pamphlets, see A. Wezler, "A slap in the face of the Brahmins'. Introduc ing a little-known Jain text of polemical objectives", in Jain studies in honour of Jozef Deleu, Tokyo 1993, p. 485-501, ubi alia (cf. the Addenda, p. 501).
* ZDMG 73 (1909) 171-188 passim, summarized in the chart p. 188. Also see Charpentier's edition, notes p. 323ff.
'L. Alsdorf, "Uttarajjhāyā studies", IV 6. (1962), p. 110-136 (3. 'Uc. 12 (Hariesiija) and 25 Jannaijja). p. 128-136) = Kleine Schriften, hrsg. von Albrecht Wezler, Wiesbaden 1974, p. 225251 (243-251); the references below will be to the Kl. Schr.-M. Yajima, 'A note on Uttarajjhay 12 and Pali Matanga-Jataka", CAS Studies 5, University of Poona 1980, p. 179-185.
1 Cl. "Field VI" and "Field V", in Middle Indo-Aryan and Jalna studies (Panels of the Virth World Sanskrit Conference), Leiden 1991, p. 36-51; and, on the other hand, "The concept of mana (Pride) in Jaina dogmatics", in Jain srudies ... Jozef Deleu, p. 163-206.
"Un 12.3c bambha-Ullammi is explained by the commentator Bhavavijaya as brahmanandmijya yajanam yasmin sa bralnejyas rasmin.
Utt 12 seems to avoid calling the youngsters 'brahmanas' (AMg. máhana, passim in this text). But the full-fledged mdhana teachers consider them as belonging to their group. cf. 12.12 and, especially, 12.18ab: ke ertha khantd uvajolyd va qishdwayd w saha bhandlehim
............... khaleija jo nam?. "Are there here no distributors of food, no priests who tend the fire, no teachers with their disciples ... who will beat him?" (on this passage, see L. Alsdorf, Kl. Schr. p. 246-7).
Note the recurrence of samjað bambhayari, infra 22; and the insistence on bambha all through the 12th adhyayana.

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.......... bahü kumara dandehi viftehi kasehi c'eva samägaya tam ist tälayanti (19).
bhunjahi sál' imam kuram nână-vanjana-samjuyam (34)." The sage, who is precisely on the point of breaking a month's fast, accepts the meal:
... padicchai bhatta-pānam mäsassa ú påranae mah'appå (35)."
(4) Subsequently the brahmins are taught the "right method of sacrificing (37ff., 40ff.), viz. the spiritual sacrifice, the essence of the Law.
(2) At this point, the beautiful Bhadră, now the purohita's wife, steps in and, solemnly referring to her own personal experience when she was offered to, and refused by, the sage, testifies to his unswerving chastity:
jen' amhi (jenami JAS) vanta isina sa eso (21d), "he is the sage who has rejected me". Insisting on his chastity she adds:
eso hu so ug ga tavo mah'appå jit'indio samjað bambhayari
jo me tayā nêcchai diijamānim piună sayam Kosaliena ranna (22), "He is that austere ascetic, of noble nature, of subdued senses, self-controlled, chaste, who would not accept me when my own father, King Kausalika, gave me to him." For their part, the Yakşas, "appearing in the air with hideous shapes", "beat the people" (tam jana ralayanti) so that the brahmins' disciples, "with rent bodies, vomiting blood" (25), are seen "bowing their back and head, and holding out their hands, ... with streaming eyes, vomiting blood, look(ing) upwards, their eyes and tongues protruding, broken like so many logs of wood" (29-30). Harikesa will later explain: "The Yakşas attend upon me, therefore they have beaten the boys":
jakkha hu veyavadiyam karenri tamhå hu ee nihaya kumará (32).
2. The root of the conflict in Utt 12 clearly lies in the incompatible interpretations of "brahmanhood" by the two parties.
The stubborn so-called brahmins who are completely indifferent to the fact that they actually resort to violence (himsaga), do not control their senses (a-jiindiya), do not live a chaste virtuous life (a-bambhacarino), who are stuck up by pride of birth and social rank (jai-maya-padithaddha)" are totally unaware that their behaviour is, and can be shown to be, the very negation of real brahmanhood; hence their commonly accepted social status is in complete opposition to the ultimate Truth which, on the contrary, is practised by the framana.
In some respects this situation is reminiscent of the controversy between the Buddha and the infatuated Ambattha in the Digha Nikaya ( 94.20ff.): although he ultimately stems from the line of a slave girl, he boasts of, and is currently accepted as, being a brāhmaṇa. In particular he falsifies his ancestry to the Buddha until the Yakşa Vajrapāņi appears in the air above him with an iron hammer in his hand, threatening
(3) Realizing and proclaiming Harikeśa's superiority, the teacher(s) humbly ask him for forgiveness and for the favour (anuggah'artha) of offering him a "dish of boiled rice seasoned with many condiments":
Translation after Jacobi.
Jacobi's translation (with minor changes): Un 12.25: Te ghora-rüd thiyd antalikithe Asurà tahim sarjan tálayanti,
re bhinna dehe ruhiram amante posit... 12.29: avahedlya-pighis'utamange pasdrlyd-bdhu e-kamma-cephe
nibbherly'acche ruhiram amante ddham-mahe niggaya-jihanette Ee: nijjheriy'acche, on 29 see Ee p. 325f.: JAS p. 139 notes: Yajima p. 182 n. 11). 12.30: Te pastyd khandlyd kaha-bhúe vimano visanno aha mdhano so (Ee khandrya-k; but see JAS p. 139 n. 18).
"Note the anustubh (most of the narrative is written in trisfubh).
A detail which adds to the giver's merits. The disputation concerning the true brahmanais thus intertwined with practical considerations on dana and on the perfect beneficiary of the gift.
The same connection can be noted in the Matanga-Ja, cf. Ja IV 387.1ff.: dánassa mahapphala-thinam na jandsl... md elesamt dussilánam danam adasi, silavandnam dehi, 'you do not know the recipient liable to yield abundant fruit for your gift... do not make a gift to these bad characters, give to the virtuous (387.5"-6", 13-14, 25': compare 379.18).
On 'The micro-genre of dana-stories in Jain literature", see Nalini Balbir, Indologica Taurinensia ll (1983), p. 145-161, especially 1487., on the breaking of their first fast by the Jinas (and on the glory which accrues to the donor, compare Ust 12.36).
From a strictly Jain point of view, the gift offered in Uit 12 is far from perfect. For not only the taker but also the donor and the alms should all be pure (cf. N. Balbir, p. 148). In the present context, even though the clever redactor expressly states the vegetarian nature of the food ultimately offered to Harikasa (34, supra), the givers are andrtya (4). hintaa (5). qualifications which implicitly refer to the animal-sacrifice of the old brahmanical tradition; hence the alms cannot be pure. For lists of improper donors and improper food, see S.B. Deo, History of Jaina monachism, Poona 1956 (Deccan College Dissertation Series 17). p. 170ff., 173, 282, 301ff.
Urt 12.5 I-padibaddhd JAS, cf. p. 136 n. 12; Ee p. 323): cf. 37 (quoted supra, n. 6).

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'ro split Ambattha's head if he does not tell the truth about his birth and rank to the Bhagavat (ibid. 95,7-13)." Such tales have been explained as referring to an ancient "method of punishment for a variety of crimes" which consisted in beating the perpetrator to death with a blunt instrument of some type"."
Proclamation made by the purohita's wife, Bhadra. In effect, she is the witness qualified to testify to the perfect self-control and chastity of Harikesa - the virtues which are deemed essential for a framaņa. Bhadra's declaration, therefore, amounts to an "Act of Truth.
This is a penalty similar to that which, in Utt 12, is inflicted upon the supporters of the unworthy brahmins by some terrible looking Asuras/ Yaksas standing in the air. The boys' ordeal stops after their teacher has solemnly proclaimed the real state of affairs, i.e. the youngsters' stupid ignorance of the true superiority of rsis and munis like Harikesa over the so-called brahmaņas. He actually makes a full public apology
balehi müdhehi ayanaeht jam hiliya tassa khamäha bhante:
maha-ppasdyd isino havanti na hú muni kova-para havanti (31), *Forgive, sir, these ignorant, stupid boys, that they injured you; sages are exceedingly gracious, nor are the saints inclined to wrath". 21
3. This procedure, as W. Norman Brown writes, is based on the ancient Indian "belief that Truth has a power which a person with the right qualifications can invoke to accomplish wonders or miracles:" it is effective because it is based on the rare phenomenon of personal duty completely fulfilled"2" W. Norman Brown adds that it is ... frequently based upon the quality of some other being who is used as a dynamic reference, rather than a quality of the one who makes the Truth Declaration. This is precisely the situation in Utt 12: Bhadrà testifies to the ascetic's virtue and, as a result, actually 'extinguishes the aggressors' wrath,
kuddhe kumare parinivvavel (20d). She goes on to admonish them, quote relevant aphorisms (23; 26f.), and advise every one to make obeisance and go for refuge to the sage (sisena eyam saranam uveha, 28a). Thus the purohita's wife and the Yakşas' action do not overlap but complement cach other; by combining both the poet implicitly reminds us of the Yaksa-Yakşini couples who flank the Tirthamkaras. At the same time, the interplay between the Yaksas and Bhadrà gives a kind of human touch to the whole scene, which culmi
Fundamentally a similar course of events is related in the Mätanga-Ja: Mandavya, who has food distributed to 16 000 brahmins, endeavours to frighten away the candala ascetic Matanga who stands by, waiting for alms (Ja IV 379.9-382.18). In return, Mandavya and the brahmins find themselves with necks twisted, arms stretched, eyes white as if they were dead (383.13-22). Mandavya's mother, who understands the situation, looks for Mátanga and asks him about the matter: "Who is it who made my son so? To which Mätanga replies: The powerful Yaksas, who escort the rşis."
In the Utt story (as in the Matanga-Ja) the boys' punishment appears as the reversal of the previous situation when they attacked Harikesabala (18f.). Their attack is checked by the Yaksas' intervention, but this, in turn, is prompted by the solemn
See Insler, op. cit. p. 102ff, who also refers to comparable stories in the Brahmanic literature. * See S. Insler, op. cit. p. 104ff., for references to Manu. *Cf. supra, Un 12.25. * Jacobi's translation.
** Ja IV 383.25"-29" - 385.6_9: avethicar pirthito uttamangam /... ko me imam purtam akdslevam?
Ibid. 385.11.14: yakınd have santi mahanubhdvd / anvdgard Isayo.../yakınd i te purtam akamsu evan
Un 12.24: cydr tise vayandi socca parril Bhaddai su-hasiyam
isissa veyvadly 'arthayde jakthd kamdre vinivárayanti, 'having heard these well-spoken words of the purohita's) wife Bhadra, the Yaksas, in order to assist the rol, keep the boys off." - For 240, the Cürni reads vinlay yanti vinipdrayanti (a variant noted by Santisuri, cf.JAS p. 139 n. 3; Charpentier, p. 325).
She is qualified by ber personal experience: she knows undoubtedly that Harikesa has in no way been tempted by her charms, though she had been offered to him (cf. Utt, supra; also the Utt commentaries, summarized in SBE 45, p. 50, n. 1).
For another example of a Truth Act in the Jain literature, see W. Norman Brown, op. cit., p. 109 and n. 13.
Op. cit. p. 102. He emphasises that far from being any empirical truth, in such cases, it is Truth as the metaphysical basis of the cosmic order' (p. 110, 112), and that "Perfection in Truth is needed (p. 105). Further the success of the Act is not dependent in any degree upon the favor or grace or will of any deity. It operates only at the will of the person who possesses the Act... (p. 109).
* Idem, op. cit. p. 110. * Idem, op. cit. p. 105.
Bhavavijaya: parinirvapayati, krodhagal-vidhydpanena Sil-karoti.

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nates in the praise of tapas," which, moreover, introduces the definition of the true sacrifice (38-47) - a topic which will not be considered here.
concealing temple property ... blindness or a fine of eight hundred" (4.10.13).
4. Let us now turn to Manu and to the Arthaśāstra. In both texts verbal injury and physical injury are examined jointly: Mn 8.6b mentions parusye danda-vácike, while in the As, chapter 3.18 is entitled vákya-părusyam, chapter 3.19 dánda-parus. уат.
No such alternative is provided in Mn 8.279f.: 'whatever the (limb) with which a man of low (origin) strikes and hurts a man of higher (rank) even that limb shall be cut off",
yena kena cid angena himsyac cec frestham antyajah
chettayam tat tad eväsya. This is more or less the course of events in Uu 12: the youngsters are beaten as they themselves had beaten Harikesabala. The punishment is thus inflicted according to a system which, though probably obsolete, is recorded in dharma and artha-sources; the Utt narrative seems to corroborate the surmise that we encounter the survival of ancient practices in the tales "where there appears intercession by a divinity of some sort who holds the instrument of potential death in his hands".
As far as vākya-panusya is concerned Kautilya mentions three aspects, "defamation, vilification and threat": väkya-panusyam upavadah kutsanam abhibhartsanam iti. Physical injury is also said to be threefold, "touching, menacing and striking": danda-parusya sparsanam avagúrnam prahatam iti. It is clear that the brahmins and their attendants, in Utt, are guilty of the two categories of offences. Summarizing the prescriptions detailed in the above two AS chapters Kangle notes that the punishments in these two sections are generally regulated on the basis of varnas ...", but that, 'in fact, sliding scales have been laid down in these matters. It will be observed that there is no trace of talion law or of some sort of 'mirror-penalty in these two chapters: here fines are the normally prescribed punishments for the above of fences, which, in fact, concern only individuals. This has probably not always been the case, at any rate when the State, or the king, or more generally the social order, is involved. For, from AS 4.10, "it appears that the various types of corporal pun. ishments prescribed for theft and similar offences came to be replaced by money fines, which are called 'redemptions' from the corporal punishments (as can be seen from the title ekangavadha-niskrayaḥ, 'redemption from the cutting of individual limbs)." As a matter of fact, alternative punishments are proposed elsewhere: "in
se of striking with hands or feet persons of the highest varna and elders ... (the punishment shall be the cutting off of one hand and one foot or a fine of seven hundred (4.10.12); or, again: "for a Södra calling himself a Brahmin, for one
Remarkably, like the law books, the Harikesa story also considers two sets of injuries: first, various sorts of verbal injuries, perpetrated by the brahmana elders, secondly, the physical injuries perpetrated, at the instigation of the masters, by the at tendants. As in Mn or the AS, the two sets are tightly connected, though only the youngsters pay for the offences. But it is clear that, when they see the torment suffer ed by the latter, the teachers do fear for their own lives so that they hasten to recog. nize their fault in order to escape the punishment normally inflicted for verbal injury. On the other hand, the Harikeša story is based on a paradox. The offences of the brahmaņas, though inflicted by members of the highest social varna on a man stemm ing from one of the lowest social groups, are particularly serious as they are directed against a perfect framana, a muni. Thus, from the point of view of Truth, the victin is infinitely superior to his aggressors: in this case, the true hierarchy is the revers of the commonly accepted social order, but there is no way to fight the latter excep by resorting to its methods and principles.
Further observations can be made about verbal injury. Whereas AS (3.18, su
Un 12.37, quoted supra, n. 6, of which the second part runs:
sovoga putto Harlesa-sdh jass' erisd iddhi mahanubhagd, a svapika is the monk Harikesa who has such miraculous power' (text and trslas in Alsdorf, op. cit. p. 244).
Cf. Kangle III p. 229. The dispositions proclaimed in AS can be compared with Mn 8.268-78; 279-87.
» See AS 4.10 and Kangle's Translation p. 325, note; Study p. 237.
* Kangle's translation of A$ 4.10.12: varnonamenom gurūnam ca hasta-pada-langhane...eko hasto.pdda-vadhah, saprafato vi dandah; and of 4.10.13: Sudrasya brahmana-waidino devo-dravyan avastrarah... andharvam, asfafato wa dandah.
CF. S. Insler, op. cit. p. 107.

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with legal requirements.
To sum up, though the higher goal extolled by Harikesa contradicts the commonly accepted social values upheld by the brahmins, nevertheless the framanic argumentation necessarily conforms to principles which in effect are in force in the State and are laid down in law books. Hence the latter can throw light on narratives.
PA) would seem to be comparatively more lenient in this case than in the case of physical injury, other chapters deal severely with such offences. It is stated in 4.11.21 that "he shall cause the tongue to be rooted out of one who reviles the king ...". Neither is the Dharmasastras' attitude very mild. As recalled by S. Insler, Mn 11.56 specifies that "dishonesty about one's rank or ancestry" (are offences) equal to slaying a Brahmana", that is to a mahäpätaka. Further, according to Mn, a Sudra "who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut-out". A reflex of these prescriptions concerning verbal injury can be seen in Utt 12, where the two gåthas 25 and 29 describe the beaten youngsters as "vomiting blood, ruhiram vamante. To sum up, the divine punishments suffered by the guilty boys are dictated by the nature of their (and their teachers') crimes, are in accordance with the true, the spiritual, hierarchy existing between the two parties, and thus reflect the prescriptions collected in the law books.
One point more may be added. In any contest, and especially in all cases of violence ... of defamation and assault", great importance is attached to the hearing of evidence from witnesses. In the present circumstances the witness is Bhadra, a woman, whose words will be taken into account, though in ordinary matters a woman's testimony would not be accepted. But she is the one who has personal knowledge of Harikesa's behaviour, when she went to him "in a forest"." Here again, fiction fits
5. Conversely, narratives relating to falsification of birth or rank, or offpiritual status, could perhaps help elucidate the conceptual context of "the curious fourth parājika" registered in the Buddhist Prātimokşa. It concerns the offence "involving defeat", a case which is examined at length in all the Vinayas. The Pali Vinaya can be taken as an example. This päräjika is 'concerned with the offence of 'claiming a state or quality of further-men' (uttarimanussa-dhamma). 1.B. Horner notes that it is by no means a pure condemnation of boasting or lying in general' - which would only require "expiation (pacittiya): 'it is the particular nature of the boast or the lie which makes the offence one of the gravest that a monk can commit: the boast of having reached some stage in spiritual development, only attainable after a long training in the fixed and stable resolve to become more perfect ....The Pratimokşa rule itself runs thus: yo pana bhikkhu anabhijanam uttarimanussa-dhammam artapanayikam alam-ariya-rana-dassanam samudăcareyya ini jänami iti passamiri, tato aparena samayena samanuggahiyamāno apanno visuddhåpekkho evam vadeyya: ajanam evam dvuso avacam janami, apassam passami, tucchami muså vilapinti, ayam pl pdräjiko hoti, asamvaso ti:" "Whatever monk should boast, with reference to himself, of a state of further-men, sufficient ariyan knowledge and insight, though not knowing it fully, saying: 'this I know, this I see'; then not long afterwards, he, being pressed or not being pressed, fallen, should desire to be purified and should say: 'Your reverence, I said that I know what I do not know, see what I do not see, I spoke idly, falsely, vainly, then he also is one who is defeated, he is not in com
* A$ 4.11.21: rājdloosaka-mantrabhedakayor ... jīhvām utpåtayet. "Bühler's translation of Mn 11.56:
anstam ca samutkarse..../.... Samāni brahmahatyaya; compare Mn 11.55:
brahmaharya surápánam .... / mahanti påtakány áhuh. * CF. Bühler's translation of Mn 8.270:
ekajärir dvijärims tw vaca därunayd kşipan
Jihvayah prāpnīyāc chedam... Also see Mn 8.271-272, prescribing the thursting of a red-hot iron nail, or the pouring of hot oil, into the mouth of those guilty of some verbal injuries.
»Jean Fezas draws my attention to the fact that, given the impunity enjoyed by the brahmanas in the law books, only a divinity, in the narratives, can inflict punishments upon them. More than that: in Utt 12, the attendants pay the price of the verbal injury of which their brahmana teachers are guilty! * Mn 8.72: sähaseçu tu sarveșu ...
wag-dandayos ca părusye na pariketa saksinah, 'In all cases of violence ... he must not examine the ... witnesses (too strictly)". cf. Bühler's translation "Cf. Mn 8.69-70: anubhavi tu yah kafcit kuryar sdksyam Wwädinám
antarve many aranye và Sarlrasyapi caryaye
stry apy asambhave karyam.. "But any person whatsoever, who has personal knowledge (of an act committed) in the interior apartments (of a house), or in a forest, or of a crime causing) loss of life, may give evidence between the parties. On failure (of qualified witnesses, evidence) may be given in such cases) by a woman...' (Bühler's translation). Cl. AS 3.11.29-30.
Vin III 87-109. Translation by 1.B. Horner, The Book of the Discipline I p. 151-190; also see her remarks in the "Translator's Introduction", p. xxivf.
Op. cit. p. xxv. Vin 1 90.32**-91.2**

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266 COLETTE CAILLAT munion".IS To judge by the examples given in the Vin, those who were guilty of such lies mostly had wished thus to secure material advantages for themselves. Therefore the Buddha is said to have proclaimed: "This is the chief great thief: he who claims a non-existent state of further-men ... What is the reason for this? Monks, you have eaten the country's almsfood by theft"." According to I.B. Horner, "the claiming of a state, or states, of further-men, to which the claimant was not entitled, could have only appeared as a most heinous offence to people by whom a teaching on becoming, on becoming more perfect, of going further, was held in much esteem"47. On the other hand, in the light of the Buddhist and Jain narratives, and of the Artha- and Dharma-sastra prescriptions quoted above, it is clear that, by thus boasting of having attained "a state or quality of further-men", monks could endanger the regular hierarchy normally prevailing in the Buddhist Community, hence endanger the very survival of the Three Jewels. Evidently, this crime is particularly heinous, and it is but natural that it should meet with the utmost opprobrium, so that the guilty monk incurs the fourth parajika, which amounts to a sort of religious death." To conclude: taken together the above texts clearly show that whatever the differences or even oppositions between the communities in ancient India, they all accepted as valid the same basic beliefs and fundamental principles: in the various cases which have been examined in this paper, hierarchy is seen to be one of the major structures of the Indian society - and identity. "Translation I.B. Horner, B.D. I p. 157f. - Because the monk who is guilty of such lies apparently often bad thereby secured material advantages for himself, it is but natural that he is proclaimed "not to be in communion" and "not to be a (true) son of the Sakyans", asamano hoti asakyaputtyo, Vin III 92.28. " Horner's translation of Vin III 90.20ff.: ayam aggo mahacoro yo asantam abhutam uttarimanuss-dhammam ullapari; tam kissa hetu? theyyaya vo bhikkhave rartha-pindo bhutto ti. " B.D. I p. xxivf. - Also see her book The early Buddhist theory of Man Perfected, (1936), repr. Amsterdam (1975), p. 111ff. * Compare the fate of Devadatta according to several Buddhist traditions: when he pretends to be, or tries to be considered as, the Buddha, and he prepares to ruin the Samgha, blood spurts from the apertures in his face; according to some he falls dead (cf. the summaries by Andre Bareau, Bulletin de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient 78 (1991), p. 94; 100; 112f.; 115). Similarly, because he is superior to everyone, the Buddha cannot greet brahmins who are worn, old ...". "For, brahmin, whom a tathagata should greet or rise up to or offer a seat to, his head would split asunder", yam hi brahmara tathagaio abhivadeyya va paccuttheyya va asanena va nimanteyya, muddhapi tassa vipateyya ti, Vin III 2.12 f. (Transl. I. B. Horner, B.D. I, p. 2-3 (and n. 1, ubi alia).