Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 179

August, 1931) PRAY ASCITTA, OR HINDU IDEAS ON THE EXPIATION OF SIN
151
It is unnecessary to discuss here the location of the Land of Donkeys and Camels' (Kharostra-desa). It is enough for me to point out that the script called Kharosthi was not introduced into India from Turkestan, and that we could not therefore derive its name from a geographical expression denoting the regions of Khotan and Kashgar.
This does not mean that the speakers may never have confused Kharoşthi and Kharoştra. The plays of popular etymology are varied. Under & colloquial form like kharot thi, the normal equivalent of kharosthi, one could conceive as well a word like kharori as kharon hi ; the former term would suggest khara-ustra. In their ignorance of historical actuality, certain Chinese authors may have preferred kharors, which suggested the idea of the land of donkeys and of camels.'
Supplementary Noto. While reviewing in T'oung Pao, 1921, p. 172, an article from the pen of R. D. Banerji on The Kharosthi Alphabet (JRAS., 1920, p. 193 ff.), Mons. Paul Pelliot has noted : (1) that the Chinese transcription by Houei-yuan implies an original like *kharoštrag ; (2) that in the language of the Avesta we have aoštra by the side of došta for 'lip '; (3) that we find a form kharusts in Mekhitar of Aeriwank. All this would show that, during certain epoche, forms like Kharogtra were current and that they might have been explained as "lip of donkey " or otherwise. But the original value of the term kharosthi is quite a different problem, which could not be solved by popular etymologies like "lip of donkey " or " donkey and camel."
PRAYAŚCITTA, OR HINDU IDEAS ON THE EXPIATION OF SIN.
BY BIREN BONNERJEA, D.LITT. (PARIS). Prayasoitta is & Sanskrit word, which has been taken over like many others into the modern Aryan languages of India. It is defined variously e penance,' 'expiation,
atonement,' punishment, and so on. The idea expressed by all these different words is identical, the difference being only of degree rather than of kind. The word 'penance in English means an ecclesiastical punishment imposed for a certain sin, or the suffering to which an individual subjects himself as an expression of his repentance; whereas "expiation in its strictest sense is simply an act for the atonement of a certain offence, orime or sin ; and hence it is & purificatory rite. As for the other two meanings of prayascitta they need not concern us here in our present study.
Prdyascitta may be, and is, demanded for all sins and crimes against the moral, religious and legal oodes of the Hindus. Therefore to understand what prayascitta means it is necessary to have an idea of the Hindu conception of sin.
The Laws of Manu give us a detailed description of the different kinds of sins and crimes without making any very sharp distinotion between a sin and a crime. According to Manu almost all crimes, at least those of a graver nature, are those which offend the dignity of a Brahmana. And the greater the enormity of the crime, whether real or imaginary, the more is the need of a prayascitta ; and if the proper prayascitta be not performed the punishments meted out for such offences are often as severe as it is possible for the Hindu mind to conceive. In one place it is said that those who commit mortal sins (mahapataka) spend a large number of years in dreadful hells of varying stages of torture, and then, when that term of punishment is finished, they are reborn in different insect and animal shapes; and these punishments may easily be avoided by doing certain specified penances. Then Manu goes on to say that "he who steals gold will become a rat .... he who steals honey, & stinging insect; he who steals milk, a crow; he who steals sugaroane, a dog.... (and so on, through a long list]. .... He who deprives another of his property by force, or eats sacrificial offerings of which no sacrifice has been made undoubtedly becomes an animal. Women who
This additional note was communicated to me by Prof. Przyluaki after the publication of his paper in JRAS.-L. V. Ramaswami Aiyar (translator).
1 Laws of Manu, xü 54.