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LIV, 29.
PENANCES.
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sins by performing three Krikkhra (Prâgâpatya) penances.
26. Those twice-born men, by whom the Gayatri has not been repeated (and the other initiatory ceremonies performed), as the law directs, must be made to perform three (Prâgâpatya) penances and must be initiated according to custom.
27. Those twice-born men who are anxious to make an atonement for having committed an illegal act, or for having neglected the study of the Veda, must be made to perform the same penance.
28. Those Brahmanas who have acquired property by base acts (such as living by the occupations of a lower caste, or accepting unlawful presents) become free from sin by relinquishing it, and by muttering (Veda texts) and practising austerities.
29. For omitting one of the regular acts enjoined in the revealed (and traditional) law, and for a breach of the rules laid down for a Snataka', a fast is ordained as atonement.
it as a sacrifice extending over two days or more; Kullaka (ibid.) states that it lasts three days or more, and that it is said in the Veda to cause impurity. See also Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 355.
26. The recitation and repetition of the Gayatri is one of the chief elements of the ceremony of initiation. The words with which the pupil must address his teacher on this occasion are given by Nand.; they are quoted from Åsv. I, 21, 4, and Sânkh. II, 5, 10-11. See also Gaut. I, 46, with Dr. Bühler's note.
27. 1'1.e. Brahmanas and others who have gained their livelihood (in times of distress) by such occupations as are lawful for other castes only, and who, when the times of distress are over, wish to atone for those actions.' (Nand.)
29. Regarding the meaning of this term, see above, XXVIII, 42, note. The rules to be observed by a Snataka are given in Chapter LXXI.
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