Shloka 30
Prāyaścitta for Mahāpātakas: Liquor, Theft, Sexual Transgression, Contact with the Fallen, and Homicide
उदक्यागमने विप्रस्त्रिरात्रेण विशुध्यति / चाण्डालीगमने चैव तप्तकृच्छ्रत्रयं विदुः / सह सांतपनेनास्य नान्यथा निष्कृतिः स्मृता
udakyāgamane viprastrirātreṇa viśudhyati / cāṇḍālīgamane caiva taptakṛcchratrayaṃ viduḥ / saha sāṃtapanenāsya nānyathā niṣkṛtiḥ smṛtā
Si un brāhmaṇa s’unit à une femme en période de menstrues, il se purifie au bout de trois nuits d’observance. Mais s’il s’unit à une femme Caṇḍāla, les autorités prescrivent un Taptakṛcchra triple; et, avec le rite du Sāṃtapana, il est rappelé qu’il n’existe pour lui nulle autre expiation.
Traditional Purāṇic narrator (instructional dharma discourse within the Kurma Purana)
Primary Rasa: bibhatsa
Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka
FAQs
This verse does not directly teach ātman-metaphysics; it frames dharma as purification (śuddhi) through disciplined expiation, which in the Purāṇic system supports inner clarity needed for higher knowledge and yoga.
No explicit meditative technique is taught here; instead, it emphasizes prāyaścitta (kṛcchra, sāṃtapana) as ethical-ritual self-restraint, a preparatory discipline that Purāṇas often treat as a foundation for yoga and steadiness of mind.
The verse is primarily dharma-legal and does not mention Śiva or Viṣṇu explicitly; within the Kurma Purana’s broader Shaiva-Vaishnava synthesis, such dharma prescriptions function as shared normative groundwork for devotion and yoga across both traditions.