Shloka 24

Prāyaścitta and Contextual Non-Culpability (प्रायश्चित्त-निमित्त-अदोषवाद)

Devanagari script

अवकीर्णिनिमित्त तु ब्रह्महत्याव्रतं चरेत्‌ । गोचर्मवासा: षण्मासांस्तथा मुच्येत किल्बिषात्‌,जिसका ब्रह्मचर्यव्रत खण्डित हो गया हो, वह ब्रह्मचारी उस दोषकी निवृत्तिके उद्देश्यसे ब्रह्महत्याके लिये बताये हुए व्रतका आचरण करे तथा छ: महीनों-तक गोचर्म ओढ़कर रहे; ऐसा करनेपर वह पापसे मुक्त हो सकता है

Transliteration

avakīrṇi-nimittaṁ tu brahmahatyā-vrataṁ caret | gocarma-vāsāḥ ṣaṇmāsāṁs tathā mucyeta kilbiṣāt ||

Translation

Vyāsa dit : Si le vœu d’un brahmacārin a été brisé (par la faute appelée avakīrṇa), alors, afin d’effacer cette souillure, il doit entreprendre l’observance expiatoire prescrite pour la brahmahatyā. En portant un vêtement de peau de vache pendant six mois, on dit qu’il est délivré du péché.

Word by Word

• {'avakīrṇi-nimittam': 'on account of the avakīrṇa fault

• due to a breach/defilement of the brahmacarya discipline', 'tu': 'but

• indeed (contrast/emphasis)', 'brahmahatyā-vratam': 'the expiatory vow prescribed for the sin of brahmahatyā (killing a brāhmaṇa), used here as a model penance', 'caret': 'should practice/undertake (optative of √car)', 'gocarma-vāsāḥ': 'wearing a cowhide as clothing

• clad in cowhide', 'ṣaṇmāsān': 'for six months', 'tathā': 'thus

• in that manner', 'mucyeta': 'would be freed/released (passive optative of √muc)', 'kilbiṣāt': 'from sin, guilt, moral taint'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• brahmacārin (brahmacarya student/ascetic)
• brahmahatyā-vrata (expiatory observance)
• gocarma (cowhide garment)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A breach of brahmacarya is treated as a serious moral defilement requiring formal prāyaścitta. The verse teaches that disciplined, time-bound austerity—modeled on severe expiations—can restore purity and reintegrate the person into dharmic life.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a didactic section of Śānti Parva on dharma and expiation, Vyāsa prescribes a specific penance: the brahmacārin who has incurred the avakīrṇa fault should perform the brahmahatyā-type vow and live wearing cowhide for six months to be freed from the resulting guilt.