Varaha Purana 134.3: Adhyaya 134, Shloka 3
Expiations for Ritual and Temporal Offences in Worship, and the Prescribed Purificatory Procedure
Upaspṛśya
Uttara Bhāga · Prāyaścitta for Pūjā-related and Periodic (Sāmāyika) Offences
आकाशशयनं कृत्वा दिनानि दश पञ्च च ॥ मुच्यते किल्बिषात्तत्र देवि चैव न संशयः ॥
ākāśaśayanaṃ kṛtvā dināni daśa pañca ca || mucyate kilbiṣāttatra devi caiva na saṃśayaḥ ||
AkAshashayanaM kRRitvA dinAni dasha pa~ncha cha || muchyate kilbiShAttatra devi chaiva na saMshayaH
เมื่อปฏิบัติ ‘นอนกลางแจ้งใต้ท้องฟ้า’ เป็นเวลาสิบวัน และอีกห้าวัน (รวมสิบห้าวัน) ย่อมพ้นจากบาป ณ ที่นั้น โอ้เทวี—ปราศจากข้อสงสัย
Sandhi Notes
- आकाशशयनं = आकाश-शयनम्
- किल्बिषात्तत्र = किल्बिषात् तत्र
- चैव = च एव
Varāha (contextual continuation)
Reassured by specificity; receptive to practical remedy
What specific practice effectively removes the fault incurred by ritual offence?
Voluntary hardship and restraint can neutralize moral-ritual fault when aligned with prescribed prāyaścitta.
Undertake time-bound, supervised austerity (here: outdoor sleeping) with mindfulness and restraint, as part of ethical repair.
Gives Bhū-devī a concrete penance: ākāśa-śayana for fifteen days to remove kilbiṣa.
Prescribes ākāśa-śayana (sleeping under the open sky) for fifteen days as expiation, assuring release from kilbiṣa.
Observance yields freedom from wrongdoing ‘without doubt’; non-observance implies continued impurity and liability to further consequences.
Specific prāyaścitta prescription within the same chapter sequence (134.1–134.5)
FAQs
It documents a concrete, bodily form of expiation typical of Dharma and Purāṇic literature, useful for comparative study of penance systems.
No named place; the practice is described generally as sleeping under the open sky.
That corrective discipline can be enacted through time-bound austerity intended to acknowledge and remediate fault.
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