Shloka 24

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

Devanagari script

अवकीर्णिनिमित्त तु ब्रह्महत्याव्रतं चरेत्‌ । गोचर्मवासा: षण्मासांस्तथा मुच्येत किल्बिषात्‌

Transliteration

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

Translation

毗耶娑说：若梵行者之梵行誓戒因名为“阿伐吉尔那”(avakīrṇa)之过而破损，为除去此垢，当行对治“梵杀”(brahmahatyā)所规定的赎罪苦行。披着牛皮衣六个月，据说便能从罪垢中解脱。

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.