Prasna I, Patala 9, Khanda 27

PRASNA I, PATALA 9, KHANDA 27.

1. After having eaten sesamum or having fasted on the full moon day of the month Srâvana July-August), he may on the following day bathe in the water of a great river and offer (a burnt-oblation of) one thousand pieces of sacred fuel, whilst. reciting the Gâyatrî, or he may mutter (the Gâyatrî) as many times. 1

2. Or he may perform Ishtis and Soma-sacrifices for the sake of purifying himself (from his sins), 2

3. After having eaten forbidden food, he must fast, until his entrails are empty. 3

4. That is (generally) attained after seven days.

5. Or he may during winter and during the dewy

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season (November-March) bathe in cold water both morning and evening.

6. Or he may perform a Krikkhra penance, which lasts twelve days.

7. The rule for the Krikkhra penance of twelve days (is the following): For three days he must not eat in the evening, and then for three days not in the morning; for three days he must live on food which has been given unasked, and three days he must not eat anything. 7

8. If he repeats this for a year, that is called a Krikkhra penance, which lasts for a year.

9. Now follows another penance. He who has committed even a great many sins which do not cause him to fall, becomes free from guilt, if, fasting, he recites the entire Sâkhâ of his Veda three times consecutively. 9

10. He who cohabits with a non-Aryan woman, he who lends money at interest, he who drinks (other) spirituous liquors (than Surâ), he who praises everybody in a manner unworthy of a Brâhmana, shall sit on grass, allowing his back to be scorched (by the sun).

11. A Brâhmana removes the sin which he committed by serving one day and night (a man of) the black race, if he bathes for three years, eating at every fourth meal-time. 11

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