Brahmahatya

 ( Hindu Mythology ) 

Brahmahatya (), also rendered Brahmanahatya () is the Sanskrit term for "the killing of a Brahmin".

George M. Williams (2008). 9780195332612, OUP USA. . ISBN 9780195332612

It is translated as Brahminicide in English.

Wendy Doniger (2010). 9780199593347, OUP Oxford. . ISBN 9780199593347

Laurie L. Patton (1994). 9780791419380, SUNY Press. . ISBN 9780791419380

The Manusmriti regards the murder of a Brahmin to be the greatest of sins, and the highest of the mahapatakas (mortal sins).

Peggy Morgan (2007). 9780748630028, Edinburgh University Press. . ISBN 9780748630028

Brahmahatya is also personified as a hideous woman in Hindu texts such as the Puranas. Described to possess red hair and wear blue robes, she is stated to laugh boisterously, chasing the murderers of Brahmins.

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Literature The Ramayana describes the conflict between Indra and Vritra. After Indra slays Vritra, he incurs the sin of brahmahatya and is immediately paralysed, falling unconscious. The deities arrange for the purification of Indra's sin with the performance of the ashvamedha sacrifice.

(2016). 9781400884568, Princeton University Press. . ISBN 9781400884568

In the same epic, to expiate Rama's sin of brahmahatya for the killing of Ravana, Sita creates a lingam out of sand for the worship of Shiva, which was installed at the temple of Rameswaram.

(2011). 9789004216228, BRILL. . ISBN 9789004216228

The Matsya Purana describes the legend of Shiva's form of Bhikshatana. Having decapitated one of Brahma's heads, Shiva incurs the sin of brahmahatya, with the skull of the deity stuck to his palm. For the atonement of this sin, the deity assumed the guise of a mendicant and wandered across the land until he reached Varanasi, where he achieved redemption.

Stella Kramrisch (1988). 9788120804913, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. . ISBN 9788120804913

Some texts state that bathing at the water bodies of a tirtha, a Hindu site of pilgrimage, cleanses one of the sin of brahmahatya.

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See also

• Prāyaścitta
• Vrata

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