Locweld at 10:06, 5 January 2026

2026-01-05T10:06:11Z

New page

{{Short description|Sanskrit term for Brahminicide}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

'''Brahmahatya''' ({{Langx|sa|ब्रह्महत्या|translit=Brahmahatyā}}), also rendered '''Brahmanahatya''' ({{Langx|sa|ब्राह्मणहत्या|translit=Brāhmaṇahatyā}}), refers to Brahminicide or killing of a [[Brahmin]], one of the ''[[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]]s'' (social classes). The ''[[Manusmriti]]'' regards the murder of a Brahmin to be one of the five greatest sins (''[[maha pataka]]s'').

== Description ==
Brahmahatya refers to the killing of a [[Brahmin]], one of the ''[[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]]s'' (social classes) of ancient Hindu society.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hudson |first=D. Dennis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IMCxbOezDi4C&pg=PA579 |title=The Body of God: An Emperor's Palace for Krishna in Eighth-Century Kanchipuram |date=25 September 2008 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-199-70902-1 |page=579}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=George M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7LOZfwCDpEC&pg=PA96 |title=Handbook of Hindu Mythology |date=27 March 2008 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-195-33261-2 |page=96 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Doniger |first=Wendy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNsXZkdHvXUC&pg=PA409 |title=The Hindus: An Alternative History |date=30 September 2010 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-199-59334-7 |page=409}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Patton |first=Laurie L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZjp0kIK5fsC&pg=PA119 |title=Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation |date=1 July 1994 |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |isbn=978-0-791-41938-0 |page=119 }}</ref> The ''[[Manusmriti]]'' regards the murder of a Brahmin to be one of the five greatest sins (''[[maha pataka]]s'').<ref>{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Peggy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vt-qBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |title=Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions |date=16 February 2007 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |isbn=978-0-748-63002-8 |page=41}}</ref>

In the [[Hindu texts]] such as the [[Puranas]],
''Brahmahatya'' is personified as a hideous woman possessing red hair and wearing blue robes, and laughing boisterously, chasing the murderers of Brahmins.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shastri |first1=J. L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J81MEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 |title=The Skanda Purana Part 4: Ancient Indian Tradition And Mythology [Volume 52] |last2=Bhatt |first2=G. P. |date=1993 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-8-120-81082-2 |page=162 }}</ref>

There are other activities (''anupatakas'') such as murder of a menstruating or pregnant woman, killing of a [[kshatriya]] or one who has given a sacrifice, causing harm to a child or causing an [[abortion]], and harming someone who has sought refuge, are mentioned as equivalent to committing ''Brahmahatya''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Conception of Punishment in Early Indian Literature|author=Terence Day|year=1982|isbn=978-0-919-81215-4|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|page=95}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Hinduism|author=Monier Monier-Williams|year=1882|publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge|page=64}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Aspects of Hindu morality|author=Saral Jhingran|year=1989|isbn=978-8-120-80574-3|publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]]|page=62}}</ref>

== Literature ==
In the [[Hindu epic]] of ''[[Ramayana]]'', when [[Indra]] kills [[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.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gFReDQAAQBAJ&dq=Brahmahaty%C4%81&pg=PA129 |title=The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India, Volume VII: Uttarakāṇḍa |date=20 December 2016 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-1-400-88456-8 |page=129 }}</ref> In the same epic, to expiate [[Rama]]'s sin of ''brahmahatya'' for the killing of [[Ravana]], his wife, [[Sita]], worships a [[lingam]], a form of [[Shiva]], created out of sand at [[Rameswaram]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M-R5DwAAQBAJ&dq=Brahmahaty%C4%81+R%C4%81ma&pg=PA163 |title=When the Goddess was a Woman: Mahābhārata Ethnographies - Essays by Alf Hiltebeitel, volume 2 |date=27 July 2011 |publisher=[[BRILL]] |isbn=978-9-004-21622-8 |page=163 }}</ref>

The ''[[Matsya Purana]]'' describes the legend of Shiva taking the form of [[Bhikshatana]]. Having decapitated one of [[Brahma]]'s heads, Shiva incurs the sin of ''brahmahatya'', and the skull of the deity stuck to his palm. For the atonement of this sin, Shiva assumed the guise of a mendicant and wandered across the land until he reached [[Varanasi]], where he achieved redemption.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stutley |first=Margaret and James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQWQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT96 |title=A Dictionary of Hinduism: Its Mythology, Folklore and Development 1500 B.C.-A.D. 1500 |date=9 April 2019 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-429-62754-5 |pages=96 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kramrisch |first=Stella |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cjqfkgD6YCAC&pg=PA294 |title=The Presence of Siva |date=1988 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-8-120-80491-3 |page=294 }}</ref>

Hindu texts state that bathing at the water bodies of a [[Tirtha (Hinduism)|tirtha]], a Hindu site of pilgrimage, cleanses one of the sin.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Knut A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kn6_3oBFAqIC&pg=PA159 |title=Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition: Salvific Space |date=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-59038-9 |page=159 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Prāyaścitta]]
* [[Vrata]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brahmanahatya}}

[[Category:Hindu mythology]]
[[Category:Sanskrit words and phrases]]
[[Category:Hindu belief and doctrine]]

Brahmahatya - Revision history

Locweld at 10:06, 5 January 2026