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Mahānirvāṇa Tantra cover

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Mahānirvāṇa Tantra 11.31

Traditional

Ullāsas
14
Verses
2517
Minutes
1258
Level
advanced

Ullāsa 11 · Verse 31

व्यभिचारे दण्डःThe punishment of unlawful union

Verse 31

मातरं भगिनीं कन्यां गच्छतो निधनं दमः । तासामपि सकामानां तदेव विहितं शिवे ॥ ३१ ॥

mātaraṁ bhaginīṁ kanyāṁ gacchatō nidhanaṁ damaḥ | tāsāmapi sakāmānāṁ tadēva vihitaṁ śivē || 31 ||

Translation

For going to a mother, sister or daughter the punishment is death; and for those women too, if they consent, the same is laid down, O Śivā.

Word by word

mātaraṁ
a mother
bhaginīṁ
a sister
kanyāṁ
a daughter
gacchataḥ
(gacchataḥ) for one going to
nidhanaṁ
death
damaḥ
(damaḥ) the punishment
tāsām
(tāsām) for those women
api
too
sakāmānāṁ
consenting
tat
(tat) the same
ēva
just
vihitaṁ
is laid down
śivē
O Śivā

Meaning

The text's harshest penalty, for the gravest crime. These are the penalties of the Tantra's own ideal kingdom, given as the text states them; they describe its teaching, not any present law.

Commentary

Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated

Now he tells the punishment of a man who goes to his mother and the rest, and of those women if they consent, with "mātaram". O Śivā, for a man who goes to his mother, his sister or his daughter, the punishment (dama) is death (nidhana); and for those women too, if they consent, that same, death, is the punishment laid down.