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Mahānirvāṇa Tantra cover

॥ श्री ॥tantraFor reading

Mahānirvāṇa Tantra 11.45

Traditional

Ullāsas
14
Verses
2517
Minutes
1258
Level
advanced

Ullāsa 11 · Verse 45

बलात्कारे दण्डःThe punishment of rape

Verse 45

वलात्कारेण यो गच्छेदपि चाण्डालयोषितम् । वधस्तस्य विधातव्यो न क्षन्तव्यः कदापि सः ॥ ४५ ॥

valātkārēṇa yō gacchēdapi cāṇḍālayōṣitam | vadhastasya vidhātavyō na kṣantavyaḥ kadāpi saḥ || 45 ||

Translation

One who takes even a cāṇḍāla woman by force is to be put to death; he is never to be pardoned.

Word by word

valātkārēṇa
(balātkāreṇa) by force
yaḥ
(yaḥ) who
gacchēt
(gacchet) takes
api
even
cāṇḍāla
a cāṇḍāla
yōṣitam
(yoṣitam) woman
vadhaḥ
(vadhaḥ) death
tasya
for him
vidhātavyaḥ
(vidhātavyaḥ) is to be imposed
na
not
kṣantavyaḥ
(kṣantavyaḥ) to be pardoned
kadāpi
ever
saḥ
(saḥ) he

Meaning

Rape is punished with death whoever the victim: the "even" (api), the ṭīkā says, means all the more for women of other classes. The Tantra here protects the lowest-born woman equally.

Commentary

Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated

He says that death alone is the punishment even for those who go to another's wife by force, with "balāt" and the rest. Even the man who goes by force to a woman of the cāṇḍālas is to be put to death; he is never to be pardoned. The word "even" (api) suggests that for those who go to a brāhmaṇa woman and the rest, death is to be imposed all the more.