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Mahānirvāṇa Tantra cover

॥ श्री ॥tantraFor reading

Mahānirvāṇa Tantra 11.75

Traditional

Ullāsas
14
Verses
2517
Minutes
1258
Level
advanced

Ullāsa 11 · Verse 75

गुरुजनप्रहरणादौ दण्डःStriking gurus and the like

Verse 75

अङ्गच्छेदे विधातव्यं भूभृताऽङ्गनिकृन्तनम् । प्रहारे च प्रहरणं नृषु पापं चिकीर्षुषु ॥ ७५ ॥

aṅgacchēdē vidhātavyaṁ bhūbhṛtā’ṅganikṛntanam | prahārē ca praharaṇaṁ nṛṣu pāpaṁ cikīrṣuṣu || 75 ||

Translation

For cutting off a limb, the king should have a limb cut off; for a blow, a blow, on men who intend wrong.

Word by word

aṅga
a limb
cchēdē
for cutting off
vidhātavyaṁ
should be done
bhūbhṛtā
by the king
nikṛntanam
(nikṛntanam) cutting off
prahārē
for a blow
ca
and
praharaṇaṁ
a blow
nṛṣu
on men
pāpaṁ
wrong
cikīrṣuṣu
who intend

Meaning

Retaliation in kind, the old lex talionis. 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 one who cuts off a limb and the like, with "aṅga" and the rest. On men who intend sin (cikīrṣu, wish to do), in the case of cutting off a limb, the king should impose the cutting off of a limb; in the case of a blow, a blow.