Brahmahatyā: How Indra Shared the Pāpa
Brahmahatyā is the pāpa (grave wrong) of killing a brāhmaṇa, or of killing someone who has reached the rank of a brāhmaṇa through tapas (austerity). The Kedāra Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa teaches about it through the story of Indra, the king of the devas, who took on this pāpa after he killed Vṛtra.
The pāpa was too heavy for Indra to carry alone. So he made agreements with the earth, the trees, the waters and women, and each agreed to take a share of it. According to the text, each share left a visible mark in the world, and each came with a boon in return.
What Brahmahatyā Is
The Kedāra Khaṇḍa presents brahmahatyā as one of the gravest and most lasting pāpas in the whole universe. It does not cling to the killer only as a moral failing. It becomes a real, almost physical force that chases, weighs down and consumes the wrongdoer. It is described as a terrifying being in its own right, which follows the wrongdoer through this life and beyond.
The pāpa counts as brahmahatyā not only when someone kills a brāhmaṇa by birth. It also counts when someone kills a person who has reached the rank of a brāhmaṇa through tapas. Vṛtra was born an asura (a being opposed to the devas), but he had built up enormous power through tapas. In effect he had risen even higher than a brāhmaṇa. So when Indra killed him, the brahmahatyā that followed was just as vast.
How Indra Shared the Pāpa
Indra killed Vṛtra with the vajra (thunderbolt weapon) made from the bones of Dadhīci Ṛṣi. At once brahmahatyā seized him. It entered him as a devouring darkness and terror. He fled and hid in the fibres of a lotus stalk in Māna-sarovara, the lake Mānasa. There he could neither rule nor act. Hiding in the lake did not remove the pāpa; it only gave him time to seek a way out.
Indra asked the elements of nature to take shares of the brahmahatyā, and offered each of them a boon in exchange:
| Who took a share | Sign of the share in the world | Boon received |
|---|---|---|
| Earth | Barren land, cracked and scorched wastelands, and places where nothing grows | The power to repair herself: wounds in the earth heal with time |
| Trees | Hollow places, rotting cores, and sap that weeps from wounds | The power to grow again from their own parts: a tree can grow from a branch, a cutting, or a seed from the same parent tree |
| Water | Water can sometimes carry impurity and disease | The highest power of purification: even though it can carry impurity, water purifies whatever it touches and renews itself |
| Women | The monthly cycle, a time of ritual impurity when special rules apply | A capacity for desire and pleasure equal to or greater than that of men, and the ability to feel physical joy more deeply |
Indra’s Further Purification
Even after sharing out the brahmahatyā, Indra still needed more purification. He stayed hidden in Māna-sarovara until the process was complete. While he was away, the devas made Nahuṣa the Indra for a time. This led to the episode of Nahuṣa’s pride and fall, told in Chapter 15. When Indra finally returned, the proper order of the universe was restored.
What the Story Teaches About Nature
This story explains why the natural world holds both purity and impurity, and both fertility and barrenness. The earth’s wastelands, the hollow rot in a tree, the times when water carries harm, and the monthly cycle of the female body are all understood as results of this sharing of a great pāpa. Each is balanced by a boon: the earth’s power to heal, the tree’s power to regrow, water’s power to purify, and the gift of pleasure. In this way the Purāṇa explains what we see in nature by recalling events from the life of the universe.
Sources
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 17