Pāpa
Pāpa, “what is evil, wrongdoing”
Grammar: neuter noun (also an adjective, “evil, bad”): “what is evil”.
Meaning: a wrong deed, and the evil fruit it leaves on the doer until it is used up or removed; the opposite of puṇya (merit). The heaviest kinds are the mahāpātakas (the great wrongs). A near word is durita (what has gone wrong).
In the scriptures: at the end of the account of how Tryambaka Mahādeva destroyed Daksha‘s yajña, Pulastya Maharshi tells Nārada that this account is most pure, brings puṇya, is ancient, drives away all pāpas and brings what is auspicious (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5).
When the devas could not see Mahādeva seated before them, Bhagavān Vishṇu told them the cause: they had done great wrong against Śiva by destroying the child in Bhavānī’s womb, and so the bearer of the triśūla had taken away their sight. To remove that pāpa they were to purify their bodies by the taptakṛcchra vrata (days of hot water, milk and ghee, then air alone), and then bathe Mahādeva with milk, curd, ghee, pañcagavya, honey and pure water. The devas kept the vrata with Indra and were freed from their pāpa (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 36).
The Nakshatra Purusha vrata is the best of vratas, and Bhṛgu Maharshi once kept it. Pleased by it, Śrīdhara destroys the pāpa done in seven births, the faults that come down the family line, and the pāpas of one’s mother and father (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54).
At the close of the Purāṇa, Pulastya Maharshi tells Nārada that as pāpas are washed away by a plunge in the Gaṅgā, so all duritas perish by hearing this Purāṇa. Hearing it destroys not only the ordinary pāpas but all the mahāpātakas: “this is true, three times over.” Reading it, hearing it, or having others hear it removes all pāpas, and so does reading or hearing it at the three sandhyās (morning, noon and evening) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 69).
Related terms: Puṇya · Mahāpātaka · Durita · Prāyaścitta · Kṛcchra · Phalaśruti
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 5, 36, 54, 69