When a sudra is killed, the sinner should give in charity a one-year-old ox and eleven cows to atone for the sin. The same rule applies to one who kills a woman. In Yudddhakanda Hanumat similarly warns Indrajit who was about to kill the fake Sita.
In the Mahaprasthana of the Mahabharata, too, killing of a woman is condemned. Refusing shelter, killing a woman, depriving a brahmin of his possessions and betraying a friend are equally four deadly sins. But Viswamitra explains the reference is to the killing of a wicked woman which is justified from the angle of justice and morality.
Killing an unrighteous woman is righteous: 1.25.19-21
Viswamitra says there is no sin in killing an unrighteous woman. In fact, in Vishnupurana such a killing is deemed meritorious. Thus when Prithu was about to kill Prithvi who did not concede to his request, she says to him, “O king, why do you not realise that it is a grave offence to kill a woman, while you are ready to take this extreme step to perform your kingly duty”? Prithu replied, “O wicked one, when such killing secures the well-being of many, it’s a righteous”.
Sarga-25
Sin in killing a woman 1.25.1-18
When a sudra is killed, the sinner should give in charity a one-year-old ox and eleven cows to atone for the sin. The same rule applies to one who kills a woman. In Yudddhakanda Hanumat similarly warns Indrajit who was about to kill the fake Sita.
In the Mahaprasthana of the Mahabharata, too, killing of a woman is condemned. Refusing shelter, killing a woman, depriving a brahmin of his possessions and betraying a friend are equally four deadly sins. But Viswamitra explains the reference is to the killing of a wicked woman which is justified from the angle of justice and morality.
Killing an unrighteous woman is righteous: 1.25.19-21
Viswamitra says there is no sin in killing an unrighteous woman. In fact, in Vishnupurana such a killing is deemed meritorious. Thus when Prithu was about to kill Prithvi who did not concede to his request, she says to him, “O king, why do you not realise that it is a grave offence to kill a woman, while you are ready to take this extreme step to perform your kingly duty”? Prithu replied, “O wicked one, when such killing secures the well-being of many, it’s a righteous”.