ZBORNIK - Matica srpska

een refused it, but Carudatta true to his magnanimity and the moral
obligation of granting refuge to a saranagata spared his life.
As very different from the Greek classical world the reasons
for exile in India were usually political. Here punishment for homicide
was executed by the State, except during the course of a war
where vengeance was sought by kith and kin. Where shedding of
blood caused pollution as in the case of matricide, brahmicide, in
addition to the penal sentence there was a system of purification rites
to remove asauca. All the same there is the case of the embryo-
-killer Asvatthama who could not be purged by any rite because of
the curse that Krishna laid on him.
The Greek method of removing miasma or asauca consisted of
seeking forgiveness at shrines of divination such as at Delphos. But
the main practice was worship of Zeus Katharsios, 14 where the offender
was washed with the blood of a consecrated pig. The pattern
here is of seeking protection from the divine and placating him
through sacrifice just as the offender seeks physical protection of a
family and placates them through loyalty and service. The Greek
miasma removal was a public affair unlike the Indian set of rites
like Candrayana etc. which were austerities to be practised by the
individual privately.
The Power of Oath
In cultures where writing was far removed from the lives of
men low and high alike, the spoken word as a pledge made in the
presence of witnesses was as much binding as a promise made in
writing today. In grave matters the pledge came to be registered in
the communal memory and the community waited for the promissory
to fulfil his pledge or pay the price that he himself had set for
his failure. To break a vow was not only to lose self-esteem but
also to defame the family and its ancestry. More than that, at least
in the Greek world a person incurred pollution which had to be got
rid of like any other impurity. Here, there was also punishment after
death and the broken oath was sometimes even personified as a pursuing
spirit similar to the Erynes. 15 Now while the Indians had no
such spirit to be afraid of, all the same loss of esteem and accumulated
merit, punya, was a mortal dread. The oath then for the Indo-
-European defined his commitment to his fellow-beings which was
expected to be enforced even by divine agency. In drama, which is
all but made up of relationships, the oath becomes a dominating
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