Ātatāyin
“violent aggressor”
idea · 3 works · 3 mentions · 4 anchored passages
ātatāyin · felonious aggressor · ātatāyins
spoken of as
1 expressionFelonious aggressor“ātatāyin”1 mention
Kātyāyana Smṛti (Sanskrit)
one who kills by sorcery, and an informer to the king;
in the texts
Bṛhaspati Smṛti
The legal-religious category of a violent aggressor (assailant, arsonist, poisoner, etc.) whose killing is exempted from sin or punishment.
In killing an *ātatāyin*, the killer does not incur any sin.
He who kills an *ātatāyin* who is learned in the Veda and born in a good family, / by not killing him he would be a slayer of an embryo;
One who, having been first insulted, insults in return, or having been struck, strikes back, / and one who kills an *ātatāyin*, that man does not become an offender.
Kātyāyana Smṛti
A legal category defining categories of violent aggressor (armed attacker, adulterer, arsonist, sorcerer, informer, etc.) whose killing incurs no fault, with an exception for aggressors of superior status.
one who kills by sorcery, and an informer to the king;
There is no fault in the killer of wicked men who are advancing (to attack).
One may kill without hesitation an aggressor who comes with the intent to destroy.
Viṣṇu Smṛti
A legal category of violent aggressor (armed attacker, poisoner, arsonist, sorcerer, slanderer to the king, violator of another's wife, and by some accounts others) whose killing incurs no guilt.
And one who violates another's wife—know these seven to be *ātatāyins*.
There is no guilt whatsoever for the slayer in the killing of an *ātatāyin*, Whether openly or secretly;
One should kill without hesitation a preceptor, a child, an old man, or a very learned Brāhmaṇa, If they approach as an *ātatāyin*.