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)
He who, without prior accusation, engages in an offense, and in the seizure of life and property, one should know him as a felonious aggressor (*ātatāyin*).
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.
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.
He who does not kill an *ātatāyin* of high rank, endowed with good conduct and Vedic learning, / when he deserves to be killed, obtains the fruit of a horse-sacrifice.
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;
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.
He who, without prior accusation, engages in an offense, and in the seizure of life and property, one should know him as a felonious aggressor (*ātatāyin*).
In the case of a felonious aggressor (*ātatāyin*) who is superior in austerity, Vedic study, and birth, there should be no killing.
one who violates another's wife, and one who is intent on finding a weakness—one should know these and the like to be all felonious aggressors (*ātatāyins*).
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.
The slayer is not tainted by guilt in the killing of animals with claws, horns, or tusks, or of *ātatāyins* (felonious aggressors), Elephants, horses, or others.
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;