Manava Dharmashastra 2.60

2.60

anyatamena tīrthena trirapa udakamācāmedāsyena jaṭharaṃ praveśayet | tata udakabhakṣaṇādanantaraṃ dvirabhyāsena mukham oṣṭhadvayaṃ parimṛjyāt oṣṭhaśliṣṭānāmudakāvayavānāṃ sodakena hastenāpanayanaṃ 'pramārjana'matra | "kutaḥ punarhasteneti |" samācārāttīrthādhikārādvā | 'tīrthenaivādbhiri'ti cottaratra śrutamatrāpyapakṛṣyate | dṛṣṭārthatvācca pramārjanasya mukhaśabda ekadeśe yathokte vartate | khāni chidrāṇi copaspṛśedadbhirhastagṛhītābhiḥ sparśanamevopasparśanam | mukhasya ca prakṛtatvānmukhyānāmeva khānāmeṣa sparśanavidhiḥ | gautamaścāha "khāni copaspṛśecchīrṣaṇyāni" | ātmānamiti hṛdayaṃ nābhiṃ vā nirdiśati | upaniṣatsu hi "antarhṛdayamātmānaṃ paśyediti" kathyate | ato hṛdayasyāyaṃ sparśaḥ kṣetrajñasyātmano vibhoḥ | amūrtasya na sparśasambhavaḥ | 'nābhimālabheteti' kvacitsmaryate; tena nābhiṃ manyāmahe | śiraḥ prasiddham | smṛtīnāṃ caikārthyāda'āmaṇibandhātpāṇī prakṣālye'tyevamādi labhyate | tathā aśabdakaraṇaṃ vāṅniyamaḥ pādābhyukṣaṇam | mahābhārate prakṣālanamapi pādayordarśitam |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
Through any one of the aforesaid ‘receptacles’ he should three times ‘sip water,’—i.e., he should let water enter his stomach through the mouth.

‘Then’—i.e., after the sipping of water,—he should ‘twice’—i.e., by repeating the act—‘wipe the mouth,’—i.e., the two lips. This ‘wiping’ consists of removing with a wet hand the drops of water attaching to the lips.

Question.—“Whence do you get the idea that this wiping is to be done with the hand?”

Answer.—We learn this from actual usage, and also deduce it from the fact of the context dealing with ‘receptacles’ (which have been described as parts of the band);—the terms ‘through the receptacle’ and ‘with vrater,’ though occurring elsewhere, being brought in here also.

Further, inasmuch as the wiping is meant only to serve a visible purpose, the term ‘mouth’ is taken to stand for a part of the mouth (i.e., the lips).

‘Cavities’—holes;—‘he should touch with water’—hold in the hand. ‘Upasparśana’ (of the text) is the same as ‘sparśana.’ Since the text has been speaking of the ‘mouth,’ the ‘cavities’ meant to be touched are those pertaining to the mouth (i.e., located in the bead). Says Gautama (1.36)—‘He should touch the cavities in the head.’

‘The Soul’—stands for the Heart and the Navel. In the Upaniṣads we read that ‘one should And the Soul in the heart.’ Hence the ‘touching of the heart’ becomes the ‘touching of the Soul,’ the all-pervading entity ensouling the body. (We have to take it in this sense, because) there can be no touching of the Soul itself, which is something incorporeal. In some law-books it is laid down that ‘one should touch the navel’; hence we have included ‘navel’ also (as indicated by the term ‘Soul’ of the text).

‘Head’—this is well known.

Since all Smṛtis arc meant to serve the same purpose, ‘the washing of hands up to the wrists’ and such other acts (as are laid down in Gauṭama 1.36, for instance) also hare to be done along with those mentioned in the text; such acts, for instance, as not making noise, keeping silent, sprinkling of water on the feet,—or even washing the feet, as laid down in the Mahābhārata.—(60)