Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c11.50

c11.50

After the treatment of the defilement of the human body usually purification of things (Dravyaśuddhi) is dealt with (Vi. 23 etc.). Spirituous liquors, drinking of which is a mortal sin (§ 36), leavings and fluids out of the human body such as sweat, tears, urine, excrements, semen, blood, etc. are held to be particularly impure. If earthen or wooden vessels are defiled by them there remains nothing to do but to throw them away; on the other hand, implements of iron, horn, ivory etc. may be purified in the fire or by scrubbing, washing etc. Defilement by a fatty substance is also very bad; defilement by leavings of food etc. are less serious; they can, as a rule, be set at right by simple washing and rinsing. Other kinds of purification are rubbing with ash, cow's hair and other things, straining (in the case of liquids), repeated burning (in the case of earthenware) sprinkling with water, milk, cow's urine or earth, besmearing with cowdung, sipping by a cow (in the case of stagnant water) etc., and in this connection the quality of the cow as a sacred animal must be remembered. Yet in many cases a rational stand-point has been taken. Wares in a shop, the hand of a workman, particles of food sticking to the teeth, hair of the beard which comes into the mouth, a shadow and dust are never impure; on the other hand, the dog is pure when catching a wild animal, a suckling calf is pure when milk flows and a woman's mouth is pure at the time of kissing, a bird is pure when it pecks the fruit; dirty and defiled roads are purified by sun and wind.