History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c34.46
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c34.46
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v2.c34.46.1
Then the next act is to answer the calls of nature. Very detailed rules are laid down about these even in the most ancient sūtras and smṛtis. Many of the rules are simply hygienic, but as religion, rules of law, of morality, of health and hygiene are mixed up in the ancient works, they are given in works on dharma. Even in the Atharvaveda (XIII. 1. 56) it¹⁵²⁷ is said 'I cut off thy root who kick a cow with the foot or who urinate opposite the sun (facing the sun); thou shall not further cast a shadow.' Urinating while standing seems to have been condemned in the time of the Atharvaveda; *vide* VII. 102 (107). 1 'I shall urinate standing erect; let not the lords harm me.' Gaut. IX. 13, 15, 37-43, Āp. Dh. S. I. 11. 30. 15-30 and I. 11. 31. 1-3, Vas. Dh. S. VI. 10-19 and XII. 11-13, Manu IV. 45-52, 56, 151, Yāj. I. 16-17, 134, 154, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 60. 1-26, Śaṅkha,¹⁵²⁸ Vāyupurāṇa 78. 59-64 and 79. 25-31, Vāmanapurāṇa 14. 30-32 may be summarised as follows: one should not void urine or ordure on the road, on ashes, on cow-dung, in ploughed or sown fields, under the shade of trees, in rivers or water, on grassy or beautiful spots, on bricks made ready for erecting altars, on mountain-tops, near dilapidated shrines or cowpens, on ant-hills, in cemeteries or in holes, on threshing floors, on sandy shores. Nor should one answer calls of nature looking at or facing fire, the sun, the moon, a brāhmaṇa, water, the image of some god, cow, wind.
v2.c34.46.2
Nor should one do these acts on the bare ground, but on ground covered with dry twigs or leaves or grass or loose earth. One should cover one's head and should face the north by day or when there is twilight and face the south at night, but when there is a danger one may face any direction. One should not urinate while standing or walking (Manu. IV. 47) nor should one speak while doing so.¹⁵²⁹ One should answer calls of nature away from a human habitation towards the south or south-west. Manu V. 126 and Yāj. I. 17 prescribe that, after answering calls of nature, one should perform cleansing the parts with water held in a pot and lumps of earth to such an extent that no smell or filth will stick. According to Manu V. 136 and 137 and Viṣṇu Dh. S. 60. 25-26 one lump of earth is to be applied to the penis, three to the arms, ten to the left hand and seven to both hands, three to both feet together. This is the extent of *śauca* required for householders, and for brahmacārin, forest hermit and saṁnyāsin, twice, thrice and four times as much is required. The Mit. on Yāj. I. 17 remarks that for all āśramas the cleansing required is only as much as will remove foul smell and filth and the several numbers of lumps of earth prescribed in different smṛtis are only precribed for unseen (or spiritual) results. Gaut. I. 45-46, Vas. III. 48 and Manu V.
v2.c34.46.3
134 say that cleansing of the body is to be so effected first with water and then with earth that foul smell and filth will be totally removed. Devala (quoted in the Gṛ. R. p. 147) says that respectable people do not emphasize the number of times mentioned in the smṛtis, but they say that cleansing should be carried on till one feels that it is all right.¹⁵³⁰ The Smṛtyarthasāra¹⁵³¹ (p. 19) following Dakṣa V. 12 says that at night only half of the *śauca* prescribed for the day is required, only one-fourth of it is prescribed for the ailing and only one-eighth when a man is on a journey and that no special number of lumps of earth are prescribed for women, śūdras, boys whose upanayana has not been performed. In cleansing one is not to employ stones, clods of earth, and green twigs cut off for the purpose from herbs and trees (Āp. Dh. S. I. 11. 30. 30, Gaut. IX. 15) nor is one to use earth from inside a river or water reservoir or from a temple, from an ant-hill or from the hiding places of rats or from dung-hills or what is left after being used for a prior cleansing (Vas. Dh. S. VI. 17) nor what is taken from a road or cemetery, nor should one use earth that has worms, coals, or bones or gravel in it. Dakṣa V. 7 prescribes that for the first time as much earth as will fill half of the outstretched hand and for the second time half of that is to be taken and so on.¹⁵³² The lump of earth should not be bigger than a myrobalan fruit (Kūrmapurāṇa in Sm. C. I. p. 182).
v2.c34.46.4
One is not to answer calls of nature with the shoes on (Āp. Dh. S. I. 11. 30. 18) and one's *yajñopavīta* should be suspended from the right ear or he should throw it on his back in the *nivīta* form.¹⁵³³ According to Yāj. I. 16 the *yajñopavīta* should be suspended from the right ear only. Vanaparva 59. 2 describes that *kali* (the principle of evil and strife) entered Nala when the latter did not wash his feet after urinating.