History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c34.46.1

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.