History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c34.73

v2.c34.73

Very detailed rules are laid down about the length of the twig, about the trees the twigs of which are allowed or forbidden, about the days or occasions or times on which there is to be no dantadhāvana. A few of these details are given below. Trees having thorns on their trunk or from which a milky fluid oozes out when a twig is broken off are allowed and so are vaṭa, asana, arka, khadira, karañja, badara, sarja, nimba, arimeda, apāmārga, mālatī, kakubha, bilva, āmra (mango), punnāga, śirīṣa and further the twig must be astringent, pungent or bitter in taste and not sweet or sour.¹⁵⁴⁸ Vide Bṛhat-Saṁhitā of Varāhamihira chap. 85, Laghu-Hārīta (Jīvānanda part I. p. 183), Laghu-Vyāsa I. 17–18, Nṛsiṁhapurāṇa 58. 47. Before the advent of the modern dentifrices people in India followed these directions and even now many even in the cities still follow them and brush their teeth with twigs of various trees. Among the trees which are not to be used for dantadhāvana are palāśa,¹⁵⁴⁹ śleṣmātaka, ariṣṭa, vibhītaka, dhava, bandhūka, nirguḍī, śigru, tilva, tinduka, inguda, guggulu, śamī, pīlu, pippala, kovidāra &c. (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 61. 1–5). The twig may be undried or dried, but one dried on the tree itself is not to be taken (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 61. 8, Nṛsiṁhapurāṇa 58. 46). One must brush the teeth facing north or east, but not west or south (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 61. 12–13). Viṣṇu Dh. S. (61. 16–17) prescribes that the twig should be as big as the end of one's small finger and twelve *aṅgulas* in length and it should be washed before its use and after using it it should not be cast off in an impure place. There are various opinions about the length of the twig employed. The Nṛsiṁhapurāṇa (58. 49. 50) says that it may be of eight aṅgulas in length or a span in length (prādeśa); Garga (quoted in Sm. C. I. p. 105) says that the twig should be 10, 9, 8, 7 or 4 angulas in length respectively for the four varṇas and women. One was not to cleanse one's teeth with pieces of brick or with clods of earth or with stones or with the bare fingers (except the thumb and the finger next to the small finger).¹⁵⁵⁰