History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.130
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.130
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Gaut. II. 25,¹⁸⁹⁷ Āp. Dh. S. I. 5. 17. 21, Manu XI. 94 forbid all kinds of intoxicants to brāhmaṇas at all stages of life. Āp. Dh. S. I. 7. 21. 8, Vas. Dh. S. I. 20, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 35. 1., Manu XI. 54, Yāj. III. 227 hold that drinking *surā* or *madya* is one of the grave sins (mahāpātakas). In spite of this, the Baud. Dh. S. I. 2. 4 notes that among the five peculiar practices of the brāhmaṇas in the north was that of drinking rum and it condemns all the five practices. The verses of Manu (XI. 93-94)¹⁸⁹⁸ are frequently quoted in digests and commentaries ‘surā is the filthy refuse of food and sin indeed is called *mala* (filth); therefore, a brāhmaṇa, a rājanya, and a vaiśya should not drink surā, which is of three kinds, viz. prepared from molasses, from flour (or ground grains) and from flowers of the Madhūka tree; brāhmaṇas should not drink any one of these three.’ The interpretations put on these verses by Viśvarūpa on Yāj. (III. 222), the Mit. on Yāj. III. 253, Aparārka p. 1069 and others establish that the word ‘surā’ primarily applies to *paiṣṭī* (liquor prepared from flour) as Vedic usage in the Sautrāmaṇi sacrifice and elsewhere shows, that paiṣṭī is forbidden to all brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas, that it is the drinking of paiṣṭī alone that constitutes a mahāpātaka, that all intoxicants are forbidden to brāhmaṇas but liquors other than paiṣṭī such as those prepared from molasses or madhūka flowers are not forbidden to kṣatriyas and vaiśyas.
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In the Mahābhārata (Udyogaparva 59. 5) both Vāsudeva and Arjuna are described as intoxicated by drinking the liquor prepared from honey and the Tantravārtika tries¹⁸⁹⁹ to establish that there was nothing wrong in this as they were kṣatriyas and as Manu XI. 93-94 and Gaut. II. 25 are to be construed as stated above viz. all intoxicants are forbidden to brāhmaṇas and only paiṣṭī to kṣatriyas and vaiśyas. Intoxicants are not forbidden to śūdras, though Vṛddha-Hārīta (IX. 277-278) declares that some desire that good śūdras should abstain from surā also and that Manu says that even a śūdra becomes *patita* by falsehood, by partaking of meat and intoxicants and by stealing another's wealth or wife. Another rule was that brahmacārins, of whatever varṇa, had to abstain entirely from every kind of intoxicant (Āp. Dh. S. I. 1. 2. 23, Manu II. 177, Yāj. I. 33). Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I. 33 refers to a passage from the Caraka-śākhā which states that when Śvetaketu suffered from a skin disease (kilāsa), the Aśvins told him to take madhu (honey or wine) and meat as medicine, and when he asked how being a brahmacārin he could do so, they replied that a person must first save himself (from disease and death) in all ways¹⁹⁰⁰ as a man can say 'I shall perform meritorious acts' only if he lives. Aparārka quotes the Brahmapurāṇa and says that in the Kali age human sacrifice, Aśvamedha sacrifice and intoxicating drinks were forbidden to the three varṇas and to brāhmaṇas in all yugas (ages).
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But this is opposed to history and tradition.¹⁹⁰¹ The Mahābhārata narrates (Ādiparva 76-77) the story of Śukra, his daughter Devayānī and pupil Kaca and states that Śukra forbade for the first time brāhmaṇas from drinking intoxicants and declared that, if any brāhmaṇa drank surā thenceforward, he would be guilty of the grave sin of brāhmaṇa-murder.¹⁹⁰² The Mausalaparva (1. 29-30) states that Balarāma prohibited the drinking of surā from the day the *musala* (iron pestle) for the destruction of the Yādavas was produced and directed that any breach of his order would be punished with impalement. The Śāntiparva (110. 22) declares that those men who always avoid honey and meat and intoxicants from their birth surmount all difficulties. Śāntiparva (34. 20) prescribes that, if a man drank liquor when in danger of life or through ignorance, he was to undergo upanayana again. Acc. to Viṣṇu Dh. S. 22. 83-85¹⁹⁰³ intoxicants (*madya*) forbidden to brāhmaṇas are of ten kinds viz. those prepared from madhūka flowers, from sugarcane juice, from ṭaṅka fruit (i. e. kapittha), from *koli* (i. e. *badara* or jujube fruit), from dates, from jack-fruit, from grape juice, from honey, from *maireya* (extracted from the blossoms of a plant) and from cocoa-nut sap. Viṣṇu adds that these ten kinds are not forbidden to kṣatriyas and vaiśyas. Pulastya quoted by the Mit. on Yāj. III. 253 and by Aparārka p.
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1075 states that *surā* (distilled from rice flour) is different from the eleven kinds of *madyas* that he enumerates (practically the same as in Viṣṇu). It may be stated that this sentiment against drinking is still very strong among brāhmaṇas and drinking is still looked down upon by all castes, though, owing to contact with the West, some people (even including a few brāhmaṇas) have come to regard it as a fashionable indulgence.