History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.130.1

v3.c40.130.1

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.