History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.160
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.160
- Language
- English
v3.c40.160.1
From the times of the Tai. S. rules have been laid down about the duties of a rajasvalā (a woman in her monthly illness) and about how her husband and other people are to act towards her. In the Tai. S. II. 5. 1. it is stated¹⁹¹⁷ ‘One should not address a woman who has unclean clothes (i. e. who is in her course) nor should one sit with her, one should not eat her food for she keeps emitting the colour of brāhmaṇa murder; they say woman's food is unguent, therefore one should not accept unguent from her; but anything else at will may be accepted’. The Tai. Br. III. 7. 1 states ‘Indeed half of this sacrifice is destroyed in the case of him whose wife becomes untouchable on the day on which the observances for a sacrifice commence (i. e. on the day previous to the performance); but the sacrificer should segregate her (in a different place or house) and offer the sacrifice; by so doing he worships with a sacrifice that is entire (though the wife is absent).’¹⁹¹⁸ The adhikaraṇa in Jaimini (III. 4. 18-19) is based on these texts; Śabara's bhāṣya quotes the passage of the Tai. S. and of the Tai. Br. and the conclusion established is that these rules, though occurring in the context of the new moon and full moon sacrifices, are not restricted to those sacrifices, but are to be observed by persons generally (i. e. they are *puruṣārtha* and not *kratvartha*). The Tai. S. II. 5.
v3.c40.160.2
1 contains thirteen directions about a *rajasvalā* and declares what evil results follow from breaches of them. They are: there is to be no intercourse with her, nor in a forest (after she bathes), nor when she is unwilling (after bath), she should not bathe during the three days, should not bathe with oil in those days, should not arrange her hair with a comb, should not apply collyrium to her eyes, should not brush her teeth, should not pare her nails, should not spin yarn, should not make ropes, should not drink water with a vessel made of palāśa leaves or a vessel that is baked in fire (or is broken). The results of the breaches are respectively that the son (born of her) becomes suspected or charged with grave sins, a thief, shy and not bold, destined to die in water, has a skin disease, has a bald head and is feeble, is squint-eyed, has dark teeth, has bad nails, is impotent, is unrestrained (or commits suicide by hanging), becomes a lunatic, or a dwarf. The Tai. S. further directs that she should observe these rules for three nights, should drink water with her hands joined together or with a plate that is not baked in fire. The Bṛ. Up. VI. 4. 13 notes that a married woman in her courses should drink water from a vessel of bronze and should not wash her clothes, a śūdra male or female should not touch her; on the lapse of three nights she should bathe and she should be made to unhusk rice. Many of the sūtras refer to the rules contained in the Tai. S.
v3.c40.160.3
about the rajasvalā (vide Āp. gṛ. 8. 12,¹⁹¹⁹ Hira. gṛ. I. 24. 7, Bhār. gṛ. I. 20, Baud. gṛ. I. 7. 22-36, Baud. Dh. S. I. 5. 139). Vas. Dh. S. V. 7-9 contains the story of Indra and the boon given to women and also the rules about rajasvalā (adding that she should sleep on the ground, should not sleep by day, should not eat flesh, should not look at the planets, should not laugh). When Vas. Dh. S. V. 8. and Viṣṇu Dh. S. 51. 16 forbid the eating of the food of a rajasvalā, what is meant is (according to the Gṛ. R. and other digests) that the food cooked for her or owned by her should not be eaten. Laghu-Hārīta 38 prescribes that a rajasvalā may eat food from her own hand used as a plate; Vṛddha-Hārīta (XI. 210-11) says the same and adds that if she be a widow, then she should not take food for three days and that one whose husband is living should have only one meal a day. Rajasvalā women were also not to touch one another. Viṣṇu Dh. S. (22. 73-74) prescribes that if a rajasvalā touches another rajasvalā of lower varṇa she should observe a fast from that time till the fourth day when she takes the purificatory bath; while if she touches another rajasvalā woman of the same varṇa or higher varṇa, she has to bathe and then take her food. More elaborate rules are laid down by Aṅgiras 48 (who prescribes pañcagavya), Atri 279-283, Āp. (verse) VII. 20-22, Bṛhad-Yama III. 64-68, Parāśara VII. 11-15.
v3.c40.160.4
If a rajasvalā is touched by a cāṇḍāla or by any of the antyajas, or by a dog or crow, she has to be without food till she bathes on the 4th day (Aṅgiras 47, Atri 277-279, Āpastamba VII. 5-8). If a woman is suffering from fever and becomes a rajasvalā she is not to be bathed on the 4th day to purify her; her purification is to be effected by another healthy woman, who touches her and then herself bathes with her clothes on and this is done ten or twelve times and each time there is sipping of water; then the woman who is ill has her clothes removed and new ones put on and then gifts are made according to ability and she becomes pure (Uśanas quoted in Mit. on Yāj. III. 20). Similar verses occur in Aṅgiras 22-23. The same procedure is followed where a male who is ill is touched by a rajasvalā or for some other cause he has to undergo the purification of a bath, viz. a healthy male touches him seven or ten times and bathes after each touch, at the end of which the sickly person is to be declared to be free from the impurity (Aṅgiras 21, Parāśara VII. 19-20 quoted in Mit. on Yāj. III. 20). If a rajasvalā dies, then the corpse should be bathed with the five products of the cow (pañcagavya), she should be covered with another garment and then should be cremated (a verse quoted by the Mit. on Yāj. III. 20), while Aṅgiras (42) said that the corpse should be bathed after three days and then it should be cremated. The Mit. on Yāj. III.
v3.c40.160.5
20 notes that, if a woman who usually has monthly periods, menstruates within seventeen days, then she has no impurity; if on the 18th, she becomes clean in one day, if on the 19th in two days and thereafter in three days. Vide Aṅgiras 43, Āpastamba (verse) VII. 2, Parāśara VII. 16-17.