History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.91

v3.c40.91

Several herbs and vegetables have been forbidden from very ancient times. According to Āp. Dh. S. (I. 5. 17. 25-27) all herbs from which liquors are distilled, kalañja (red garlic), palāṇḍu (onions), parārika (dark garlic) and whatever similar vegetables are not used by respectable people, should not be eaten; and a brāhmaṇa text prescribes that ‘kyāku’ (mushrooms) are forbidden. Gaut. 17. 32-33 forbids tender leaves (of trees), *kyāku*, *laśuna* and the resins of trees and the red sap flowing from incisions made in the barks of trees. Vas. Dh. S. 14. 33 forbids the eating of *laśuna*, palāṇḍu, kyāku, gṛñjana (turnip), śleṣmātaka, the resins of trees and red sap (as in Gautama). Manu V. 5-6 forbids laśuna, palāṇḍu, gṛñjana, mushrooms (*kavaka*) and all herbs that spring from impure soil and manure, red resins and red sap (as in Gautama) and *śelu* (*śleṣmātaka*) fruit. Yāj. I. 171 and 176 adds *śigru* and prescribes the penance of cāndrāyaṇa for eating forbidden herbs and vegetables. The great difficulty is to find out the modern equivalents of some of the herbs and vegetables. According to a verse quoted in Gṛ. R. p. 356 from the Smṛtimañjarī there are ten varieties of palāṇḍu of which gṛñjana ¹⁸⁷³ is one. Aparārka p. 249 quotes passages from the Brahmapurāṇa forbidding various kinds of herbs and vegetables. Vide also Gṛ. R. pp. 354-356 for quotations from Devala and others about herbs and vegetables that are forbidden. The Mit. on Yāj. III. 290 quotes a sūtra of Sumantu that laśuna and other vegetables are not forbidden to those who are ill, if they are prescribed by way of medicine.¹⁸⁷⁴ About asafoetida (*hiṅgu*) Haradatta on Gaut. 17. 32 says 'it is doubtful whether it is a resin or is a sap flowing from incisions, but even respectable people partake of it and that camphor not being red nor a resin nor a sap may be eaten.' The Sm. C. (on śrāddha p. 413) says that some smṛtis forbid the use of *hiṅgu* in śrāddha, while the Ādipurāṇa allows it and therefore there is an option. The Gṛ. R. p. 354 shows that the round *alābu* (gourd) was forbidden. Vṛddha-Hārīta VII. 113-119 mentions herbs, vegetables and fruits that are forbidden. *Vide* also the Smṛtimuktāphala (āhnika pp. 434-435) for quotations as to the names of several roots, fruits and vegetables that were fobidden together with their South Indian names.