History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c51.11.6

v3.c51.11.6

A kṣatriya or vaiśya sacrificer could take gruel or āmikṣā respectively or all persons could subsist on milk or on rice cooked in milk or on fruits (if enough milk was not available) or if he had a desire for curds, he could use curds or use fried barley grains or he could take ghee. He was to take his food at midday or midnight long after ordinary men have taken their meals and he took his food from a pot which was not earthenware and the wife from a copper pot. Persons who were not dīkṣitas were not to see him when taking his milk or other vrata diet. The wife was also to take her milk or other diet in her own place. Vide Āp. X. 16 and Kāt. VII. 4. 19-34 for details. The dīkṣita and his wife (to some extent) have to observe certain rules (till the final bath) and people also had to observe some rules with reference to him. He has to keep awake on the night of the dīkṣā (Jai. XII. 1. 17), on the night when soma is purchased and on the night before the pressing day. He is not ²⁵⁴² to speak with women or śūdras nor should a śūdra follow him. If he is obliged to speak to a śūdra he should do so by employing a messenger belonging to the three higher varṇas. He may speak to or bless another, but he was not to bow to another, even if the latter was his ācārya or father-in-law or a king. No one was to touch him or to address the dīkṣita by his name (but use only such terms of address as 'bhoḥ', 'dīkṣita' &c.).