History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.832

v4.c63.t2.832

10. 'The admission to intercourse of a brāhmaṇa who undertakes a sea voyage, even though he may have performed the penance prescribed for the same' (*l.* 7 in the appendix). Here the word used is 'dvijasya'. It may mean either any person of the three higher castes or a brāhmaṇa. If a man who has made a sea voyage took prāyaścitta he expiated only the sin, but did not become fit, according to this dictum, to be associated with by others. Whether the Vedic Aryans knew the sea has been doubted. Vide 'Vedic Index' on 'samudra', vol. II. pp. 431-433. The Nirukta II. 10 refers to the fact that a doubt arises whether the word 'samudra' in a particular vedic verse refers to the sea or to the sky. In some verses as in Ṛg. X. 98. 5 'he discharged divine rain waters from the higher to the lower samudra' both the meanings of 'samudra' (viz. sea, sky) are pointedly brought out. Vide also Ṛg. VII. 6. 7 (ā samudrād-avarād-ā parasmāt). In Ṛg. VII. 95. 2 Sarasvatī is mentioned as going from the mountains to the sea. In Ṛg. X. 136. 5 the two seas, Eastern and Western, are mentioned (ubhau samudrāvā kṣeti yaśca pūrva utāparaḥ). In Ṛg. VIII. 6. 4 it is said, 'all people bend down to him, as the sindhus (rivers) flow to the Ocean.' Ṛg. I. 116. 4-5, X. 39. 4 and X. 143. 5 refer to the story that Aśvins saved Bhujyu from the waters of the sea.¹⁸⁰⁹ The Atharvaveda XI. 2. 25 refers to eastern sea and northern sea. There is no doubt that in the Brāhmaṇas the sea was well-known. The Tai. Br. II. 2. 5. 6 remarks, 'there is no end to desire and also to samudra' (neva hi kāmasyāntosti na samudrasya). The Ait. Br. (40. 2) remarks 'just as the sea stands surrounding the earth' (tābhi rājānaṁ parigṛhya tiṣṭhati samudra iva bhūmim). It has already been seen that among the five practices peculiar to the north the Baud. Dh. S. (I. 1. 22) enumerates sea voyage (samudra-saṁyāna) as the last and condemns it. Baud. (II. 1. 51) places sea voyage at the head of grave sins (*patanīyāni*) along with misappropriating a brāhmaṇa's wealth kept as a deposit. The Mit.