History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.838.4

v4.c63.t2.838.4

What is aimed to be hit when prāyaścitta for sea voyage is prescribed is the fact that on such voyages a man may give up for long such daily duties as the performance of *sandhyā* and may have come in very close contact with *mlecchas* as regards food etc. If he has done these two, then only he is not fit for intercourse even though he may have undergone a prāyaścitta. If he performs his daily duties wherever he may dwell and does not come in too close a contact with mlecchas he may have to perform no prāyaścitta, much less would he become unfit for social intercourse. The view of Medhātithi on Manu II. 23 that any country by itself is not unfit for the residence of an ārya, that if mlecchas overrun a country in India and permanently reside there it may become a mlecchadeśa, that even a mleccha country, if it be conquered by an Indian king and if the system of the four varṇas be introduced therein, would be a fit one for the performance of Vedic sacrifices, has already been noted (in H. of Dh. vol. II. p. 16). It has to be remembered that the Ādiparva (85. 34) states that *mlecchas* and *yavanas* sprang from Anu and Turvasu, sons of Yayāti. The Sabhāparva notes that Bhīma made mlecchas dwelling beyond the seas and in Anūpa bring tribute (30. 25-27) and that mlecchas came to see the Rājasūya sacrifice along with Bhagadatta of Prāgjyotiṣa (Sabhā 34. 9-10).