History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.846

v4.c63.t2.846

13\. 'Starting on the Great Journey' (l. 9). The Bṛhan-Nāradīya-purāṇa (pūrvārdha 24. 16) also forbids this. According to Manu VI. 31 and Yāj. III. 55 a forest hermit, when he suffered from an incurable disease and could not perform the duties of his order, was allowed to start towards the north-east on the Great Journey (mahāprasthāna) till the body fell down to rise no more. Similarly, a man guilty of brāhmaṇa murder was allowed to meet death at the hands of archers or to throw himself head foremost into fire. Vide H. of Dh. vol. II. pp. 924-928 for Mahāprasthānagamana. Aparārka¹⁸¹⁷ (p. 877-879) quotes long passages from the Ādipurāṇa to the effect that if a man suffering from an incurable disease starts on the Great Journey in the Himālaya or commits suicide by entering fire or water or by falling from a precipice, not only does he not incur sin, but on the contrary he goes to heaven. It is rather inconsistent that the Ādipurāṇa (or Ādityapurāṇa) should in one place extol the starting on the Great Journey and in another place should forbid it in the Kali age. The K. V. N. cites the instance of the Pāṇḍavas that are said to have started on the Great Journey. This makes one suspicious about the authenticity of the passages on Kalivarjya quoted from the Ādityapurāṇa by some and from Ādipurāṇa by others.