History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.174

v5.c71.s1.174

The Sāma Br I. 5 2 says ¹¹⁵ generally that when no particular hymns are prescribed for the removal of sins Vedic mantras are powerful and become purifiers if accompanied by *tapas* and the Sāmans may be repeated for the same purpose from ten times as the minimum to 100 times as prāyaścitta. Gautama 19. 13 prescribes the kind of food on which one should subsist when one is engaged in *japa* viz. one was to live on milk alone, to eat vegetables only, to eat fruits only, to live on barley gruel prepared from a handful of grain, to eat gold¹¹⁶, to eat clarified butter, and to drink *soma* and so forth. Gautama 19. 14 further lays down that all mountains, all rivers, holy lakes, places of pilgrimage, the dwellings of sages (*ṛṣis*), cowpens and temples of the gods are places (which help to destroy sin).