History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.364

v5.c71.s1.364

The general rule stated by the Sāma Br. I 5 13, Manu XI. 160 and others is that one desirous of inner purity should not eat forbidden food, that if he eats it through ignorance he should make efforts to vomit it and if that is impossible he should quickly take some prāyaścitta (which is slight in the case of ignorance). It may be mentioned that even from very ancient times exceptions were recognised to the prohibitions against the partaking of forbidden food The Chāndogya Upanisad (I. 10)²³⁷ narrates the story of Uṣasti Cākrāyaṇa, who when the country of the Kurus had been devastated by hailstones (or by locusts), begged (along with his very young wife) of a chief eating beans and took from the latter the beans that had been put away for the chief (and so were *ucchisṭa*), but when asked to take water for drinking meant for the chief replied that if he drank of it he would be drinking what was unclean, since he could get water whenever he liked. This Vedic passage indicates that even unclean things may be eaten when there is distress (*āpad*) or danger to life, but that when there is no distress or danger even one who has knowledge of *brahmavidyā* should not violate the injunctions of śāstra about eating. The Vedāntasūtra (III. 4 28) has an aphorism on this incident Manu X. 104 provides that he who, when in danger of losing his life, accepts food from any person whatsoever is not tainted by sin as the sky is not tainted by mud Manu then refers (X 105–108) to the stories of Ajīgarta who, when famished, approached for slaying his own son, of the sage Vāmadeva who when tormented by hunger desired to eat the flesh of a dog in order to save his life and did not sully himself, of Bharadvāja who when distressed by hunger along with his son in a lonely forest accepted many cows from the carpenter Vṛdhu (Bṛbu?) or of Viśvāmitra who, well knowing what was right or wrong, proceeded, when tormented by hunger, to eat the haunch of a dog, receiving it from the hands of a Cāṇḍāla 232a For eating the flesh of various birds Viṣṇu Dh. S. 51. 29 and 31 and others prescribe fasting for three days or one day and also for eating several varieties of fish (Viṣṇu 51.21).