History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.514

v5.c71.s1.514

*TOYA-KRCCHRA*—This is also called Varuṇa-kṛcchra by Yama (q in Pr. Prakāśa, folio 48 a) and by Śaṅkha (q in Pr. Sāra p. 182). Viṣṇu Dh S. (46. 14) states ³¹⁸ that subsisting on nothing but ground barley mixed with water for one month is called *Udakakṛcchra*. Since Varuṇa was regarded as the lord of waters even from the times of the Ṛgveda (e. g. in Ṛg. VII. 49. 3) and to mark the truth and falsehood among men, this Toya-kṛcchra was called Vāruṇa. The Pr. Prakāśa (folio 47 b)³¹⁹ quotes Jābāla to the effect 'If a sinner remains immersed in water for a whole day and night without taking food and recites mantras (addressed to Varuṇa) he removes by the *jalakṛcchra* the sins which he may have committed for a year'. According to Yājñavalkya (q in Pr. Sāra p 187) this penance consists in observing a fast for a day and night standing up the whole day and passing the night without sleep in water and reciting the next day the sacred Gāyatrī mantra 1008 times. According to Śaṅkha (q. by Madana-pārijāta p 737) this penance is constituted either by subsisting on lotus stalks grown in water or on *saktus* boiled in water.