History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.525

v5.c71.s1.525

PAÑCAGAVYA—For the various details connected with *pañcagavya* prepared from cow's urine, dung, milk, curds and ghee, vide H. of Dh. vol. II. pp. 773-774. Pañcagavya is to be offered into fire with the mantras ‘Irāvatī’ (Ṛg. VII. 99.3), ‘idaṁ Viṣṇur’ (Ṛg I. 22. 17), ‘mā nastoke’ (Ṛg. I. 114. 8), ‘Śaṁ no devīr’ (Ṛg. X 9. 4) and then the remainder is to be drunk. It is to be drunk with the middle of a sprig of three Palāśa leaves or with a lotus leaf. Manu. XI. 165 (= Agnipurāṇa 169. 30) prescribes this drinking of pañcagavya as the penance for petty thefts Similarly, Yāj. III. 263 prescribes that one guilty of killing a cow should drink *pañcagavya* for a month. The Mit. on Yāj. III. 263 quotes Viṣṇu to the effect that one who kills a cow should perform one of three penances, viz. drinking three *palas* of pañcagavya every day for one month or undergoing the penance of Parāka or Cāndrāyaṇa.³²⁴ Though Viṣṇu 54. 7 and Atri (verse 300) state that a brāhmaṇa drinking *surā* and a śūdra drinking pañcagavya both went to hell (Mahāraurava, according to Viṣṇu), yet Devala (verse 61) and Parāśara XI. 3 and 27 and medieval works like the Pr M. (p 13) and Śūdrakamalākara (p. 42) allowed śūdras to take pañcagavya without Vedic mantras. And women of all varṇas, being treated like śūdras for certain purposes, were also allowed optionally to do the same.