History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.306

v5.c72.306

The periods of impurity depended on many circumstances. There was a difference between impurity on birth and that on death; so also the duration depended upon whether the deceased was an infant or a male or a female or one whose *upanayana* had been performed or not performed; it depended on caste and also on the question whether the deceased died near the relative or far away; also upon the degree of relationship; and on the time that elapsed from the birth or death till it reached the ears' of the relative. The intensity of impurity was different in each of the following: a sūtikā (a freshly delivered woman), *rajasvalā* (woman in monthly illness), impurity on death, impurity on birth (the last being the least).