History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.324
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.324
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v5.c72.324.1
We should now turn to āśauca on death. Here again there is no unanimity and therefore the views perferably of the latest works (such as the Dharmasindhu) will be set out after referring to a few smṛti passages. Āśauca on death renders those who incur it untouchable and unable to perform religious rites. Pār. gr. III. 10. 29-30 (S. B. E. vol. 29 p. 357) stated generally that the impurity caused by death lasts through three nights and that according to some teachers through ten nights. If a child dies within ten days of birth, the father and mother have to observe Jananāśauca and become purified by the end of the āśauca on birth and the father remains untouchable for those days (Kūrma-purāṇa q. by S. K. p 21). If a child died before it struck teeth the sapiṇḍas had only to undergo a bath, while the parents had to observe āśauca for three days if the child was a son and for one day if a daughter (vide Yāj. III. 23, Śaṅkha 15. 4, Atri 95, Āśaucadaśaka verse 2). If the child died after striking teeth but before Cūḍā (or the end of the third year) the sapiṇḍas had to observe āśauca for one day and night (Yāj. III. 23, Śaṅkha 15. 5), but the parents had āśauca (of death) for three days. If the child was a girl the sapiṇḍas became pure by a bath up to the girl's third year.
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If death occurs between Cūḍā (or three years) and *upanayana* or marriage (in the case of girls) the sapiṇḍas including the father have to observe āśauca for three days and samānodakas become purified by a bath alone. After upanayana all sapiṇḍas have to observe āśauca (on death) for ten days (Gaut. 14 1, Manu V. 59, Āśaucadaśaka 2) and all samānodakas for three days. In the case of a śūdra dying after three and before marriage or 16 years the aśauca is three days for all sapindas. After sixteen years or marriage (in the case of a śūdra) it is the aśauca prescribed for his caste. In the case of a girl dying after three years and before vāgdāna (betrothal) the parents have āśauca for three days and the sapindas (up to three generations) one day. If a girl dies after vāgdāna and before marriage the sapindas of her father as well as of the proposed bridegroom had to observe aśauca for three days. In the case of women and śūdras if death takes place after marriage or after 16 years (if the Śūdra was unmarried) the period of aśauca for all sapindas is ten days. If a woman dies at her father's house after marriage, her parents, step-mother, full brothers and step-brothers have to observe aśauca for three days and her paternal uncle and the like that stay in the same house with her father for one day. Some say that if the married daughter dies in a village other than that of the father, the parents have to observe āśauca for a *pakṣiṇī*⁶²⁵ (i. e.
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two nights with a day between or two days with a night between). There are other views on this point which are passed over. For example, Viṣṇu-dharmasūtra (22. 32-34) says that in the case of a married woman there is no āśauca on the parents' side; but when she is delivered of a child or dies in the father's house then the impurity is for one day or three days respectively.⁶²⁶ A married woman has to observe aśauca for three days for the death of her parents or step-mother if ten days have not elapsed from the day of death or for the remaining days out of the period of ten (Yāj. III. 21 latter half). If the married daughter hears of the death of the parents or step-mother at a time more than ten days after the death or within one year she has to observe aśauca for a pakṣiṇī. If a brother whose upanayana has been performed dies at his married sister's house or vice *versa*, aśauca has to be observed for three days by them, but if they do not die at each other's house but in a different one then the āśauca is for a pakṣiṇī and if the death occurs in another village then there is āśauca only for one day. The same rules apply to step-brothers and step-sisters and also among sisters. A married woman on the death of her paternal grand-father or paternal uncle has to undergo only a bath. If a maternal uncle dies, the nephew and the niece have to observe āśauca for a pakṣiṇī.
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If the maternal uncle dies in the house of the nephew then there is āśauca for three days and for only one day if the maternal uncle had not his upanayana performed or died in another village; the same rules apply to one's mother's step-brother. If the wife of a maternal uncle dies, the nephew or the niece of the maternal uncle have to undergo āśauca for a pakṣiṇī If a nephew whose thread ceremony has been performed dies, his maternal uncle and maternal aunt have āśauca for three days The same rules apply if the deceased be the son of a step-sister of the maternal uncle. If the niece (sister's daughter) dies there is only a bath for the maternal uncle. If a maternal grandfather dies, the grandchild (the son or daughter of a daughter) has to observe āśauca for three days, but only for a pakṣiṇī if the maternal grandfather dies in a different village. On the death of the maternal grand-mother the grandchildren have to observe āśauca for a pakṣiṇī. Some works do not prescribe āśauca for a female descendant such as a niece or grand-daughter. If a daughter's son, whose *upanayana* had been performed, died, the maternal grandfather and grandmother had to observe āśauca for three days and for pakṣiṇī if the daughter's son had not upanayana performed for him.
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On the death of a daughter's daughter the maternal grandfather and mother incur no āśauca In all these matters the general rule is that a male whose upanayana had been performed and a married woman alone are liable to undergo āśauca for any relative other than the parents (i e. on the death of a parent a male though without upanayana and a woman though unmarried are liable to undergo āśauca).