History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.324.1

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.