History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.358

v5.c72.358

If a person is born or died at night or news thereof is received at night, a question arises as to from what day the periods of āśauca are to be calculated For example, if a man died at 1 A M. on Monday, was Monday to be included in counting ten days of āśauca or was it to be excluded? There are two views on this point.643a One view is that any time before midnight is to be counted as belonging to the previous day, while any time after midnight is to be taken as belonging to the next day. On this view in the above illustration Monday would be excluded in the calculation of ten days. The other view is that the night is to be divided into three parts and if death occurs in the first two of the three parts then the day is to be included in the calculation; if the time of death falls in the 3rd part, the ten days are to be calculated from the next day. On this view Monday would be included in the ten days. The Dharmasindhu (p. 435) remarks that in this matter the usage of the country is to be followed. *Vide* Madanapārijāta pp. 394-395 also.