History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.450

v5.c72.450

We have seen (p. 270) that originally the sūtras (like Śāṅ Śr.) and smṛtis (like Manu) emphasized that one should not increase the number of the days of āśauca and that men learned in the Veda and consecrating śrauta fires had to undergo only one day's āśauca (Parāśara III. 5, Dakṣa VI. 6). But ultimately a flat period of ten days of āśauca (Manu V. 59) for all sapiṇḍas came to be prescribed. In the old days the means of communication were very limited, and hence the news of a birth or death must have taken considerable time to reach relatives staying even at a short distance and hence the restrictions imposed by the rules of āśauca were not felt to be very irksome. It is on account of this reason and also the great penchant of dharmaśāstra writers for all sorts of divisions, sub-divisions and classifications that we find medieval writers bestowing an enormously exaggerated attention in very exuberant and enthusiastic style on such a subject as āśauca. Most nations have their own usages to indicate that a person (male or female) or a family is in mourning. But probably no country in the world can equal (much less surpass) the Dharmaśāstra writers in the elaborate rules evolved in books about āśauca on birth and death. In these days when there is a State postal system and the means of communication abound owing to railways, air-mail, telegraph and wireless, the ancient and medieval rules of āśauca are felt by all people to be most galling and troublesome. Mischievous people sometimes create trouble in the celebration of marriages by sending information about a death or a birth to persons against whom they have a grudge. Devices have to be employed for dodging the inconvenience due to rules of āśauca. It is therefore necessary to introduce substantial changes in the rules about āśauca that will prevent trouble, loss of time and work and would at the same time be more or less in agreement with the spirit of the dicta of the smṛtis and the sentiments of most common people. At the end in the appendix note 693a is added which gives the text of the Āśauca-daśaka with Sanskrit explanation.