History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.492

v5.c72.492

S in another place states:⁷¹⁴ when firm soil is polluted it is purified by smearing it with cowdung, hollow ground (one having holes) is purified by ploughing, ground wet (with impurity) by covering it (with pure clay brought from elsewhere) after removing the impure thing Land is purified by means of four viz , being trodden under the foot of cows, by digging it up, by burning (firewood or grass thereon), by pouring over it (water, cow's urine or milk &c.) and fifthly, by smearing it (with cowdung) and sixthly, by the lapse of time. Vasiṣṭha III 57 quotes a verse which mentions five means of purification almost in the same words as those of Baudhāyana (except the sixth viz time) Manu V. 124 mentions five means of purification, viz. sweeping with a broom, smearing with cowdung, sprinkling, digging (and removing), the stay of cows thereon (for one day and night). Viṣṇu Dh S. 23 57 adds *dāha* (burning) to the five of Manu Yāj. I. 188 mentions seven means of the purification of the ground by adding *dāha* (burning) and *kāla* (lapse of time) to the five mentioned by Manu. According to ⁷¹⁵ the Vāmanapurāṇa the ground is purified by digging, burning, sweeping, treading by cows, smearing of cowdung, scrubbing and by sprinkling water. Devala quoted by the Mit and Aparārka on Yāj. I 188 gives a more elaborate treatment According to him polluted ground (*bhūmi*) is of three kinds, viz *amedhyā* (impure), *duṣṭā* (soiled), and *malinā* (dirty). Where a woman is delivered of a child or dies or is cremated or where a spot has been inhabited by cāṇḍālas or where there are heaps of ordure and the like, ground that is full of foul things in this way is declared to be *amedhyā*.⁷¹⁶ That ground which is polluted by the contact of dogs, pigs, asses, camels and the like becomes *duṣṭā* (soiled) and it becomes *malinā* (dirty) by charcoal, husk, hair, bones or ashes. Then Devāla⁷¹⁷ prescribes the purification of the three kinds of ground: 'Purity is of five kinds, viz. digging up, burning (with wood or grass), smearing (with cowdung), washing (with water) or the fall of rain Even amedhyā ground may be purified by these five means employed together (where a corpse is cremated or canḍālas dwell) or by four (i e. omitting rainfall or burning in other cases of amedhyā); ground that is duṣṭā is purified by three (digging up, burning and smearing with cowdung) or two (viz digging up and burning) and malinā ground is purified by one (i. e. by digging up).