History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.549

v5.c72.549

In Manu the purification of substances follows (V. 110) the means of purifying one's own body. Purification of the body by means of *ācamana* and *snāna* (bath) has already been described in H. of Dh. vol II. pp. 315-316 and 652-653 (about *ācamana*), 656-668 (about *snāna*). Purification by bath on *āśauca* has already been dealt with before. Special rules were prescribed for women guilty of adultery (vide H. of Dh. vol. II. p. 594, vol. III. pp. 647-649), as also for women raped (vide vol. II p. 575). *Snāna* (bath) with the clothes on was prescribed for purification of the body when a person touches one who is *patita* (murderer of a brāhmaṇa &c.), a *caṇḍāla*, a woman freshly delivered, a woman in her monthly illness, a corpse or one who has touched a corpse; also when a man follows a funeral procession or touches a dog (vide Gaut. 14. 28-30, Manu V. 85 and 103, Aṅgiras verse 152, Āp. Dh. S. I. 5. 15. 15-16, Yāj III. 30). Baud. Dh S I. 5. 140 provides that on touching one who sells the Veda (teaches it for money), a *yūpa*, a funeral pyre, a *patita*, a dog and a *cāṇḍāla* one should undergo a bath.⁷⁴⁸ Parāśara also has a similar verse.⁷⁴⁹ It has already been stated elsewhere (in H. of Dh vol. II. pp 175-176) how the rules about touching untouchables were relaxed when people congregated in a temple or in a religious procession, at marriages and festivals and at holy places. It is said by some that this refers not to the so-called untouchables, but to men who are untouchable owing to āśauca. But this is not correct The explanation of the Suddhi-kaumudī and Śuddhiprakāśa given below makes it clear that the untouchables are meant. In the first place, the words are quite general and not restricted. In the second place, there is no untouchability (except for the mother) on the ground of *Jananāśauca* and it is most unlikely that a person who has incurred mourning on death should visit a temple or go to a marriage or enter a religious procession, or festival. In the third place, looking to the several occasions mentioned together (particularly pilgrimages, battles, fire in a town or village and commotion or invasion of a country) it appears most unlikely that the verse refers only to āśauca on birth and death.⁷⁵⁰