The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c28.s3.1

v1.c28.s3.1

While the bath has the power of removing what is attached to a man's person, and thus is often used before undertaking a rite, as before the Dīkṣā itself by the sacrificer, by bridegroom and bride before marriage, and by a woman after the spell to produce offspring has been performed for her,⁶ it is also necessary to avoid its use to prevent the removal of the holy power, which has been attained by some means or other. The theory would therefore demand that, after the initiation of the Brahman student, he should not take a bath until the final bath, so as to preserve his undoubted condition of holiness to the end, as the sacrificer can do in the case of the sacrifice, but obvious practical considerations rendered it impossible to carry that out in the times recorded for us. Though the more recent ascetics in India often never wash at all, and the seclusion of girls from ordinary life before and during puberty is practised for long periods in some lands, the use of the bath was not normally in the slightest degree forbidden to the Vedic student.⁷ But we hear of cases where the theory was worked out: in the case¹ of the period of a year connected with the ceremony of cutting the beard of the youth, which is introduced by a ceremony comparable to the initiation to studentship and during which the carrying of a girdle, the living on alms, and so on are prescribed as for a student, washing, combing the hair, cleaning the teeth, and washing the feet are forbidden. In the case of the four-month ceremonies,² it is a rule of perfection, at least, that the performer should not bathe until the final bath. The sense is clear, and throws light on the famous reference in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa³ to the dirty condition of the ascetic, which is also echoed in the hymn of the Ṛgveda⁴ regarding the inspired Muni.