Verse 5.72

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

अक्षारलवणान्नाः स्युर्निमज्जेयुश्च ते त्र्यहम् ।
मांसाशनं च नाश्नीयुः शयीरंश्च पृथक् क्षितौ ॥ ७२ ॥

akṣāralavaṇānnāḥ syurnimajjeyuśca te tryaham |
māṃsāśanaṃ ca nāśnīyuḥ śayīraṃśca pṛthak kṣitau || 72 ||

For three days they should eat food free from salines and salts, should bathe, should not eat meat-food and should sleep apart on the ground.—(72).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Salines and salts.’—The term^‘salines’ stands for nitrate of potash and such substances, and^‘salts’ for rock-salt and other salts. These they should not eat.

Or, the term ‘saline’, ‘kṣāra’, may be taken as qualifying, ‘lavaṇa’, ‘salt.’ In that case the prohibition (applying to only saline salts) would not apply to rock-salt.

The ‘bathing’ laid down is to be done in a river or a tank or such other reservoirs of water as are not regarded as specially ‘sacred’; and it is to be done without scrubbing the body.

‘Meat-food’—is prohibited during the period of impurity, on the basis of other Smṛti texts; where we read—‘They shall not have recourse to women, they shall not scrub their body and they shall not eat meat.’ The Gṛhyasūtra however says—‘For three days they shall remain without food, or still live upon food obtained by purchase.’

‘Should sleep’—upon the bare platform, without company.

Another Smṛti-text has prescribed abstention from sexual intercourse during impurity due to births also.—(72).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 73 of other commentators.)

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 885);—in Mitākṣarā (on 3.16);—in Madanapārijāta (p. 415);—in Smṛtisāroddhāra (p. 224) as laying down restrictions for the sapiṇḍas of the dead;—in Śuddhikaumudī (p. 142), which has the following notes:—‘Tryaham,’ on the third, seventh and ninth days they should all bathe together, for the benefit of the dead; all the sapiṇḍas should not eat meat during the period of impurity,—‘Kṣitau’, this forbids sleeping on beds;—and in Hāralatā (p. 157), whieh explains ‘Kṣāralavaṇa’ as ‘all salts with the exception of saindhava and sāmbhari,’—‘they should all bathe together on the third, seventh and ninth days.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (14.37-39).—‘During the period of impurity, they shall sleep and sit on the ground and remain chaste; they shall not clean themselves; nor shall they eat moat until the offerings have been made’

Baudhāyana (1.11.21).—When a death has occurred, they shall............ sit during four days on mats, eating food that does not contain condiments or salt.’

Āpastamba (2.15.7-9).—‘Diśevelling their hair and covering themselves with dust,...stopping into the river, they throw up water for the dead once and then, ascending the bank, sit down; this they repeat thrice. They pour out water......... return to the village without looking back, and perform those rites for the dead which women declare to he necessary.’

Yājñavalkya (3.16).—‘Eating food got by purchase or got without asking, they shall sleep separately on the ground; and shall offer to the dead food, according to the Piṇḍayajña rites, for three days.’

Āśvalāyana Gṛhyasūtra (4.4.14).—‘Let them not cook food during that night; let them subsist on bought or readymade food; let them eat no saline food for three days,’

Vaśiṣṭha (4.11-15).—‘After having burnt the body, the relations enter the water without looking back. Facing the south, they shall pour out water with both hands on those days that are marked by odd numbers. After they have gone home they shall sit during the other days, on mats, fasting. If they are unable to do this, they shall subsist on food bought in the market or given unasked.’

Paiṭhīnasi (Aparārka, p. 885).—‘For one day there should he fasting, or they should eat what is obtained unasked.’

Mārkaṇḍeya (Do.).—‘They shall eat what is bought or obtained unasked, and remain calm; they shall eat no meat; nor have recourse to women.’

Brahmapurāṇa (Do.).—‘Having bathed, they offer water to the dead for three days.’