Verse 11.147

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

अपः सुराभाजनस्था मद्यभाण्डस्थितास्तथा ।
पञ्चरात्रं पिबेत् पीत्वा शङ्खपुष्पीशृतं पयः ॥ १४७ ॥

apaḥ surābhājanasthā madyabhāṇḍasthitāstathā |
pañcarātraṃ pibet pītvā śaṅkhapuṣpīśṛtaṃ payaḥ || 147 ||

If one has drunk water kept in a vessel used for keeping wine, or in a pot where intoxicating drinks are kept, he shall drink, for five days, milk in which Śaṅkhapuṣpī has been boiled.—(147)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This expiation refers to the drinking of water out of a vessel in which the taste of wine is felt.

“The term ‘madya,’ ‘intoxicating drink,’ being a general one, all that is intended would be secured from the single word ‘contained in a pot used far keeping intoxicating drinks’; and the other word ‘contained in a vessel used for keeping nine’ should not have been used.”

True; this would be so if there were not a great difference between the expiations prescribed for the drinking of ‘wine’ and of ‘intoxicating drinks.’ When, however, there is such a difference, it would appear that, there should be a correspondingly heavier expiation for the drinking of water contained in a wine-vessel;—and it is with a view to preclude this idea that the text prescribes the same expiation for both.

‘For five days he shall drink milk in which Śaṅkha-puṣpī has been boiled.’ The term ‘payas’ here stands for milk; because the particular term ‘śhṛta’ (in the sense of boiled) is used only in connection with milk and sacrificial materials.

‘Śaṅkhapuṣpī’ is the name of a medicinal herb; and this shall be pounded and boiled in milk, which shall be drunk for five days.—(147)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 1074), which explains that ‘payaḥ’ here stands for milk;—again on p. 1160, where it is added that this refers to cases where the water has been drunk and vomitted by women or children, and it was contained in a vessel that had contained wine, hut was not wet with it, so that the water had not imbibed either the taste or the smell of the liquor.

It is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 349), which adds that this refers to cases of unintentional repeated drinking of the water;—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 324), which says that ‘payaḥ’ means milk; ‘Śaṅkhapuṣpī’ is a particular herb.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Baudhāyana (2.1.22).—‘He who drinks water which has stood in a vessel used for keeping Surā, shall live six days on milk in which leaves of the Śaṅkhapuṣpī plant has been boiled.’

Vaśiṣṭha (20-21).—‘If a Brāhmaṇa drinks water which has stood in a vessel used for keeping wine, he becomes pure by drinking, during three days, water mixed with a decoction of lotus, Udumbara, Bilva, and Palāsa leaves.’

Viṣṇu (51.23-24).—‘After having drunk water from a vessel in which liquor had been kept, he must drink for seven days milk boiled with the Śaṅkhapuṣpī plant. After having drunk water from a vessel in which any intoxicating beverage had been kept, he must drink the said milk for five days.’