Verse 5.63

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

अह्ना चैकेन रात्र्या च त्रिरात्रैरेव च त्रिभिः ।
शवस्पृशो विशुध्यन्ति त्र्यहादुदकदायिनः ॥ ६४ ॥

ahnā caikena rātryā ca trirātraireva ca tribhiḥ |
śavaspṛśo viśudhyanti tryahādudakadāyinaḥ || 64 ||

Those who touch this corpse become pure after one day and one day along with three three-day periods; those who offer water, after three days.—(63).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Three three-day periods’— i.e., nine days;—along with one day and one night,—make up ten days. The period has been mentioned in this fashion in view of metrical exigencies.

‘Those who touch the corpse’—i.e., those who wash and adorn the dead body. Mere bathing is going to be laid down later on, for the other persons touching the body, as also for those who carry it; as will be made dear from the next verse.

All this refers to the Samānodaka relations as also to those who carry the body for wages received. In regard to the carrying of the dead of helpless and forlorn persons, we have another Smṛti—text, which says—‘For such persons who do the excellent deed (of carrying the dead body of a helpless man), there is nothing wrong, nor is there any impurity involved, for them it has been ordained that they are immediately purified by bathing in water.’ As regards the assertion of the text under 5.100—‘He who carries the dead body of a Brāhmaṇa, who is not his Sapiṇḍa-relation, becomes purified in three days’—what this means we shall explain under that verse.

‘Those who offer water’— i.e., the ‘Samānodaka’ relations. In connection with these, ‘immediate purification’ also is going to be laid down under verse 77. Hence the two should be regarded as optional alternatives.

What is said here is in connection with ‘sapiṇḍa’ relations and refers to persons not engaged in Vedic study.—(63)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 64 of other commentators.)

“According to Govindarāja and Nārāyaṇa, the rule refers to such Brāhmaṇas who for money carry a dead body to the cemetery according to Kullūka and Rāghavānanda, to Sapiṇḍas who in any way touch a corpse out of affection;—Medhātithi thinks that it applies to all who touch or cany out a dead body, be it for love or for money. Rāghavānanda thinks that the text mentions three alternative periods of impurity, one day, three days and ten days.”—Buhler.

This verse is quoted in Aparārka, (p. 883), which explains it as laying down the period of impurity of ten days for those who touch a dead body; it explains ‘ahnā chaikena rātryā’ as meaning ‘one day and night,’ and ‘tribhiḥ trirātraiḥ’ as ‘nine days’;—thus ten days is the period of impurity (for the Brāhmaṇa) touching the dead body of the Brāhmaṇa; for the Brāhmaṇa carrying for money the dead body of other castes, the period extends to that which has been prescribed for that caste—says the Viṣṇupurāṇa;—Aparārka quotes the verse again on p. 893 to the effect that the period of impurity, for Samānodakas is only three days.

It is quoted in Nirṇayasindhu (p. 382), which also explains it as laying down a period of ten days.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (14.23.10, 27).—‘On touching a corpse from an interested motive, the impurity lasts for ten days. The duration of the impurity of a Vaiśya and of a Śūdra (in the same case), twelve days, or half a month, or a whole month, or as many days as there are seasons in the year: The same rule applies to the higher castes. Or the impurity-lasts three days.’

Yājñavalkya (3.11).—‘For those who have touched a corpse as a duty, and who desire immediate purification, such purification is accomplished by Bathing and Breath-control.’

Parāśara (Mitākṣara, 3, 14).—‘Those twice-born persons who carry the dead body of a Brāhmaṇa become purified immediately by bathing.’

Viṣṇupurāṇa (Aparārka, p. 883).—‘If a man, on payment, burns the dead body of a person of a different caste from himself, the period of his impurity will be the same as that prescribed for the caste of the dead.’

Parāśara (Aparārka, p. 883).—‘The Brāhmaṇa is not defiled by touching or cremating a dead body: if he carries it and applies fire to it, he becomes purified immediately by bathing.’

Hārīta (Do.).—‘Those who have touched the corpse shall not enter the village till the stars become visible; and at night, till the appearance of the sun.’