Verse 5.118

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

चैलवत्चर्मणां शुद्धिर्वैदलानां तथैव च ।
शाकमूलफलानां च धान्यवत्शुद्धिरिष्यते ॥ ११८ ॥

cailavatcarmaṇāṃ śuddhirvaidalānāṃ tathaiva ca |
śākamūlaphalānāṃ ca dhānyavatśuddhiriṣyate || 118 ||

The method of purifying leather and tree-barks is similar to that of clothes; and for vegetables, roots and fruits, the purification is like that of grains.—(118).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Leather’,—i.e., goat-skins and such other skins as are touchable; and not the skin of the dog, the jackal or such animals as are by their nature unclean.

The same rule holds good regarding also things made of the said leather, in the shape of shoes, armour and the like.

In the present context, wherever Che original constituent cause is mentioned, it includes the product also; and vice versa. So that the rule laid down in connection with ‘wooden articles’ is applicable to wood also. Vaśiṣṭha, having described the purification of wooden articles, proceeds to speak of ‘wood, bone and earth’; and if the cause did not include its product, how could the author apply the purification (prescribed for wooden articles) and not for w ood ) to the wood? In fact the inclusion of the product by the cause is only right, since the notion of the latter does not certainly cease in regard to the former.

‘Vaidala’ stands for the bark of trees and other like things.

In another Smṛti-text this same purification in laid down for feathers, kuśa, skins, chowries, grass, cane, hair, and tree-bark’—Here ‘feather’ stands for the peacock’s feathers, and things made of them, such as umbrellas, hair ornaments and so forth;—the term ‘pavitra’ stands for kuśa, and also for doth made of kuśa;—the term ‘grass’ stands for palm-leaves; according to the assertion that ‘the palm is known as the king among plants’; and the part of the wood (i.e., ‘ṭrna’, which is part of ‘tṛṇarāja’) denotes the whole, like the term ‘deva’ denoting the name ‘Devadatta’;—‘hairs’—i.e., of the cow, the horse and the goat, not of man; as the latter, when fallen from the body, are untouchable; for in the present context all the purification mentioned pertains to cases where a thing has been defiled by the touch of another substance, and not where the thing is unclean by its very nature; that this is so is indicated by the fact that exactly the same purification has been laid down for cloth and grain.

Vegetables have to be dealt with in the same manner as grains. That is just as sprinkling and washing are the means of purifying grains, while they are still in the form of grains, and have not undergone embellishment by means of thumping and the like acts,—so also are they for the purifying of vegetables also. Hence the present rule pertains to uncooked vegetables only. As for cooked vegetables, even though they are spoken of as ‘vegetables’, yet some other method of purification has to be found for them; as it has been said—‘by clean water and by the flame of fire’ and be forth. For vegetables taken out of large heaps, as also for gruel, cow’s milk and the rest, sprinkling and heating on fire hate been specially laid down by Hārīta;—and similarly, for all grains in pods, scrubbing and pounding and so forth.

All this is for the purpose of removing all doubts in the event of their being touched by foot, as it has been said that ‘all things in large quantities are pure.’—(118).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 119 of others.)

‘Vaidalānām’—‘Objects made of the bark of trees and such things’ (Medhātithi and Govindarāja);—‘made of split bamboo’ (Kullūka).

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 139);—in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 805);—and in Śuddhikaumudī (p. 311) which explains ‘Vaidalānām’ as ‘things made of split bamboo’, which are purified like cloth,—and ‘dhānyavat’ as ‘large quantities by sprinkling water and small quantities by washing’.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (1.33).—‘Ropes, bamboo-chips, and leather are cleansed like garments.’

Baudhāyana (1.8.36, 38, 43).—‘Objects made of bamboo should be cleansed with cow-dung—skins of black deer with bel, nut and rice. Other skins shall he treated like cotton- cloth.’

Baudhāyana (1.13.13).—‘Deer-skins are cleansed like garments made of bark.’

Vaśiṣṭha (3.53).—‘Ropes, bamboo-chips and leather are cleansed like cloth.’

Viṣṇu (23.14, 15, I8).—‘Grain, skins, ropes, woven cloth, things made of bamboo, thread, cotton, clothes are cleansed by sprinkling water;—also pot-herbs, roots, fruits and flowers. When in small quantities, they are cleansed by washing.’ Yājñavalkya (1.182).—(See under 110.)

Parāśara (7.29).—‘Things made of Muñja grass, winnowing baskets, roots, fruits and skins—as also of grass and wood and ropes, should be sprinkled with water.’

Vyāsa (Parāśaramādhava, p. 140).—‘Cloth is purified by earth and water; as also ropes and bamboo-chips. If ropes and other things are very much defiled, just that portion should be thrown away which has been defiled.’

Uśanas (Do.).—‘Roots, fruits, flowers, land, grass, wood, straw, and grains should be sprinkled with water.’