Verse 11.249

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

कौत्सं जप्त्वाऽप इत्येतद् वसिष्ठं च प्रतीत्य् ऋचम् ।
माहित्रं शुद्धवत्यश्च सुरापोऽपि विशुध्यति ॥ २४९ ॥

kautsaṃ japtvā'pa ityetad vasiṣṭhaṃ ca pratīty ṛcam |
māhitraṃ śuddhavatyaśca surāpo'pi viśudhyati || 249 ||

Even a drinker of wine becomes pure if he recites the ‘Kautsa hymn,’ beginning with the term ‘Ap,’ or the ‘Vāsiṣṭha hymn,’ consisting of the triad of verses beginning with ‘Prati,’ or the ‘Māhitra hymn,’ or the ‘Śuddhavati verses.’—(249)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The ‘Kautsa hymn’ is that which was revealed to, and given out by, the sage Kutsa,—the eight verses beginning with ‘Ap naḥ shoshuchadadham, etc.,’ found in the Ṛgveda (1.97.1).

‘The Vāsiṣṭha hymn consisting of the triad of verses beginning with “Prati.”’—The group of three verses, ‘prati’ being the opening word of the hymn.—‘Pratistomebhirupasaṃvasiṣṭhāḥ, etc.’ (Ṛgveda, 7.80.1).

‘Māhitra hymn’—that revealed to the Mahitṛs,—this also consists of three verses, and contains the term ‘Mahitṛ’ (Ṛgveda, 10.185.1).

Some people read ‘Mahendram’ (for ‘Māhitram’); and this would mean the forty-eight verses ‘Mahān Indra ojase, etc. etc.’ (Ṛgveda, 8.8.1),—which is also called the ‘Payḥ-Sūkta.’

‘Śuddhavati verses’—‘Eto indrastavāṃśudhim śuddhena, etc.’ (Ṛgveda, 8.95.7).

Here also the term ‘Even’ is meant to include sins similar to the one mentioned.—(249)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 457).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Vaśiṣṭha (26.5).—‘Even a wine-drinker becomes pure, if he recites the hymn revealed to Kutsa—‘Apnaḥ, etc.’ and the hymn revealed to Vaśiṣṭha—‘Prati, etc.,’ the Māhitra hymn and the Śuddavatīs.’

Viṣṇu (55.4).—‘By reciting the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn (and taking one meal of sacrificial food each day, for a month) a wine-drinker becomes freed from sin.’

Yājñavalkya (3.303-304).—‘Having fasted for three days, having poured oblations of clarified butter, with the Kūṣmāṇḍa Mantras,—and reciting the Rudra hymn, standing in water, the wine-drinker and gold-stealer become purified; and afterwards a milch cow should be given away.’