Chapter 22

Vishnu Smriti 22

For the sapiṇḍas of a Brāhmaṇa, the āśauca on account of a birth or death is ten days. // Vi_22.1 //

Twelve days for a Rājanya. // Vi_22.2 //

Fifteen days for a Vaiśya. // Vi_22.3 //

A month for a Śūdra. // Vi_22.4 //

And the sapiṇḍa relationship ceases with the seventh person. // Vi_22.5 //

During āśauca, sacrifices, giving, receiving gifts, and Vedic study cease. // Vi_22.6 //

One shall not eat the food of anyone in āśauca. // Vi_22.7 //

He who eats the food of Brāhmaṇas and others even once during their āśauca has the same period of āśauca as they do. // Vi_22.8 //

After the āśauca has passed, he shall perform a penance. // Vi_22.9 //

A twice-born man who has eaten during the āśauca of one of the same varṇa, having gone to a river and submerged himself in it, shall become pure by reciting the aghamarṣaṇa (a sin-effacing prayer) three times, and after coming out, by repeating the Gāyatrī mantra eight thousand times. // Vi_22.10 //

A Brāhmaṇa who has eaten during the āśauca of a Kṣatriya becomes pure by doing this same thing after fasting. // Vi_22.11 //

And a Rājanya who has eaten during the āśauca of a Vaiśya. // Vi_22.12 //

A Brāhmaṇa who has eaten during the āśauca of a Vaiśya becomes pure after fasting for three nights. // Vi_22.13 //

A Rājanya who has eaten during the āśauca of a Brāhmaṇa, and a Vaiśya during that of a Kṣatriya, shall go to a river and repeat the Gāyatrī mantra one hundred and five times. // Vi_22.14 //

And a Vaiśya who has eaten during the āśauca of a Brāhmaṇa shall repeat the Gāyatrī mantra one hundred and eight times. // Vi_22.15 //

A twice-born man who has eaten during the āśauca of a Śūdra shall perform the prājāpatya (a type of penance). // Vi_22.16 //

And a Śūdra who has eaten during the āśauca of a twice-born shall perform a bath. // Vi_22.17 //

A Śūdra who has eaten during the āśauca of a Śūdra, having bathed, shall drink pañcagavya (the five products of the cow). // Vi_22.18 //

For wives and slaves, in the direct order of castes, the āśauca is the same as that of their master. // Vi_22.19 //

If the master dies, it is their own. // Vi_22.20 //

For those of a lower varṇa, when their sapiṇḍas are of a higher varṇa, purification occurs after the āśauca of the latter has passed. // Vi_22.21 //

For a Brāhmaṇa, when his sapiṇḍas are Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, or Śūdras, purification is by six nights, three nights, and one night respectively. // Vi_22.22 //

For a Kṣatriya, with Vaiśyas and Śūdras, by six nights and three nights. // Vi_22.23 //

For a Vaiśya, with Śūdras, by six nights. // Vi_22.24 //

In case of a miscarriage, the impurity lasts for as many days and nights as the number of months of the pregnancy. // Vi_22.25 //

If a child is born dead or dies at birth, the family has immediate purification. // Vi_22.26 //

If a child dies before its teeth have appeared, it is immediate. // Vi_22.27 //

For such a one, there is no cremation with fire and no water-offering. // Vi_22.28 //

If it dies after its teeth have appeared but before the tonsure ceremony, purification is by a day and a night. // Vi_22.29 //

If it dies after the tonsure but before the investiture with the sacred thread, by three nights. // Vi_22.30 //

After that, for the prescribed period. // Vi_22.31 //

For women, marriage is the saṃskāra (a life-cycle sacrament). // Vi_22.32 //

For married women, there is no āśauca for the paternal family. // Vi_22.33 //

If their birth or death should occur in their father's house, then it is for one night and three nights respectively. // Vi_22.34 //

If another birth-impurity occurs during a birth-impurity, then purification comes at the end of the first impurity. // Vi_22.35 //

If it occurs in the last part of the night, by two days. // Vi_22.36 //

At dawn, by three days. // Vi_22.37 //

The same rule applies if a relative dies during a death-impurity. // Vi_22.38 //

One who is in a foreign country, upon hearing of a birth or death, becomes pure with the remaining period of āśauca. // Vi_22.39 //

If the āśauca has passed, but it is within a year, then by one night. // Vi_22.40 //

After that, by bathing. // Vi_22.41 //

If a teacher or a maternal grandfather has passed away, by three nights. // Vi_22.42 //

When non-legitimate sons are born or die, And when wives previously married to another give birth or die, || Vi_22.43 ||

And when a teacher's wife, son, preceptor, maternal uncle, father-in-law, mother-in-law, fellow student, or pupil has passed away, purification is by one night. // Vi_22.44 //

And for the king of one's own country. // Vi_22.45 //

And when a non-sapiṇḍa dies in one's own house. // Vi_22.46 //

There is no āśauca for those killed by a fall from a precipice, by fire, by fasting, by water, in battle, by lightning, or by the king. // Vi_22.47 //

Nor for kings in the performance of their royal duties. // Vi_22.48 //

Nor for those under a vow, in the performance of their vow. // Vi_22.49 //

Nor for those performing a sacrifice, in the performance of their sacrifice. // Vi_22.50 //

Nor for artisans, in the performance of their craft. // Vi_22.51 //

Nor for those carrying out the king's command, by his wish. // Vi_22.52 //

Nor in the case of the consecration of a deity or a marriage, for which preparations have been made beforehand. // Vi_22.53 //

Nor in a time of national calamity. // Vi_22.54 //

And also in a time of severe distress. // Vi_22.55 //

Those who kill themselves and those who have lost their caste are not entitled to āśauca or water-offerings. // Vi_22.56 //

For one who has lost his caste, his female slave shall, on the day of his death, overturn a pot of water with her foot. // Vi_22.57 //

He who cuts the noose of one who has died by hanging becomes pure by the taptakṛcchra penance. // Vi_22.58 //

And he who performs the funeral rites for those who kill themselves. // Vi_22.59 //

And he who sheds tears for them. // Vi_22.60 //

For any deceased person, having shed tears with the relatives, purification is by bathing. // Vi_22.61 //

If the collection of bones has not been performed, by bathing with one's clothes on. // Vi_22.62 //

A twice-born man, having followed the funeral procession of a Śūdra, shall go to a river, submerge himself, recite the aghamarṣaṇa three times, and after coming out, repeat the Gāyatrī mantra eight thousand times. // Vi_22.63 //

For the funeral procession of a twice-born, one hundred and eight times. // Vi_22.64 //

A Śūdra, having followed a funeral procession, shall perform a bath. // Vi_22.65 //

All varṇas shall perform a bath after being exposed to the smoke of a funeral pyre. // Vi_22.66 //

And after sexual intercourse, a bad dream, having blood in the throat, vomiting, and purging. // Vi_22.67 //

And after having one's beard and hair cut. // Vi_22.68 //

And after touching one who has touched a corpse, a menstruating woman, a Caṇḍāla, or a sacrificial post. // Vi_22.69 //

And the corpse of a five-toed animal, except for those that are edible, and its bones if they have fat on them. // Vi_22.70 //

In all these cases of bathing, one shall not wear a garment that has not been washed. // Vi_22.71 //

A menstruating woman becomes pure by bathing on the fourth day. // Vi_22.72 //

A menstruating woman who touches a menstruating woman of a lower varṇa shall not eat until she is pure. // Vi_22.73 //

Having touched one of the same or a higher varṇa, she becomes pure by bathing immediately. // Vi_22.74 //

After sneezing, sleeping, eating, when intending to eat or study, after drinking, bathing, spitting, changing clothes, treading a public road, passing urine or feces, and touching a bone of a five-toed animal without fat on it, one shall rinse the mouth. // Vi_22.75 //

And after conversing with a Caṇḍāla or a Mleccha. // Vi_22.76 //

If one is defiled below the navel or on the arms by bodily excretions, or by spirituous liquors or intoxicants, one becomes pure by washing that limb with earth and water. // Vi_22.77 //

If defiled elsewhere, by washing that limb with earth and water, and by bathing. // Vi_22.78 //

If defiled on the mouth, by fasting, bathing, and taking pañcagavya. // Vi_22.79 //

And if defiled on the lips. // Vi_22.80 //

Semen, blood, fat, marrow, urine, feces, earwax, nails, Phlegm, tears, rheum of the eyes, and sweat—these twelve are the impurities of men. || Vi_22.81 ||

Gauḍī (made from molasses), mādhvī (from honey), and paiṣṭī (from grain) are known as the three kinds of liquor; As one is, so are all; they must not be drunk by the twice-born. || Vi_22.82 ||

Liquor from Madhūka flowers, sugarcane, Ṭaṅka fruit, jujube fruit, dates, and jackfruit, The juice of grapes, Madhvīka flowers, Maireya, and coconut; || Vi_22.83 ||

These ten intoxicants are impure for a Brāhmaṇa; A Rājanya and a Vaiśya are not defiled by touching them. || Vi_22.84 ||

A pupil who performs the funeral rites for his deceased teacher, Living on the food of the deceased, becomes pure in ten nights. || Vi_22.85 ||

A student under a vow who has carried out his own teacher, preceptor, father, mother, or guru To the funeral pyre is not released from his vow. || Vi_22.86 ||

One who has been initiated shall not offer water until the completion of his vow; After it is completed, having offered water, he becomes pure in three nights. || Vi_22.87 ||

Knowledge, austerity, fire, food, earth, mind, water, smearing with cow-dung, Wind, religious acts, the sun, and time are the purifiers of embodied beings. || Vi_22.88 ||

Of all purifications, the purification of food is declared to be the highest; He who is pure in his food is truly pure, not he who is pure by earth and water. || Vi_22.89 ||

The learned are purified by forbearance, those who do forbidden acts by charity, Those with secret sins by muttering prayers, and the best knowers of the Veda by austerity. || Vi_22.90 ||

What is to be purified is purified by earth and water; a river is purified by its current; A woman of wicked mind by her menses, and the best of the twice-born by renunciation. || Vi_22.91 ||

The limbs are purified by water, the mind is purified by truth, The soul by knowledge and austerity, and the intellect is purified by wisdom. || Vi_22.92 ||

This decision on bodily purification has been declared to you; Hear now the decision on the purification of various kinds of things. || Vi_22.93 ||