The law of Manu -Part -28

 The law of Manu -Part -28

51. He who permits (the slaughter of an animal), he who cuts it up, he who kills it, he who buys or sells (meat), he who cooks it, he who serves it up, and he who eats it, (must all be considered as) the slayers (of the animal).

 

52. There is no greater sinner than that (man) who, though not worshipping the gods or the manes, seeks to increase (the bulk of) his own flesh by the flesh of other (beings).

 

53. He who during a hundred years annually offers a horse-sacrifice, and he who entirely abstains from meat, obtain the same reward for their meritorious (conduct).

 

54. By subsisting on pure fruit and roots, and by eating food fit for ascetics (in the forest), one does not gain (so great) a reward as by entirely avoiding (the use of) flesh.

 

55. 'Me he (mam sah)' will devour in the next (world), whose flesh I eat in this (life); the wise declare this (to be) the real meaning of the word 'flesh' (mamsah).

 

56. There is no sin in eating meat, in (drinking) spirituous liquor, and in carnal intercourse, for that is the natural way of created beings, but abstention brings great rewards.

 

57. I will now in due order explain the purification for the dead and the purification of things as they are prescribed for the four castes (varna).

 

58. When (a child) dies that has teethed, or that before teething has received (the sacrament of) the tonsure (Kudakarana) or (of the initiation), all relatives (become) impure, and on the birth (of a child) the same (rule) is prescribed.

 

59. It is ordained (that) among Sapindas the impurity on account of a death (shall last) ten days, (or) until the bones have been collected, (or) three days or one day only.

 

60. But the Sapinda-relationship ceases with the seventh person (in the ascending and descending lines), the Samanodaka-relationship when the (common) origin and the (existence of a common family)-name are no (longer) known.

 

61. As this impurity on account of a death is prescribed for (all) Sapindas, even so it shall be (held) on a birth by those who desire to be absolutely pure.

 

62. (Or while) the impurity on account of a death is common to all (Sapindas), that caused by a birth (falls) on the parents alone; (or) it shall fall on the mother alone, and the father shall become pure by bathing;

 

63. But a man, having spent his strength, is purified merely by bathing; after begetting a child (on a remarried female), he shall retain the impurity during three days.

 

64. Those who have touched a corpse are purified after one day and night (added to) three periods of three days; those who give libations of water, after three days.

 

65. A pupil who performs the Pitrimedha for his deceased teacher, becomes also pure after ten days, just like those who carry the corpse out (to the burial-ground).

 

66. (A woman) is purified on a miscarriage in as many (days and) nights as months (elapsed after conception), and a menstruating female becomes pure by bathing after the menstrual secretion has ceased (to flow).

 

67. (On the death) of children whose tonsure (Kudakarman) has not been performed, the (Sapindas) are declared to become pure in one (day and) night; (on the death) of those who have received the tonsure (but not the initiation, the law) ordains (that) the purification (takes place) after three days.

 

68. A child that has died before the completion of its second year, the relatives shall carry out (of the village), decked (with flowers, and bury it) in pure ground, without collecting the bones (afterwards).

 

69. Such (a child) shall not be burnt with fire, and no libations of water shall be offered to it; leaving it like a (log of) wood in the forest, (the relatives) shall remain impure during three days only.

 

70. The relatives shall not offer libations to (a child) that has not reached the third year; but if it had teeth, or the ceremony of naming it (Namakarman) had been performed, (the offering of water is) optional.

 

71. If a fellow-student has died, the Smriti prescribes an impurity of one day; on a birth the purification of the Samanodakas is declared (to take place) after three (days and) nights.

 

72. (On the death) of females (betrothed but) not married (the bridegroom and his) relatives are purified after three days, and the paternal relatives become pure according to the same rule.

 

73. Let (mourners) eat food without factitious salt, bathe during three days, abstain from meat, and sleep separate on the ground.

 

74. The above rule regarding impurity on account of a death has been prescribed (for cases where the kinsmen live) near (the deceased); (Sapinda) kinsmen and (Samanodaka) relatives must know the following rule (to refer to cases where deceased lived) at a distance (from them).

 

75. He who may hear that (a relative) residing in a distant country has died, before ten (days after his death have elapsed), shall be impure for the remainder of the period of ten (days and) nights only.

 

76. If the ten days have passed, he shall be impure during three (days and) nights; but if a year has elapsed (since the occurrence of the death), he becomes pure merely by bathing.

 

77. A man who hears of a (Sapinda) relative's death, or of the birth of a son after the ten days (of impurity have passed), becomes pure by bathing, dressed in his garments.

 

78. If an infant (that has not teethed), or a (grownup relative who is) not a Sapinda, die in a distant country, one becomes at once pure after bathing in one's clothes.

 

79. If within the ten days (of impurity) another birth or death happens, a Brahmana shall remain impure only until the (first) period of ten days has expired.

 

80. They declare that, when the teacher (akarya) has died, the impurity (lasts) three days; if the (teacher's) son or wife (is dead, it lasts) a day and a night; that is a settled (rule).

 

81. For a Srotriya who resides with (him out of affection), a man shall be impure for three days; for a maternal uncle, a pupil, an officiating priest, or a maternal relative, for one night together with the preceding and following days.

 

82. If the king in whose realm he resides is dead, (he shall be impure) as long as the light (of the sun or stars shines), but for (an intimate friend) who is not a Srotriya (the impurity lasts) for a whole day, likewise for a Guru who knows the Veda and the Angas.

 

83. A Brahmana shall be pure after ten days, a Kshatriya after twelve, a Vaisya after fifteen, and a Sudra is purified after a month.

 

84. Let him not (unnecessarily) lengthen the period of impurity, nor interrupt the rites to be performed with the sacred fires; for he who performs that (Agnihotra) rite will not be impure, though (he be) a (Sapinda) relative.

 

85. When he has touched a Kandala, a menstruating woman, an outcast, a woman in childbed, a corpse, or one who has touched a (corpse), he becomes pure by bathing.

 

86. He who has purified himself by sipping water shall, on seeing any impure (thing or person), always mutter the sacred texts, addressed to Surya, and the Pavamani (verses).

 

87. A Brahmana who has touched a human bone to which fat adheres, becomes pure by bathing; if it be free from fat, by sipping water and by touching (afterwards) a cow or looking at the sun.

 

88. He who has undertaken the performance of a vow shall not pour out libations (to the dead) until the vow has been completed; but when he has offered water after its completion, he becomes pure in three days only.

 

89. Libations of water shall not be offered to those who (neglect the prescribed rites and may be said to) have been born in vain, to those born in consequence of an illegal mixture of the castes, to those who are ascetics (of heretical sects), and to those who have committed suicide,

 

90. To women who have joined a heretical sect, who through lust live (with many men), who have caused an abortion, have killed their husbands, or drink spirituous liquor.

 

91. A student does not break his vow by carrying out (to the place of cremation) his own dead teacher (akarya), sub-teacher (upadhyaya), father, mother, or Guru.

 

92. Let him carry out a dead Sudra by the southern gate of the town, but (the corpses of) twice-born men, as is proper, by the western, northern, or eastern (gates).

 

93. The taint of impurity does not fall on kings, and those engaged in the performance of a vow, or of a Sattra; for the (first are) seated on the throne of Indra, and the (last two are) ever pure like Brahman.

 

94. For a king, on the throne of magnanimity, immediate purification is prescribed, and the reason for that is that he is seated (there) for the protection of (his) subjects.

 

95. (The same rule applies to the kinsmen) of those who have fallen in a riot or a battle, (of those who have been killed) by lightning or by the king, and (of those who perished fighting) for cows and Brahmanas, and to those whom the king wishes (to be pure).

 

96. A king is an incarnation of the eight guardian deities of the world, the Moon, the Fire, the Sun, the Wind, Indra, the Lords of wealth and water (Kubera and Varuna), and Yama.

 

97. Because the king is pervaded by those lords of the world, no impurity is ordained for him; for purity and impurity of mortals is caused and removed by (those) lords of the world.

 

98. By him who is slain in battle with brandished weapons according to the law of the Kshatriyas, a (Srauta) sacrifice is instantly completed, and so is the period of impurity (caused by his death); that is a settled rule.

 

99. (At the end of the period of impurity) a Brahmana who has performed the necessary rites, becomes pure by touching water, a Kshatriya by touching the animal on which he rides, and his weapons, a Vaisya by touching his goad or the nose-string (of his oxen), a Sudra by touching his staff.

 

100. Thus the purification (required) on (the death of) Sapindas has been explained to you, O best of twice-born men; hear now the manner in which men are purified on the death of any (relative who is) not a Sapinda.