०८

EIGHT Rules on Insignia and Related Penances 1. Now I will explain the rules on insignia, such as shaving, as well as the penances associated with them. In this connection, Saunaka writes: He should have himself shaved at the junctures between seasons, without cutting his topknot or shaving the hair of his body.

  1. Devala: The lunar day that falls between the fourteenth day of the bright lunar halfmonth and the first day of the dark half-month should be regarded as the juncture between two seasons. A person should have himself shaved on that day.1 3. Likhita: On every full-moon day falling at the juncture between seasons, except when it occurs during the four months of the rainy season, an ascetic should have his head shaved without cutting his topknot.

  2. If he is sick or threatened by robbers, kings, and the like, or if he lacks the resources, he may have himself shaved on any day between the full moon and the fifth day of the dark half-month.

  3. Now, the juncture between seasons should be regarded as the lunar day that falls between the fourteenth day of the bright lunar halfmonth and the first day of the dark half-month. The meaning is that he should undertake the shaving during the solar day on which falls the juncture between the fifteenth day of the bright half-month and the first day of the dark half-month.2 6. Devala: 1. The bright half-month begins with the new moon and the dark half-month with the full moon. An Indian season lasts two months and, according to this reckoning, begins on the day of the full moon of every other month.

  4. A lunar day can begin and end at any time during a twenty-four-hour solar day, which according to the Indian reckoning begins not at midnight but at sunrise and concludes at the sunrise of the next day. The author wants to point out that the 141 142 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism Immediately after the conclusion of the four months of the rainy season, he should shave the hair of his head and his beard, but not the body hair below the neck.3 7. Manu: Self-controlled and not hurting any living being, let him always wander with his hair and beard shaved and his nails clipped, carrying a bowl, a staff, and a water pot. [MDh 6.52] 8. Devala: He should shave his head or, optionally, keep a topknot. If he thoughtlessly violates this rule, there is no doubt that he can be purified only by performing a Prājāpatya penance [see Ch. 4.2 n.1].

  5. Gālava: If a man shaves the three places, he should perform a Prājāpatya penance and then control his breath one hundred times.

  6. Jamadagni: An ascetic should perform a penance if he shaves his armpits, pubic region, and the like. He should perform three Prajapatya penances and then control his breath one hundred times.

  7. This latter penance applies when one shaves the armpits, pubic region, and so forth together at the same time.5 Medhātithi: At the juncture between seasons he should get himself shaved, avoiding the armpits, the pubic region, and the topknot. A mendicant should never let three occasions for shaving pass without shaving within a year.6 12. Immediately after shaving, an ascetic should bathe with water and earth, control his breath three times, and sprinkle himself with water as he recites the mantras addressed to Varuna [see Ch. 6.47 n. 25].

shaving should be done on the solar day that contains the passage from the full moon to the first day of the dark half-month.

  1. Although the neck is not specified in this text, it appears to be implied; see Ch. 9.64.

  2. These three are the topknot, the armpits, and the pubic region.

  3. The author is here attempting to show that there is no contradiction between Jamadagni, who prescribes three Prājāpatya penances, and Devala and Galava, who prescribe just one. If all three places are shaved at the same time, then the penance is tripled.

  4. The point of this rule is somewhat unclear. Vasudevāśrama (see Ypra 61.99) interprets this passage as follows. If a mendicant observes a two-month rain residence, then he should shave at the beginning and end of that period, that is, between the juncture of each season. However, if he keeps a rain residence of four months, then he does not shave during the juncture that falls within that period, because ascetics are forbidden to shave during their rain residence. Instead, he should shave at the third juncture falling at the conclusion of that period.

  5. Rules on Insignia and Related Penances 13. A mendicant becomes impure by the water running down from his loincloth. So, after bathing, he should come out of the water and wash his loins with water and the remainder of the earth.

  6. If he voids urine or excrement, he should, when he bathes, carry out twice as much of everything normally prescribed; if he remains without bathing for one and a half hours and eats or drinks during that time, he should carry out six times as much of everything normally prescribed.

  7. When a person has taken the staff and the like, he should discard them only if they are damaged [see Ch. 3.62 n, 28). He should throw damaged ones in water, saying, “Go to the ocean, svāhā!” 16. After throwing away an article, he should take a new one reciting the Gayatri verse or the syllable OM. He should take a sacrificial string with the mantra “That health and well-being we choose” [TS 2.6.10.2] and the water pot with the mantra “Waters, you bring delight” (see Ch. 6.23 n. 12).

  8. An ascetic should place the water pot filled with water and hanging from a sling at a spot at least an arrow’s length above the ground; otherwise, he will become defiled.

  9. An ascetic is not defiled if he walks a distance of three bow shots without his triple staff in the wilderness, but within a village he is defiled if he goes without it even from one house to another.

  10. The same author also states: If an ascetic discards the triple staff and the like that he has taken before they are damaged, he should fast for one night and control his breath one hundred times.

  11. Gālava: When someone has a water strainer but performs the rites of sipping water, offering libations, and worship without using it, all his rites will bear no fruit. A penance is enjoined on him in the verse “After controlling his breath three hundred times, he should silently recite the triple prayer [see Ch. 5.82] three hundred times.” If he drinks water without using the water strainer, he should control his breath ten times.

  12. Atri: If he drinks water that is contaminated–with a bad odor, color, or taste, turbid, or containing hair-without filtering it with a water strainer, he should control his breath ten times.

143 22. In a verse I have already cited [Ch. 6.44], the same author makes an exception in this regard: Water that has been drawn out, water that flows, and water in an unsullied lake such water is pure, the Vedas declare, and should not be filtered with a cloth strainer.

144 23. Gālava: Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism He should recite the syllable OM both when he takes a water strainer and when he ties it to the staff. He should not separate the water strainer from the staff. Should he do so through negligence, he should sip water, control his breath three times, and sip water again. He should not be without his triple staff when he bathes or eats. Should he be without it through negligence, he should sip water, control his breath three times, and sip water again. He should lay down the triple staff with its top toward the east or the north while reciting the mantra “You are the abode of Visnu” [TS 1.1.12.1). If it falls down, he should silently recite the mantra “Rise up, O Brahmanaspati” (RV 1.40.1). If he lets his triple staff come into contact with other staffs, he should wash it with the mantra “You are purified by the mind of Visnu” [MS 4.1.5] and control his breath three times [see Ch. 3.69 n. 30]. If he does so accidentally, he should wash it while reciting OM and further recite OM ten times.

  1. Garga: If he lets his staff come into contact with something impure, he should silently recite the mantra “Lord of the forest, be strong in limb” [TS 4.6.6.5]. He should then wash it with the mantra “You are purified by the mind of Visnu” [MS 4.1.5) and control his breath three times. If he does so accidentally, he should wash it while reciting OM and recite OM ten times. 25. Gālava: If the water pot, water strainer, or bowl comes into contact with something impure, the rule is that it should be discarded immediately. 26. Atri: He should not let his bowl come into contact with anything greasy. If he does so accidentally, he becomes impure.

  2. The same author states: If someone discards a bowl, a triple staff, or a similar article when it is not damaged or defiled, he should fast for a day and a night and recite the Gayatri verse one hundred and eight times. If, on the other hand, he continues to carry a bowl after it is damaged, he should fast for three days. 28. Jamadagni: He should perform a hundred when he breaches a rule of purity, as well as when he breaks his bowl.8 If his bowl breaks when it is being carried by some other person, however, he should fast for three days.

  3. Further on the same author states: 7. It is a general rule that, when he is not using it, an ascetic should always tie his water strainer to the top of his staff.

  4. The text is elliptical and does not specify the hundred acts that constitute the penance. In similar contexts, other sources prescribe the control of breathing or the recitation of the Gayatri verse or the syllable OM.

  5. Rules on Insignia and Related Penances An ascetic should discard a bowl if it comes into contact with pus, blood, flesh, urine, excrement, semen, tears, or phlegm.

  6. If, while carrying a bowl, he comes into contact with a dog, crow, rat, bull, camel, jackal, monkey, or outcaste, or with a man fallen from his caste, he should discard that bowl.

  7. A mendicant should discard a staff that has come into contact with marrow, urine, excrement, semen, serum, or blood. When it comes into contact with other types of impure substances, it ought to be purified. 32. Within a village he should not go even from one house to another without his staff. Should he do so, he ought to control his breath several times, as also when he travels in that manner beyond the permitted distance in a forest.

  8. If, without a staff, he visits a house or travels beyond three bow shots in a forest, he should control his breath three times for each offense after he returns to his place of residence.

  9. He should never be separated from his staff, seat, bowl, and the like. He commits a sin when he separates himself from them, and a penance is enjoined on him.

35-36. When he is separated from them, the scriptures prescribe that he control his breath-one hundred times for the staff, fifty times for the water pot, sixteen times for the bowl, eight times for the water strainer, six times for the sling, and four times for the seat. These are the means of his purification.

  1. Satyakāma and Jābāla: Next, we will explain the penances for mendicants. If someone travels beyond a couple of miles leaving behind his bowl, he is required to undergo a penance. He should control his breath thirty times and silently recite the triple prayer three hundred times. If someone crosses a river that flows into the ocean leaving behind his triple staff, bowl, or seat, he should fast for three days and control his breath one hundred times.

  2. Further on the same authors state: If a woman or a Śūdra passes between him and his staff, he should control his breath three times. If a donkey or a camel passes between, he should control his breath six times. If a dog, a pig, or an outcaste passes between, he should control his breath twelve times. When he violates a prescribed rule, he should control his breath twelve times.

  3. Dakṣa: After leaving behind his triple staff" or his bowl, an ascetic should fast for a whole day. Thereafter, he should take the triple staff with the appropriate mantra but discard the begging bowl.

145 9. In these texts the plural “dandah” is frequently used as a synonym of the triple staff (tridandah), especially due to the exigencies of meter. I have regularly 146 40. Atri: Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism If someone at any time throws his triple staff or his bowl on the ground, he should control his breath sixteen, twelve, eight, or six times.10 41. Devala: Tell us, O great sage, what someone should do to purify a staff and similar articles when they are spoilt by excrement, fire, and the like.

  1. He should carefully wash the triple staff with earth and water twelve times. Then he should silently recite the Purusa hymn [RV 10.190] and again wash it with water. With regard to other articles so defiled, O best of kings, the rule is that they are to be thrown away at once.

  2. One should throw away a bowl, a water strainer, or a similar article that has come into contact with semen, leavings of food, tears, excrement, urine, phlegm, a Sudra, cattle, or fire, as well as when they are touched by a thief or similar person.

  3. If an ascetic accepts a staff or a similar article from a person belonging to the four classes beginning with a Sudra, he should control his breath. one hundred, fifty, twenty-five, or ten times, respectively.12 45. Atri: If he accepts an article such as sandals, umbrella, garment, or begging bowl from a Sūdra, he should control his breath one hundred times; from a Vaisya, fifty times; from a Ksatriya, twenty-five times; and from a debased Brahmin, ten times.

  4. Jābāli the Elder: If a mendicant leaves behind his triple staff and water strainer in some house, he should silently recite the Purusa hymn [RV 10.190] and control his breath ten times.

  5. Devala: A householder who eats what others have cooked and a mendicant who neglects having a bowl are reborn in animal wombs for ten thousand years.

translated such plurals as “triple staff” so as not to create a confusion for the reader of the translation.

  1. It is unclear whether the numbers refer to general alternatives of the penance or, what I believe is more likely, to specific penances for placing directly on the ground the different articles: sixteen for the staff, twelve for the bowl, and so forth. See the similar gradation at Ch. 8.35-36.

  2. The term “kravyada” can refer to any animal or bird that eats carrion or raw flesh, as well as to fire, especially the cremation fire that “eats” the flesh of the deceased. Articles are to be discarded when they are damaged or burnt (see Ch. 7.100).

  3. The meaning is that he should control his breath one hundred times if he accepts from a Śūdra, fifty times if he accepts from a Vaisya, and so forth (see verse 45). I have taken “pañca” (lit., “five”) to be a shorthand for “pañcavimsati” (“twentyfive”) required by the exigencies of the meter.

  4. Rules on Insignia and Related Penances 48. When a bowl is unavailable, an ascetic is required to use a vessel made of leaves. He may use such a vessel until he gets a regular bowl.

  5. Kapila: A frail ascetic may carry the following: needle, nail clippers, water strainer, bowl, undergarment, and outergarment.

  6. Atri: If he discards his sacrificial string, he should perform six Krechra penances [see Ch. 4.2 n. 1] while reciting the Gayatri verse. Then he should undergo again the rite of investiture with a sacrificial string.

  7. Jābāli the Elder: If a mendicant devoted to meditation lives without a sacrificial string, then all his activities will bear no fruit. A penance is prescribed for such a man.

  8. He should perform six Prajapatya penances while reciting the Gayatrī verse. Then he should undergo vedic initiation again and wear a sacrificial string.

  9. Without delay, then, he should take a triple staff. He will thus not end up in hell but attain a happy state after death.

147 54. This same penance applies also to those who have taken to the form of ascetic life that requires the abandonment of the sacrificial string. Hārīta: I will tell you the penance that will erase the sin committed when someone performs rites such as eating without wearing a sacrificial string.

  1. He becomes purified by duly controlling his breath five hundred times for each day that he had performed the rites of eating and the like in that manner.

  2. When a man devotes himself in this world to the continuous practice of yoga, even the grievous sins he may have committed are erased. Therefore, a man should devote himself to yoga and always meditate at the conclusion of rites.

  3. The same author states: If a sterling Brahmin inadvertently voids urine or excrement without wearing a sacrificial string, he should control his breath six times.

  4. He should at all times wear the string in the sacrificial position, except when he answers a call of nature. When answering a call of nature he should let the string hang from his neck and throw it on his back. 13 13. In its normal position the string (which is a loop) is worn on the left shoulder, extending across the chest and resting on the right hip. This is the position for all ritual activities, except ancestral rites, when the string is worn on the right shoulder and rests on the left hip. The string is left hanging from the neck like a garland 148 Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism 59. Next, I will discuss the garment. In this connection, Gautama remarks: He should wear a garment to cover his loins. According to some, he should use discarded clothes after washing them. [GDh 3.18-19] 60. Bṛhaspati: He should wear an old garment to cover his loins. According to some, should use old clothes that have been thrown outside by others. 61. Hārīta: he He should take a loincloth, a ragged shawl as protection against the cold, and a pair of sandals. Let him not take possession of anything else. 62. Jābāli: Let him wear a cotton garment, a religious habit that is not made with tree bark. Without wearing such a garment, he is not purified when he sips water or when he performs the twilight worship. He should wear only an ocher-colored cotton garment, as well as a ragged shawl.

  5. Śankha and Likhita: He should carry in his hand a triple staff tied with a water strainer. He should wear a garment made of Kusa grass, ragged cloth, or tree bark, and have a change of clothes. 14 Some permit also a ragged shawl against the cold.

  6. Even though the term ocher is used without further specification, nevertheless one should color the garments with the red chalk known as Gairikā. Jābāli the Elder, for instance, points this out when he prohibits householders from wearing the insignia of the ascetic state: He should not wear a garment dyed ocher, or carry a sling or a tripod: this is the characteristic behavior of a graduate.15 65. Dattatreya: The scriptures prescribe a garment colored with red chalk for people in the order of life devoted to liberation. They should, however, wear a white sacrificial string made of nine strands.

(technically called nivita) when one goes to the toilet. Various strategies are used to prevent the string from contamination. In modern India Brahmins usually wrap the string around the right ear.

  1. The meaning of the term “viparidhana” (or of the alternate reading “viparidhavana”) is unclear. Because the verb is regularly used with reference to changing one’s clothes (see Ch. 6.30, 32), I have taken the noun to mean a spare set of clothes.

  2. A graduate is a person who has concluded his period of vedic study (see Ch. 2.36 n. 15). Quite frequently, the legal literature uses the expression with reference to all householders, who by definition have concluded their vedic studentship. Regarding the identity of the tripod and its distinction from the triple staff, see Olivelle 1986, 42-52.8. Rules on Insignia and Related Penances 149 66. An ascetic should not become attached even to those articles that he is required to possess. Devala, accordingly, states: Looking upon earth and gold with equal eyes and totally impartial, let him not develop an attachment even to the articles he possesses.

  3. Manu: He should be free from attachment to the articles he possesses. 68. Vasistha: Hut, water, clothes, tripod, 16 house, seat, food–a man who is not attached to any of these truly knows the path to liberation.17 [VaDh 10.23] 69. That ends the eighth chapter, entitled “Rules on Insignia and Related Penances,” of the Collection of Ascetic Laws.

  4. The meaning of “tripuskara” is unclear. The term refers to a famous pilgrimage center with three holy lakes, and Būhler translated it as “the three Pushkaras (holy tanks).” This meaning does not fit the context, which includes a variety of items associated with the life of an ascetic. I have taken the term as referring to the tripod from which hangs the ascetic’s water pot. This meaning is very uncertain, but the term puskara can refer to an arrow, and possibly to any shaft or stick. The association of the water pot with a holy lake, moreover, makes this connection plausible.

  5. The Sanskrit expression here is “mokṣavit”-literally “one who knows liberation” but the term “mokṣa” in ascetic literature frequently is a synonym of the renunciatory state (see Ch. 7.2 n. 1)