Śauca

Śauca, “purity”

Śauca is purity: the cleanness of the body, of the things one uses, of the house and the ground, and of food. It is a limb of dharma. In the Vāmana Purāṇa, Bhagavān Śiva names it among the things that are Bhagavān Vishṇu himself; the maharshis of Magadha name purity among the ten limbs of dharma and teach the rākshasa king Sukeśī, rule by rule, how each kind of thing is made pure; and Sukeśī makes śauca the sixth of the thirteen limbs of dharma that he commands his rākshasas to keep.

Śauca as a limb of dharma

When Bhagavān Śiva, burdened by Brahmahatyā, came to Kurujāṅgala and had darśana of Bhagavān Vishṇu holding the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā, he praised him with a stotra. In it he said: “Dharma, yajña, tapas, satya (truth), ahiṃsā (non-harming), śauca, ārjava (straightness), kshamā (forbearance), dāna, dayā (compassion), Lakshmī and brahmacarya: all are you” (Chapter 3).

The maharshis named pavitratā, purity, among the ten aṅgas (limbs) of Dharma-devatā, laid down for people of every varṇa and to be practised by the brāhmaṇas too, in each of the four āśramas (Chapter 14). When Sukeśī returned to his city, he commanded his rākshasas to keep a dharma of thirteen limbs, and śauca was the sixth, followed by restraint of the senses, dāna, dayā and kshānti (patience). “These give the higher worlds,” he said (Chapter 16).

Purity of the body each morning

In the morning rites of the householder, after relieving oneself, one cleanses with earth: the anus three times, the left palm seven times, both hands ten times, and the liṅga once. The earth is not taken from water, from rat-holes or anthills, from earth already used once and thrown aside, or from inside the house (Chapter 14).

The purification of things

In Chapter 15 the maharshis continued their teaching to Sukeśī. After telling what may be eaten by Manu’s ordinance, they gave the rules of purity:

  • Washed with water: gems, jewels and coral; things made of stone and of wood; the grain of grasses; bulbs and roots; a sieve; deer-skin; new cloths; and every kind of cloth made of tree-bark.
  • Greasy things: cleaned in a decoction boiled with sesame oil.
  • Cotton and woollen cloths: purified with water mixed with ash.
  • Elephant tusks and horns: pure as they are.
  • Earthen pots: purified by passing through fire.

What is pure as it is

The maharshis named, in this order, the things that are pure: food got by begging; the hand of the artisan; the face of a woman; goods bought in the market; things brought by servants, men and women; things that have been praised; things that have passed through many hands; light things; the acts of children and of the old; the faces of children; granaries and stores of charcoal; women who have newly given birth; infants who drink milk; the spray from the mouths of brāhmaṇas; and hot water.

Also pure are an infant at the breast, a fruit pecked and dropped by a parrot, a donkey carrying a load, and a dog that has caught a deer. The road, mud, water, boats and the grass grown on the road are purified by the wind, and so are burnt bricks. Food got by bhikshā (alms) is pure, and the sannyāsī lives on bhikshā.

Ground, house, food and vessels

  • Ground is made pure by clearing the grass and weeds with a spade, by burning the rubbish on it, by sweeping it with a broom, by letting cows tread on it for a night and a day, by smearing it with cow-dung, or by sprinkling it with cow’s urine.
  • A house is purified by sweeping it or by performing pūjā in it.
  • Food on which hair has fallen, on which flies have settled, or which cows have smelt, is purified by sprinkling it with water mixed with earth, ash and alkali.
  • Vessels: those of sattu (an alloy) and of lead are cleaned with alkali-water, copper with a sour liquid, and bronze with water mixed with ash.
  • Things touched by excrement are cleaned with earth and water until the foul smell leaves.
  • Cooked food on a long journey that is touched by something impure is purified by taking off and throwing away the top layer and sprinkling water on the rest.

If impure food is eaten unknowingly, the fault is removed by fasting for one night or for three nights. If spoiled food is eaten knowingly, there is no purification for it at all.

Touch, and keeping the house clean

  • Touching a woman in her period, a dog, a naked man, a woman who has just given birth, antyajas, or those who carry corpses is purified by a bath.
  • Touching bones with flesh on them calls for a bath with one’s clothes on. For a dry bone, one is purified by ācamana (sipping water), by touching a cow, or by looking at the Sun.
  • One who touches or speaks with those who revile the devas and the pitṛs, or the Vedas, the śāstras and the yajñas, becomes pure at once by looking at the Sun.
  • One must not step over excrement, blood, spittle, or the flour used for the oil-rub and thrown away.
  • Leftover food, rubbish, the water used to wash the feet of elders, and urine must be thrown far from the house.
  • Before bathing in a reservoir that belongs to another, throw out five double-handfuls of water. One should bathe in natural ponds, in reservoirs, and in rivers great and small.

Sources

  • Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 14–16