Sacela Snāna
Sacela Snāna · sa-cela-snāna, “a bath with one’s clothes on”
Grammar: neuter noun; sa (with), cela (cloth, garment) and snāna (bath): “a bath with one’s clothes on”.
Meaning: a bath taken in the clothes one is wearing.
In the scriptures: in their teaching on conduct to the rākshasa king Sukeśī, given in Pulastya Maharshi‘s account to Nārada, the ṛshis tell how each kind of touch is made pure. Touching a woman in her period, a dog, one who is naked, a woman who has just given birth, the antyajas or those who carry the dead is made pure by a bath. Touching bones that still have flesh on them needs a sacela snāna; for a dry bone, ācamana, touching a cow or looking at the Sun is enough (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 15).
The ṛshis then give the rules of āśauca (the impurity of birth and death). As soon as a son is born, the father must take a sacela snāna. When anyone in the family dies, all the kinsmen must bathe; this, they say, is the word of Bhṛgu Maharshi (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 15).
Related terms: Snāna · Āśauca · Ācamana · Sūtika · Svadharma
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 15