The usages of §i}tas. Good Conduct. Vydsa said : 1-3. An excellent Brahmana should perform the Acamana* rite (sipping water) in these circumstances (even though he had done so previously) : after taking food, after drinking any beverage, after sleeping, after bath, after walking in a street, on touching the lips without the hair, after wearing garments, after the dis¬ charge of semen, urine or faeces, on uttering an improper word, after spitting, at the beginning ofVedic study, at the time of hiccough or sigh, on coming from a quadrangle or a cremation ground and at the time of the two Sandhyas i.e. dawn and dusk. In the last case, he shall perform the Acamana twice. 4-10. The Acamana rite is to be performed in the following- circumstances also :- After talking to a Candala or a Mleccha; - Verse 32
Kurma Purana (GRETIL / Internet Archive OCR) · 13 · Verse 32
Sanskrit Original
यद्यमत्रं समादाय भवेदुच्छेषणान्वितः। अनिधायैव तद द्रव्यमाचान्तः शुचितामियात। वस्त्रादिषु विकल्पः स्यात तत्संस्पृष्ट्वाचमेदिह।।
yadyamatraṃ samādāya bhaveduccheṣaṇānvitaḥ| anidhāyaiva tad dravyamācāntaḥ śucitāmiyāt| vastrādiṣu vikalpaḥ syāt tatsaṃspṛṣṭvācamediha||
If he takes anything without chanting the Mantras and then becomes defiled by Ucchista, he should become pure on performing Acamana even without placing that article (on the ground). 33-34a. It is optional in the case of wearing apparel etc. where it is not touched (?).** At night, in the forest-path infested with thieves and tigers, if anyone discharges urine and faeces with some article in his hands, he is not defiled. *v.l. Pracaran—whUe walking. ♦*v.l. tat samsprfyacamed i/in should perform Acamana after touching it {cloth, etc.) II.13.34b-43 399 34b-35a. During the day time, one should face the north and during the night he should face the south and discharge urine and faeces, after placing the sacred thread on the right card 35b-36a. He should cover the ground with wooden pieces, leaves, grass or lumps of clay before passing urine and faeces. He should cover the head at that time. 36b-37. One should not evacuate the bowels or pass urine in shady place, near the wells or rivers, cowpens or mon¬ asteries, in the middle of the path, on ashes, in burning fire, within the house or in the cremation ground. He shall not do so in the path traversed by cows, in a ploughed field, in a place abounding in great trees, in a grassy meadow nor on the top of a mountain.