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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Vasishtha - Chapter XIV
1. Now, therefore, we will declare what may be eaten and what may not be eaten.
2. Food given by a physician, a hunter, a woman of bad character, a mace-bearer, a thief, an Abhisasta, a eunuch, (or) an outcast must not be eaten,1
3. (Nor that given) by a miser, one who has performed the initiatory ceremony of a Srauta-sacrifice, a prisoner, a sick person, a seller of the Soma-plant, a carpenter, a washerman, a dealer in spirituous liquor, a spy, a usurer, (or) a cobbler,2
4. Nor (that given) by a Sûdra,3
5. Nor (that given) by one who lives by his weapons,4
6. Nor (that given) by the (kept) paramour of a5 married woman, or by a husband who allows a paramour (to his wife),
7. Nor (that given) by an incendiary,
8. Nor (that given) by (a ruler) who does not slay those worthy of capital punishment,
9. Nor (food) offered publicly with these words, 'Who is willing to eat?'6
10. Nor food given by a multitude of givers, or by harlots, and so forth.7
11. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'The gods do not eat (the offerings) of a man who keeps dogs, nor of him whose (only) wife is of the Sûdra caste, nor of him who lives in subjection to his wife, nor of (a husband) who (permits) a paramour (of his wife to reside) in his house.'8
12. He may accept (the following presents even) from such (people, viz.) firewood, water, fodder, Kusa grass, parched grain, (food) given without asking, a vehicle, (shelter in) the house, small fish, millet, a garland, perfumes, honey, and meat.9
13. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'For the sake of a Guru, when he desires to save his wife (and family from starvation), when he wishes to honour the gods or guests, he may accept (presents) from anybody; but let him not satisfy his (own hunger) with such (gifts).'10
14. Food given by a hunter who uses the bow must not be rejected.
15. For it is declared in the Veda, 'At a sacrificial session (sattra), which lasted one thousand years, Agastya went out to hunt. He had sacrificial cakes prepared with the meat of beasts and fowls good (to eat).'11
16. With reference to this (subject) they quote also some verses proclaimed by Pragâpati, 'Pragâpati (the Lord of created beings) has declared that food freely offered and brought (by the giver himself) may be eaten, though (the giver) be a sinful man, provided the gift has not been asked for beforehand.'12
17. Food offered by a man who has faith must certainly be eaten, even though (the giver) be a thief, but not that given by (a Brâhmana) who sacrifices for many and who initiates many.'
18. 'The manes do not eat during fifteen years (the food) of that man who disdains a (freely offered gift), nor does the fire carry his offerings (to the gods).'13
19. 'But alms, though offered without asking, must not be accepted from a physician, from a hunter, from a surgeon or a (very) wicked man, from a eunuch, and from a faithless wife.'14
20. Fragments of food left by other persons than the teacher must not be eaten,15
21. Nor remnants of one's own (meal) and food touched by leavings,
22. Nor (food) defiled by contact with a garment, hair, or insects.16
23. But at pleasure he may use (such food) after taking out the hair and the insects, sprinkling it with water, dropping ashes on it, and (after it has been declared) fit for use by the word (of a Brâhmana).17
24. With reference to this (subject) they quote also some verses proclaimed by Pragâpati, The gods created for Brâhmanas three means of purifying (defiled substances), viz. ignorance (of defilement), sprinkling (them) with water, and commending (them) by word of mouth.'18
25. Let him not throw away that food which, at a procession with images of the gods, at weddings, and at sacrifices, is touched by crows or dogs.'
26. After the (defiled) portion has been removed, the remainder shall be purified, liquids by straining them, but solid food by sprinkling it with water.'19
27. 'What has been touched by the mouth of a cat is even pure.'
28. (Cooked food which has become) stale (by being kept), what is naturally bad, what has been placed once only in the dish, what has been cooked more than once, raw (food), and (food) insufficiently cooked (must not be eaten).20
29. But at pleasure he may use (such food) after pouring over it sour milk or clarified butter.21
30. With reference to this (subject) they quote also some verses proclaimed by Pragâpati, 'A Brâhmana shall not eat clarified butter or oil which drips from the nails (of the giver). Yama has declared such (food to be) impure; (to eat it is as sinful) as to partake of cow's flesh.'
31. 'But fatty substances, salt, and condiments proffered with the hand do not benefit the giver, and he who partakes of them will eat sin.'
32. 'Let him give, therefore, such substances placed on a leaf or on grass, but never with his hands or in an iron vessel.'
33. For eating garlic, onions, mushrooms, turnips, Sleshmântaka, exudations from trees, the red sap flowing from incisions (in trees or plants), food pecked at by crows or worried by dogs, or the leavings of a Sûdra, an Atikrikkhra (penance must be performed).22
34. (Let him not drink) the milk of a cow that is in heat, nor of one whose calf has died,23
35. Nor that which cows, buffalo-cows, and goats give during the first ten days (after giving birth to young ones),24
36. Nor water collected at the bottom of a boat.
37. Let him avoid wheat-cakes, (fried) grain, porridge, barley-meal, pulse-cakes, oil, rice boiled in milk, and vegetables that have turned sour (by standing),25
38. Likewise other kinds of (sour) food prepared with milk and barley-flour.
39. Among five-toed animals, the porcupine, the hedgehog, the hare, the tortoise, and the iguana may be eaten,26
40. Among (domestic) animals those having teeth in one jaw only, excepting camels.27
41. And among fishes, the long-nosed crocodile, the Gavaya, the porpoise, the alligator, and the crab (must not be eaten),28
42. Nor those which are misshaped or have heads like snakes,
43. Nor the bos Gaurus, the Gayal, and the Sarabha,29
44. Nor those that have not been (specially mentioned (as fit for food),30
45. Nor milch-cows, draught-oxen, and animals whose milk teeth have not dropped out.31
46. It is declared in the Vâgasaneyaka, that (the flesh of) milch-cows and oxen is fit for offerings.32
47. But regarding the rhinoceros and the wild boar they make conflicting statements.
48. And among birds, those who seek their food by scratching with their feet, the web-footed ones, the Kalaviṅka, the water-hen, the flamingo, the33 Brahmanî duck, the Bhâsa, the crow, the blue pigeon, the osprey, the Kâtaka, the dove, the crane, the black partridge, the grey heron, the vulture, the falcon, the white egret, the ibis, the cormorant, the peewit, the flying-fox, those flying about at night, the woodpecker, the sparrow, the Railâtaka, the green pigeon, the wagtail, the village-cock, the parrot, the starling, the cuckoo, those feeding on flesh, and those living about villages (must not be eaten).
Footnotes
1. Vishnu LI, 7, 10-11. Dandika, 'a mace-bearer,' may mean 'a police officer' or 'a messenger.' I read with MSS. Bh. and F. shandha, 'a eunuch,' instead of satha, 'a rogue,' the reading of the other MSS. and of Krishnapandita.
2. Vishnu LI, 8-9, 12, 19; Gautama XVII, 17. I write sûkaka, 'a spy,' instead of sûkika, 'a tailor,' according to the other Smritis, e.g. Vishnu LI, 12; Âpastamba I, 6, 18, 30
3. Âpastamba I, 6, 18, 13.
4. Âpastamba I, 6, 18, 19.
5. Vishnu LI, 16; Gautama XVII, 18. I read with the majority of the MSS. yaskopapatim [pattim F.] manyate, instead of B.'s and Krishnapandita's yaskopari manyate.
6. Âpastamba I, 6, 18, 17.
7. Vishnu LI, 7. 'And so forth (iti), i.e. by cruel men and the like.'--Krishnapandita.
8. Vishnu LI, 15.
9. Gautama XVII, 3; Vishnu LVII, 10.
10. Vishnu LVII, 13; Manu IV, 251.
11. Manu V, 22-23. I connect vigñâyate with this Sûtra, instead of with the preceding one, as Krishnapandita does.
12. Vishnu LVII, 11; Mann IV, 248; Âpastamba I, 6, 19, 14.
13. Vishnu LVII, 12; Manu IV, 249; Âpastamba I, 6, 19, 14.
14. Âpastamba I. 6, 19, 15.
15. Vishnu XXVIII. 11.
16. Âpastamba I, 5, 16, 28; Gautama XVII, 9.
17. Vishnu XXIII, 38; Yâgñavalkya I, 189.
18. Yâgñavalkya I, 191.
19. Vishnu XXIII, 30. Krishnapandita thinks that plâvanena, 'by straining them (through a cloth),' may also mean 'by heating them on the fire.'
20. Gautama XVII, 13, and note, 15-16.
21. Manu V, 24.
22. Vishnu LI, 34, 36; Gautama XVII, 32-33. Regarding the Atikrikkhra penance, see below, XXIV, 1.
23. Vishnu LI, 40. For other explanations of the term sandhinî, 'a cow that is in heat,' see Âpastamba I, 5, 17, 23; Vishnu LI, 40.
24. Vishnu LI, 39. The Sûtra implies that the milk of other animals must not be drunk under any circumstances.
25. Vishnu LI, 35, 42.
26. Gautama XVII, 27. Haradatta on Âpastamba and Gautama explain svâvidh, 'the porcupine,' to be a kind of boar, and salyaka, 'the hedgehog,' to be 'the porcupine.'
27. Vishnu LI, 30; Manu V, 18.
28. Gautama XVII, 36; Âpastamba I, 5, 17, 38-39.
29. Âpastamba I, 5, 17, 29.
30. Manu V, 11, 17.
31. Gautama XVII, 30-31.
32. Âpastamba I, 5, 17, 31.
33. Gautama XVII, 34-35; Vishnu LI, 28-31. I read mândhâla, 'the flying fox,' while Krishnapandita gives mâghâra, a reading which he cannot explain. The MSS. read as follows: B. E. mâghâra, Bh. F. mâdhâm, I. O. 913 (tittibh)ândha (naktam). Haradatta on Âpastamba I, 5, 17, 33' explains plava, 'the water-hen,' to be a kind of heron, called also sakatabila.
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