Shloka 18
अत्रेः तपोबलप्रकाशः तथा च्यवनस्य सोमाधिकारः
Atri’s Illumination by Tapas; Cyavana and Soma-Entitlement
मृतकस्य त्रिरात्रे यः समुद्दिष्टे समश्षुते । सप्त त्रिषवर्णं स्नात्वा पूतो भवति ब्राह्मण:
mṛtakasya trirātre yaḥ samuddiṣṭe samaśnute | sapta triṣavarṇaṃ snātvā pūto bhavati brāhmaṇaḥ ||
Bhīṣma sprach: Wenn ein Brāhmaṇa drei Nächte hintereinander die Speise isst, die im Zusammenhang mit einem Todesfall dargebracht wurde (also in einem Haus unter der Unreinheit des Todes), so wird er rein, indem er sieben Tage lang an den drei Tageswenden — morgens, mittags und abends — badet. Diese Lehre betont die dharmische Sorge um rituelle Reinheit und die vorgeschriebenen Mittel, sie nach Berührung mit todesbedingter Unreinheit wiederherzustellen.
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Contact with death-related impurity through eating food offered in that context creates ritual defilement, and dharma prescribes a specific purification: thrice-daily bathing for seven days, emphasizing disciplined restoration of purity rather than denial of the transgression.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s dharma-instruction, Bhīṣma lays down a rule about a brāhmaṇa who repeatedly eats in a household under death-impurity and states the required purificatory practice to regain ritual fitness.