Shloka 22
अत्रेः तपोबलप्रकाशः तथा च्यवनस्य सोमाधिकारः
Atri’s Illumination by Tapas; Cyavana and Soma-Entitlement
क्षत्रिय: सह यो5श्रीयाद ब्राह्मणो5प्येकभोजने । आप्लुत: सह वासोभिस्तेन मुच्येत पाप्मना,जो ब्राह्मण क्षत्रियोंके साथ एक पंक्तिमें भोजन करता है, वह वस्त्रोंसहित स्नान करनेसे पापमुक्त होता है
bhīṣma uvāca | kṣatriyaḥ saha yo 'śrīyād brāhmaṇo 'py ekabhojane | āplutaḥ saha vāsobhis tena mucyeta pāpmanā ||
Bhīṣma sprach: Selbst ein Brāhmaṇa, der mit einem Kṣatriya in derselben Reihe sitzt und dieselbe Mahlzeit teilt — wenn er danach mitsamt seinen Gewändern badet — wird von dem dadurch entstandenen Verdienstmangel befreit. Die Lehre stellt rituelle Reinigung als Mittel dar, nach einem Verstoß in der Tischgemeinschaft die soziale und ethische Ordnung wiederherzustellen.
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that when a brāhmaṇa incurs ritual/ethical impurity by eating in the same communal setting with a kṣatriya (treated here as a transgressive mixing), a prescribed act of purification—bathing while still wearing one’s garments—functions as an expiation that removes the resulting demerit.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma and conduct, Bhīṣma lays down a specific rule of prāyaścitta: he identifies an act considered blameworthy in that normative framework (shared dining across varṇa boundaries) and immediately provides the remedial rite (clothed bath) by which the fault is cleansed.