Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, 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 said: If a brāhmaṇa eats the food offered in connection with a death—within a household under death-impurity—for three consecutive nights, he becomes purified by bathing at the three daily junctions, morning, noon, and evening, for seven days. Thus does dharma guard ritual purity and prescribe the means of restoring it after contact with death’s defilement.
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.