Shloka 76
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
ब्राह्मणस्तु सुरापस्य गन्धमादाय सोमप:
brāhmaṇas tu surāpasya gandham ādāya somapaḥ |
Bhīṣma said: “If a Soma-drinking brāhmaṇa so much as takes in the odor of a liquor-drinker, he should undertake a purificatory observance: for three days he should subsist on hot water; then for three days on hot milk; and after those three days, for three days he should live only on air (that is, fast completely). By this discipline he becomes purified.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that even indirect contact with intoxicants (here, merely smelling a drunkard) is treated as a serious impurity for a Soma-qualified Brahmin, and that purity is restored through a structured, time-bound penance emphasizing restraint and bodily discipline.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma in the Shanti Parva, he lays down a specific expiation: three days on hot water, three days on hot milk, and three days living only on air, after which the Brahmin is considered purified.