Shloka 31
Prāyaścitta and Contextual Non-Culpability (प्रायश्चित्त-निमित्त-अदोषवाद)
यदि अपनी स्त्रीके विषयमें पापाचारकी आशड्का हो तो विज्ञपुरुषको रजस्वला होनेतक उनके साथ समागम नहीं करना चाहिये। रजस्वला होनेपर वे उसी प्रकार शुद्ध हो जाती हैं, जैसे राखसे माँजा हुआ बर्तन ।। पादजोच्छिष्टकांस्यं यद् गवा प्रातमथापि वा । गण्डूषोच्छिष्टमपि वा विशुध्येद् दशभिस्तु तत्,यदि काँसेका बर्तन शूद्रके द्वारा जूठा कर दिया जाय अथवा उसे गाय सूँघ ले अथवा किसीके भी कुल्ला करनेसे वह जूठा हो जाय तो वह दस वस्तुओंसे शोधन करनेपर शुद्ध होता है-
vyāsa uvāca | yadi svāṁ striyaṁ viṣaye pāpācārasya āśaṅkā syāt tarhi vijñapuruṣeṇa rajasvalā-bhāva-paryantaṁ tayā saha samāgamo na kartavyaḥ | rajasvalāyāṁ tu sā tathā śuddhā bhavati yathā bhasmanā mārjitaṁ bhājanam || pādajo'cchiṣṭa-kāṁsyaṁ yad gavā prātam athāpi vā | gaṇḍūṣocchiṣṭam api vā viśudhyed daśabhis tu tat ||
Vyāsa said: If a man suspects immoral conduct in relation to his wife, a discerning person should not have sexual relations with her until she becomes menstruant. When she menstruates, she is considered purified—like a vessel cleansed by being scoured with ash. Likewise, if a bronze vessel has been rendered impure by contact with the foot-washings of a Śūdra, or if a cow has licked it, or if it has been tainted by someone’s mouth-rinse, it becomes pure again when cleansed by ten prescribed purifying substances.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames purity (śauca) and restraint as part of dharma: when moral suspicion arises, one should refrain from conjugal relations until a socially recognized marker of purification (menstruation) occurs, and it analogizes human purity rules with the ritual cleansing of utensils.
In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa states prescriptive norms: first about abstaining from intercourse under suspicion until menstruation, then about how a bronze vessel becomes impure through certain contacts and is restored to purity through a tenfold cleansing procedure.