Chanakya Niti — Liberation and Truth, Shloka 11
पादशेषं पीतशेषं सन्ध्याशेषं तथैव च ।
श्वानमूत्रसमं तोयं पीत्वा चान्द्रायणं चरेत् ॥
pādaśeṣaṃ pītaśeṣaṃ sandhyāśeṣaṃ tathaiva ca |
śvānamūtrasamaṃ toyaṃ pītvā cāndrāyaṇaṃ caret ||
കാൽ കഴുകിയ ശേഷം ശേഷിക്കുന്ന വെള്ളം, കുടിച്ചതിന് ശേഷം ശേഷിക്കുന്ന വെള്ളം, സന്ധ്യാകർമ്മത്തിന് ശേഷം ശേഷിക്കുന്ന വെള്ളം—ഇവയെല്ലാം നായയുടെ മൂത്രസമമെന്ന് പറയുന്നു; അത് കുടിച്ച് ചാന്ദ്രായണ പ്രായശ്ചിത്തം അനുഷ്ഠിക്കണം.
FAQs
The verse reflects premodern South Asian purity-and-expiation discourse, where specific kinds of leftover water are classified within a hierarchy of ritual cleanliness. Its presence in a nīti-style compilation illustrates how ethical instruction and social discipline could incorporate concepts more commonly elaborated in Dharmaśāstra and ritual manuals.
Ritual impurity is presented through a comparative marker: certain categories of residual water (from foot-washing, drinking, and twilight rites) are rhetorically equated with a highly impure substance (dog’s urine). The verse then links the transgression of consuming such water to a recognized expiation (Cāndrāyaṇa), framing impurity as something addressable through prescribed observance.
The compound formations (pāda-śeṣa, pīta-śeṣa, sandhyā-śeṣa) categorize ‘remainders’ (śeṣa) by context, a common Sanskrit technique for ritual taxonomy. The simile śvāna-mūtra-sama (“comparable to dog’s urine”) functions as a strong rhetorical boundary-marker, using an animal-associated impurity trope to intensify the prohibition and justify the ensuing mention of expiation.