Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 20
अत्रेः तपोबलप्रकाशः तथा च्यवनस्य सोमाधिकारः
Atri’s Illumination by Tapas; Cyavana and Soma-Entitlement
यह प्रायश्रित्त करनेके बाद उसे सिद्धि प्राप्त होती है और वह भारी आपत्तिमें कभी नहीं पड़ता है ।। यस्तु शूद्रे: समश्रीयाद् ब्राह्मणो5प्येक भोजने । अशौचं विधिवत् तस्य शौचमत्र विधीयते
yaḥ prāyaścittaṃ kṛtvā tataḥ siddhiṃ prāpnoti sa ca gurv-āpadi kadācana na patati. yaḥ tu śūdreṣu samaśrayed brāhmaṇo 'py eka-bhojane, aśaucaṃ vidhivat tasya śaucam atra vidhīyate.
毗湿摩说道：依所规定之赎罪法（prāyaścitta）行毕，则其人得清净与成就，不陷于重大困厄。然若即便婆罗门，于同席一餐之中与首陀罗等同相交，则其人被认为生起不净；故此处乃敕示如法的洁净仪轨。
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that faults leading to ritual impurity can be remedied through properly performed prāyaścitta, restoring śauca and preventing further downfall; it also underscores that certain forms of social mixing in a shared meal context are treated by dharma-text logic as generating aśauca for a brāhmaṇa, requiring prescribed purification.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he is laying out rules about impurity and its removal, specifying that when a brāhmaṇa incurs aśauca through particular conduct (such as equal association with śūdras in a shared meal), the text prescribes the appropriate cleansing rite.