Parāśara Smṛti

and enters the mouth — that is on a par with a drink of the soma juice, for a fight is a religious rite properly performed : so it has been represented by the saints. Those excellent Brahmans, who carry the corpse of a friendless Brahman, gain, at every step they take, one by one, all the objects for which a sacrifice is performed. Blessed is their deed. No evil happens to them ; nor do they incur a sin. By plunging in water, they then and there are freed from impurity. For (the impurity caused by) carrying to the cremation ground and cremating the corpse of a superior Brahman who has departed this life, without a relative or a friend at his side, — one becomes pure by practising a single Pranayama. [According to Manu, to repeat the Gayatri thrice, while balding I the breath, is called a pranayama.] For voluntarily following a corpse, whether it be that of an agnate or not, — washing with the clothing on, touching the fire, and eating clarified butter, — these are the means of purifying one's self. Where a Brahman from ignorance follows the corpse of one who belongs to the military caste, he becomes impure for a single night, and purifies himself by eating the fivefold products of a cow. [These are, milk, curd, clarified butter, cow's urine and cowdung. If a Brahman, from ignorance, follows the corpse of a person of the Vaisya caste, he should observe impurity for full two nights, and should then practice six Pranayamas. If a Brahman, with a feeble knowledge of law, should follow a corpse of the Shoodra caste, while the same is being carried to the burning-ground, he shall become impure for full three nights. fSTT% cT cT?T: "q# ^Rff ^TT^T ^H^JIIH When the period of three nights is complete, he should repair to a river that falls into the sea ; there a hundred Pranayamas are to be practised by him ; hereafter he eats clarified butter, and restores him to purity again.…