अन्तर्बाह्यशौचाशौचनिरूपणम्Inner and outer purity and impurity
Verse 73
भस्माऽत्र याज्ञिकं श्रेष्ठं मृत्स्ना तु मलवर्जिता । वासोऽजिनतृणादीनि मृद्वज्जानीहि सुव्रते ॥ ७३ ॥
bhasmā’tra yājñikaṁ śrēṣṭhaṁ mṛtsnā tu malavarjitā | vāsō’jinatṛṇādīni mṛdvajjānīhi suvratē || 73 ||
Translation
Here sacrificial ash is best, and clean earth; cloth, deer-skin, grass and the like, know, O you of good vows, to be like earth.
Word by word
- bhasma
- ash
- atra
- here
- yājñikaṁ
- sacrificial
- śrēṣṭhaṁ
- is best
- mṛtsnā
- earth
- tu
- and
- mala
- of dirt
- varjitā
- free
- vāsō
- (vāsaḥ) cloth
- ajina
- deer-skin
- tṛṇa
- grass
- ādīni
- and the like
- mṛdvaj
- (mṛdvat) like earth
- jānīhi
- know
- suvratē
- O you of good vows
Meaning
For cleansing, the best ash is "yājñika", from a sacrificial or ritual fire, and the earth must be free of dirt. Cloth, deer-skin and grass count "like earth": usable for wiping and cleaning, and best, the commentary adds, when themselves clean. The commentary reads verses 73 to 76 together, in the setting of outer purity.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
"Bhasma…" and the rest. Atra: here, in the rite of outer purity. O Suvratā, know that cloth, deer-skin, grass and the rest, like earth (mṛdvat), are also best when free of impurity. (This explanation covers verses 73 to 76.)