Of these rules regarding food the most important were those which explained what substances should be consumed and what not. There were various rules regarding the use of meat, although it was considered meritorious to abstain from meat altogether. Again, a distinction was drawn between the food for Shūdra and that for twice-born. The twice-born, whose code of conduct was stricter than that of a Shūdra, was forbidden the use of a good many kinds of meat, like pork and chicken, and of vegetables, like onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Again, some sort of distinction was drawn between Brāhmana and the rest of the twice-born.
Penances also were prescribed to free a person from the guilt of eating food that he ought not to have eaten.
Some places were considered more sacred than others, while some were actually considered foul and polluting. The summary of the opinions of our writer has already been given where his locality is discussed. The writer is silent regarding the necessity of expiation for migrating into countries like Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Sauvira, and Deccan, while his predecessor, Baudhāyana insists on it. This fact, as I have said, shows greater liberality of the age regarding migration, or may probably hint something regarding the locality of the writer himself. There is one reference to show that falsely denying a Brāhmana's claim to nativity of his particular country[1] was
- ↑ This is I suspect to be an evidence for the locality of the author. The importance of the country of a Brāhmana is greater in Bengal than anywhere else. Though the Brähmanas of Brahmavarta claim superiority over Brähmanas of other parts, this superiority appears to be acknowledged in Bengal only; so much so that many Brāhmana tribes which have settled in Bengal for centuries would refuse to be called natives of province.
