कृत्वोदकं ते भरतेन सार्धं नृपाङ्गना मन्त्रिपुरोहिताश्च।
पुरं प्रविश्याश्रुपरीतनेत्रा भूमौ दशाहं व्यनयन्त दुःखम्॥
kṛtvodakaṁ te bharatena sārdhaṁ
nṛpāṅganā mantri-purohitāś ca
puraṁ praviśyāśru-parīta-netrā
bhūmau daśāhaṁ vyanayanta duḥkham
kṛtvā = offered and; udakam = water [to the departed king]; te = they; bharatena sārdham = Bharata; nṛpa-aṅganāḥ = the queens; mantri-purohitāḥ ca = the ministers and priests; puram = the city; praviśya = entered; aśru-parīta-netrāḥ = with tear filled eyes; bhūmau = lying on the ground; daśa-aham = for ten days; vyanayanta duḥkham = mourned.
The queens, Bharata, the ministers and the priests offered water [to the departed king] and entered the city with their eyes filled with tears. They mourned for ten days, lying on the ground.1
[1] maryādā dhāraṇā sthitiḥ (Amara).
[2] gugguluḥ kāla-niryāsau (Nighaṇṭu).
[3] kiyal labdhāśanā bhūmau svapeyus te pṛthak pṛthak.
[4] pradakṣiṇam api bāndhavāḥ kurvanti evaṁ mārge ’pi citām āropya citāyām evety eke (Bodhāyana).
1 “Lying on the ground” indicates that they slept on the floor, not on beds, at night.
1]. Dvādaśāhena bhūpālaḥ kṣatriyaḥ ṣoḍaśe ’hani (Smṛti).
2 Since Bharata and others were absorbed in their general and specific duties according to Vedic dharma, it was sufficient for them to observe the mourning in ten days.
3 The Dharma-sūtras provide for regional variations in their rules to be observed. “Family” indicates that there are considerations of varṇas. The final rites for each varṇa are different. And there are different Dharma-sūtras. Particular families follow particular Dharma-sūtras. So all of this was considered in the performance of the final rites. What we see in this chapter sets out the basic elements of the rituals to be performed.
[The people] observed celibacy during the period of mourning as prescribed 3.
[According to śāstra, as a general rule] kings take sixteen days of mourning to attain purity while [other kṣatriyas take twelve days for the same].1 Then why is it said here that [Bharata and other kṣatriyas] mourned for ten days?
Because there is a specific [exception to the above general] rule in śāstra—kṣatriyas tu daśāhena sva-karma-nirataḥ śuciḥ: “But a kṣatriya absorbed in his specific duties becomes pure in ten days.”2
It should be understood that the women circumambulating the dead body [of the king] and offering [his departed soul] water did so in accordance with other statements of the Dharma-sūtras 4.
In this regard, bringing the sacred fire with the dead body, placing the dead body on a funeral pyre, lighting it from the sacred fire while chanting mantras, circumambulating it, offering water to the departed soul, mourning for ten days and sleeping on the ground [in celibacy for those days] constitute one form of the final rites while taking into consideration the region, family and the Dharma-sūtras followed by them.3