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106
KALPA SÚTRA.
meal, should take whatever thing to eat or think he may have received, and wiping clean the outside of the vessel, go home, and put it down on his mat, and partake of it. He who fasts two days at a time, may on the other days leave the convent twice to enter the abodes of householders in quest of provisions*. He who fasts three days at a time may thrice on the intervening days leave home to seek provisions, and he who fasts more than three days may go as often as he pleases.
9. He who eats one day is permitted to use any kind of water ; he who fasts wholly one day, and eats one meal on the preceding and succeeding is permitted only to use three kinds of water, that in which a man's hands have been washed, in which flour has been washed, or in which rice has been washed. He who fasts two days at a time must drink only of the three following kinds of water, that in which oil seed, rice, or barley, has been washed. He who abstains three days from all food must also drink only of three kinds of water, viz., that in which grain has been boiled, water skimmed from butter-milk, and hot water. And he who abstains more days, must drink only hot water ; cold water is prohibited. At the same time the
* The general rule in all these cases is, that the provisions are cooked, ready for eating, and that the asectic asks nothing, but takes what is given.
