A collection of roughly fifty-five deeds "must be avoided in the Kali [Age]," the final age in the cosmic time cycle after which it is said the world will be destroyed and rebuilt.
One of the tactics employed by brahmin academics to prohibit
certain religious practices that were required in the holy writings but were no
longer acceptable due to changing beliefs was to adopt this strategy.
Around the eleventh century C.E., the Kalivarjya
restrictions first appear in manuscripts.
Certain animal sacrifices authorized in the Vedas (the
oldest Hindu religious books) and suicide by a human suffering from a terminal
disease were deemed permissible in ancient times but outlawed during the Kali
period.
Pandurang Vaman Kane (trans.), A History of Dharmasastra, 1968, is a good source of knowledge.
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