Verse 3.19

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

वृषलीफेनपीतस्य निःश्वासोपहतस्य च ।
तस्यां चैव प्रसूतस्य निष्कृतिर्न विधीयते ॥ १९ ॥

vṛṣalīphenapītasya niḥśvāsopahatasya ca |
tasyāṃ caiva prasūtasya niṣkṛtirna vidhīyate || 19 ||

There is ho expiation for him who has drunk the moisture of the mouth of a Śūdra woman, who has been tainted by her breath, and who has begotten children on her.—(19).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This is an exaggerated exhortation.

‘Vṛṣalīphena’ is the moisture of her mouth; he by whom this has been drunk is ‘vṛṣalīphenapīta;’—the past participial adjective ‘pīta’ being put last by the analogy of such compounds as ‘palāṇḍubhakṣita,’ and so forth.

If we adopt the other reading ‘vṛṣalīpītaphenasya,’ then the compound ‘pītaphenaḥ’ is to be expounded as ‘pītaḥ pheno yasya;’ and this, with the term ‘vṛṣalī’ taken as an Instrumental Tatpuruṣa,—according to Pāṇini 2. 1. 30. (the sense being ‘the moisture of whose mouth has been drunk by a Śūdra woman’). Or, ‘pītaphena,’ expounded as above, might be taken as forming a Genetive Tatpuruṣa with ‘vṛṣalī.’

The meaning is the same in all cases. When the husband and wife lie together, the touching of their lips, etc., are inevitable. Hence, what the word of the text indicates is sexual intercourse, by mentioning something that is concomitant with it.

From the context it is clear that this verse is supplementary to the foregoing prohibition, and it is not an independent assertion. If it were an independent assertion, we should have the prohibition of kissing only, and the other forms of intercourse would become sanctioned; so that, by having intercourse with a Śūdra woman, only if one avoids kissing, he would not be transgressing any scriptural injunction.

‘Who has begotten children on her’—i.e., who has had intercourse with her during her ‘courses.’

‘Expiation’—purification there is none. This indicates a high degree of deprecation.—(19).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 495) along with the preceding four verses;—in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 75), where ‘phenapītasya’ is explained as ‘pītamukhāsavasya’, ‘he who has drunk wine from the mouth.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 3.13-19)

See Comparative notes for Verse 3.13.