Verse 3.155

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

कुशीलवोऽवकीर्णी च वृषलीपतिरेव च ।
पौनर्भवश्च काणश्च यस्य चौपपतिर्गृहे ॥ १५५ ॥

kuśīlavo'vakīrṇī ca vṛṣalīpatireva ca |
paunarbhavaśca kāṇaśca yasya caupapatirgṛhe || 155 ||

An actor, one who has broken the vows of continence, the husband of a Śūdra woman, the son of a re-married woman, one who has only one eye, and he in whose house lives the paramour.—(155)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Bards, dramatic performers, dancers and singers are called ‘actors.’

‘One who has broken the vows of continence’—necessary for the student.

The term ‘vṛṣalī’ stands for the śūdra woman; her ‘husband.’ People think that this refers to a case where there is no other wife; the meaning being ‘he who is the husband of the Śūdra woman alone, he who has no wife of any twice-born caste.’

“Whence is this sense got at?”

In another connection, we find a recapitulation of reprehensible practices, where we read—‘these are men addicted to reprehensible practices’ (167); the mere marrying of a Śūdra woman, which is sanctioned by all, is not ‘reprehensible;’ but it has been sanctioned only for one who has already married a wife of the same caste as himself. Hence, what is excluded here is that husband of the Śūdra woman who has no wife of the same caste as himself.

‘The son of a re-married woman;’—‘punarbhūḥ’ is the remarried woman; described under Discourse 9, in the verse ‘she who has been abandoned by her husband, etc.’ (9.175).

‘Who has only one eye’—whose one eye is maimed.

‘He in whose house lives the paramour,’—i.e., the paramour of his lawfully wedded wife. Such a man is despised by reason of his tolerating such a thing. It is said below (8.317)—‘The abortionist transmits bis guilt to him who feeds him, and the misbehaved wife transmits hers to her husband.’—(155)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 687), which (on p. 693) adds the following notes:—‘Kuśīlava’ stands for ‘singers and others,’—‘Vṛṣalīpati’ is ‘the husband of a girl who attained puberty before marriage;’—that person also is to be excluded in whose house a paramour of his wife’s lives constantly;—in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 481);—and in Śrāddhakriyākaumudī (p. 40), which explains ‘Kuśīlavaḥ’ as ‘dancer’.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 3.150-166)

See Comparative notes for Verse 3.150.