Verse 4.84 [Gifts not to be Accepted]

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

न राज्ञः प्रतिगृह्णीयादराजन्यप्रसूतितः ।
सूनाचक्रध्वजवतां वेशेनैव च जीवताम् ॥ ८४ ॥

na rājñaḥ pratigṛhṇīyādarājanyaprasūtitaḥ |
sūnācakradhvajavatāṃ veśenaiva ca jīvatām || 84 ||

He shall not accept gifts from a king not born of the Kṣatriya caste; nor from the keepers of slaughterhouses, oil-presses or grog-shops; nor from those who live on brothels.—(84)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

It has been said above (4.33) that ‘he shall seek for wealth form Kings,’ This word, “king,” denoting the lord of men, has been found to be applied to the Kṣatriya as well as the non-Kṣatriya; e.g., in such expressions as ‘the Kingdom of Brāhmaṇas,’ Hence, in connection with a rule regarding the acceptance of gifts, when we find a prohibition, we take the term as standing for the lord of men; specially, as in the present verse, we have the phrase ‘not born of the Kṣatriya caste,’ Since it is possible for one to accept, through avarice, the gifts of the lords of men, belonging to all castes, the text has specified it; the sense being—‘one shall not accept gifts from such a lord of men as is not born of the Kṣatriya caste; nor even from the Kṣatriya king, who does not behave according to the scriptures as will be made clear by the prohibition coming later on.

‘Sūnā’ is slaughter-house; and he who lives by selling meat, after having slaughtered the animal, is called a butcher,’ a ‘keeper of the slaughter-house.’

Similarly, ‘cakravān’ is one who lives by oil-pressing; who is known among men as ‘khaṭika.’

‘Dhvaja’ is wine-shop; and the ‘dhvajavān’ is he who lives by buying and selling wine

‘Veśa’ is brothel; he who lives by this—be it a man or a woman.—(84)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Madanapārijāta (p. 218), which adds that the ‘king’ here spoken of is one who tyrannises over his subjects;—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 410).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 4.84-85)

Yājñavalkya (1.141).—[‘He shall not accept any gifts from a king who is greedy and who acts against the scriptures.’]

‘In the matter of acceptance of gifts, the butcher, the oil-presser, the wine-vendor, the prostitute and the king are all condemned, each succeeding one being ten times worse than the preceding.’

Yama (4, 58).—‘Gifts from the king should be avoided by those who are desirous of winning the three worlds; by accepting the gift of a king, one’s Brāhmaṇahood disappears.’

Saṃvarta (quoted in Parāśaramādhava, p. 199).—‘The king’s gift is something terrible; it is like wine-drinking, and like poison; it is better to feed on the flesh of one’s own son, than to accept of the king’s gift.’