Verse 4.122

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

अतिथिं चाननुज्ञाप्य मारुते वाति वा भृशम् ।
रुधिरे च स्रुते गात्रात्शस्त्रेण च परिक्षते ॥ १२२ ॥

atithiṃ cānanujñāpya mārute vāti vā bhṛśam |
rudhire ca srute gātrātśastreṇa ca parikṣate || 122 ||

Not without having obtained the permission of his guest, nor while the wind blows vehemently; nor when blood has flowed from his body, or his body has been wounded by a weapon.—(122).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The ‘guest’ here stands for gentlemen in general. The ‘guest’ is a gentleman who happens to arrive by chance; and, when such a gentleman has arrived, the Veda shall be studied, but only after his permission has been obtained with the words, ‘May I proceed with my study.’ Says another Smṛti-text,—‘When a gentleman has come to the house.’

When the winds blows ‘vehemently’—i.e., with great force.

Objection.—“Study has already been forbidden ‘when air is audible by the ear’ (102), and so forth.”

True. But what is meant by the present text is that when the wind blows with greater force than what has been mentioned before (in 102); or, it may sefer to the wind blowing apart from the rains. That such is the meaning is indicated by the usual meaning of the root ‘vā,’ ‘to blow,’ which means to dry up; and wind (apart from the rains) always tends to dry up things; and in this sense, the term ‘māruta’ shall stand for the constituent elements of’ the body; and the meaning in this case (of the term ‘vāti’) shall be that—‘when the constituents of the man’s body have been dried up by the labours of study’; the whole phrase (‘mārute vāti’) would thus mean—‘when the wind is blowing high and the reader is emaciated,’—there being no co-ordination between the two locatives (in ‘mārute’ and ‘vāti’).

When blood has flowed, through the bite of leeches and such other insects; or when blood has flowed, by reason of his body being wounded by a weapon. The term, ‘from the body,’ is to be construed with both clauses. (122).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 536);—in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 164);—in

Hemādri (Kāla, p. 774), which explains the meaning as ‘when the Brāhmaṇa arrives, the reader should offer him water etc., and then having obtained his permission, he should proceed with his study’;—and in Gadādharapaddhati (Kāla, p. 196).