Verse 5.35

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

नियुक्तस्तु यथान्यायं यो मांसं नात्ति मानवः ।
स प्रेत्य पशुतां याति सम्भवानेकविंशतिम् ॥ ३५ ॥

niyuktastu yathānyāyaṃ yo māṃsaṃ nātti mānavaḥ |
sa pretya paśutāṃ yāti sambhavānekaviṃśatim || 35 ||

But when invited according to law, if a man does not e at meat, he becomes, after death, a beast, during twenty- one births.—(35)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Sambhava’ stands for janma, birth.

Except when there is danger to life through hunger, if a man does not worship the Gods, and yet eats meat, he certainly incurs sin.—(35)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 251), which explains ‘niyuktaḥ’ as ‘invited, at a sacrifice to the gods or at a Śrāddha’;—in Mitākṣarā (on 1.179) to the effect that one must eat meat when iṅvited to a Śrāddha;—in

Nirṇayasindhu (p. 294) as setting forth the sinfulness of not eating the meat duly offered;—in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika, p. 530), which explains ‘sambhavān’ as ‘births’;—in Smṛtitattva (p. 449);—in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 577);—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 279), which remarks that this refers to such meat as is not forbidden.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Vaśiṣṭha (11.34).—‘An ascetic who, invited to dine at a sacrifice to Pitṛs or to gods, refuses meat, shall go to hell.’

Yama (Aparārka, p. 251).—‘The man who, invited to a Śrāddha or to a sacrifice to the gods, refuses meat, shall go to hell, etc.’

Hārita and Śātātapa (Vīramitrodaya-Āhnika, p. 530).—‘If one, invited to a Śrāddha, does not eat meat, one goes to hell...’