Verse 5.52

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

स्वमांसं परमांसेन यो वर्धयितुमिच्छति ।
अनभ्यर्च्य पितॄन् देवांस्ततोऽन्यो नास्त्यपुण्यकृत् ॥ ५२ ॥

svamāṃsaṃ paramāṃsena yo vardhayitumicchati |
anabhyarcya pitṝn devāṃstato'nyo nāstyapuṇyakṛt || 52 ||

If a man, without worshipping the gods and Pitṛs, seeks to increase his own flesh by the flesh of others,—there is no s inner greater than that person.—(52).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This deprecates the man who eats meat for the purposc of fattening himself, and not one who does it for averting disease. That this is so is clear from the words of the text ‘he who seeks to increase.’ In him also, only if he does it ‘without worshipping the Gods and Pitṛs.’ But if the man is ill, and recovery is not possible without eating meat, then there would be no harm, even if the said worshipping were not done.—(52).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

“In the Mahābhārata (13.114.14) this verse is ascribed to Nārada.”—Hopkins.

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika, p. 531);—and in Smṛtisāroddhāra (p. 301).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Mahābhārata (13.115.14, 36) (116.11).—(Reproduces Manu, the second line reading as ‘Nāradaḥ prāha dharmātmā niyatam sovasīdati under 14; and under 36, the second line reading as ‘udvignavāso vasati yatra yatrābhijāyate’ and under 116.16, the second line reading as ‘nāsti kṣudratarastasmāt sa nṛśaṃsataro naraḥ.’)

Viṣṇu (51.76).—(Same as Manu.)

Yājñavalkya (1.181).—(See above, under 47.)