Verse 5.97

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

उद्यतैराहवे शस्त्रैः क्षत्रधर्महतस्य च ।
सद्यः सन्तिष्ठते यज्ञस्तथाऽशौचमिति स्थितिः ॥ ९७ ॥

udyatairāhave śastraiḥ kṣatradharmahatasya ca |
sadyaḥ santiṣṭhate yajñastathā'śaucamiti sthitiḥ || 97 ||

For one who is killed in battle with brandished weapons, in the manner befitting the kṣatriya, sacrificial performances become instantly completed; and so also is the impurity; such is the established law—(97).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

For one who is killed in battle with brandished weapons, in the manner befitting the Kṣatriya, sacrificial performances become instantly completed; and so also is the impurity; such is the established law—(97).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Śastra’, ‘weapon’, is that by which people are slain, killed; hence by the present rule, also for the man who is killed by pieces of stone or a club or such other things, sacrificial performances become completed.

‘Āhava’, ‘Battle is so called because in this men are challenged (āhūyante) to fight, through mutual rivalry.

‘Manner befitting the Kṣatriya;—i.e., never turning his back,—fighting in the defence of his people, or under orders from his master.

‘Sacrificial performances’—such as the Jyotiṣṭoma and the rest;—‘become instantly completed’—finished. That is, the man becomes endowed with the merit proceeding from the due performance of the sacrifices.

Impurity also in their case is the same; i.e. it ceases immediately.

Some people construe the term ‘sadyaḥ’, ‘instantly’, with the word ‘killed’; and according to this what is said here would apply to the case of only that man who actually dies on this battle-field, and not to one who is moved away from there and dies on some other day.

This point however is open to question.—(97).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 98 of others.)

‘Yajñaḥ’—‘The Jyotiṣṭoma and other similar sacrifices’ (Medhātithi);—‘the funeral sacrifice’ (Nārāyaṇa).

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (on 3.20), in support of the view that in the case of people dying in battle, there is ‘immediate purity’;—in Madanapārijāta (p. 393), which explains ‘yajñaḥ’ as ‘the offering of the funeral ball and so forth,’—and ‘Santiṣṭhate’ as ‘completed’;—in Nirṇayasindhu (p. 381), which explains ‘yajñaḥ’ as ‘antyakarma,’ ‘the funeral rite’, which is all done at the same time;—in Śuddhikaumudī (p. 71) which explains ‘kṣatradharmahatasya’ as ‘killed in the forefront of battle’—‘yajñaḥ’ as ‘Agniṣṭoma and the like,’—and ‘santiṣṭhate’ as ‘becomes meritorious’;—and in Smṛtisāroddhāra (p. 229) which explains ‘yajñaḥ’ as ‘the ball-offering and the like’,—and ‘Santiṣṭḥate’ as ‘becomes accomplished’.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Yājñavalkya (3. 29).—‘During the performance of charity, in battle, in sacrificial performances, in times of public disturbance, and under great distress, purification is instantaneous.’

Parāśara (3.30-31).—‘In this world, two men pierce through the solar orbit—the mendicant firm in Yoga and one killed in the battle-front.’