Verse 5.142

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

वान्तो विरिक्तः स्नात्वा तु घृतप्राशनमाचरेत् ।
आचामेदेव भुक्त्वाऽन्नं स्नानं मैथुनिनः स्मृतम् ॥ १४२ ॥

vānto viriktaḥ snātvā tu ghṛtaprāśanamācaret |
ācāmedeva bhuktvā'nnaṃ snānaṃ maithuninaḥ smṛtam || 142 ||

Having vomitted or purged, one should bath and then eat clarified butter. After having eaten his food, he should only sip water. For one who has copulated bathing has been ordained.—(142).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Vomitting’ and ‘purging’ are well known. The man who throws out the food that he has eaten is said to have ‘vomitted’. The man the number of whose motions has gone beyond the number eight,— either through disease, or through his having taken Harītakī or some such purgative—is said to have ‘purged.’

These two persons should first of all bathe.

Then, they should eat clarified butter and then any other kind of food; and the injunction of eating clarified batter is meant to be a prohibition of other kinds of food. Just as in the case of expiatory rites, ashes and water are regarded as means of purification, so in the case in question, is the eating of clarified butter.

‘After having taken food he should only sip water’— After he has taken his food, if he happen to vomit or purge on the same day, then he should do the sipping of water only, and not. bathing and eating of clarified butter.

Others have taken this independently by itself, to mean that ‘after having taken his food he should sip water this being a reiteration of the water-sipping that has already been prescribed as to be done after meals.

‘One who has copulated,’—i.e., one who has had sexual intercourse with a woman,—becomes pure by bathing. (142).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 144 of others.)

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 922); and again on (p. 926), where it explains the meaning to be that ‘if one vomits after having eaten food, he must wash’;—in Mitākṣarā (on 3.30), which adds, like Aparārka, that the last clause refers to sexual intercourse during the wife’s ‘courses’;—in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika, p. 106), which notes that ‘viriktaḥ’ means ‘one who has abnormal purgings,’—and that the meaning is that ‘if one vomits after he has taken his food, he should only wash, and not bathe’;—and again on p. 199 where the construction of the second half is explained as ‘bhuktvā annam vāntaḥ,’ whence the meaning is that on vomitting immediately after food, there should be washing only,—the particle ‘eva’ serving to preclude the bathing which is prescribed in the first half of the verse for one who has ‘vomitted’;—the ‘sexual intercourse,’ refers to that during the courses;—in Śuddhikaumudī (p. 331), which explains ‘viriktaḥ’ as ‘one who has had many motions,’ and adds that if one vomits immediately after taking his food, he is simply to rinse his mouth, and for the man who has had sexual intercourse during the wife’s ‘period,’ he is cleansed by bathing;—in Nityācārapradīpa (p. 334), which says that ‘vāntaḥ’ is understood after ‘bhuktvā annam,’ and adds the same notes;—and in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 796).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Āpastamba (2.1.21-23).—‘During intercourse only they shall he together; afterwards separate; then they shall both bathe.’

Viṣṇu (22.67).—‘Bathing is also ordained after sexual intercourse, after bad dreams, also when blood has issued from the throat and after having vomited or been purged,’

Parāśara (Aparārka, p. 922).—‘After bad dreams and sexual intercourse, or vomiting, or purging, or shaving,... one should bathe.’

Bṛhaspati (Do.).—‘After sexual intercourse, there should be immediate bathing.’

Yama (Do.).—‘When there is indigestion, or purging or vomiting, or sleeping at sunset, after bad dreams, or touching a wicked man, one shall only bathe.’