Verse 8.385

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

अगुप्ते क्षत्रियावैश्ये शूद्रां वा ब्राह्मणो व्रजन् ।
शतानि पञ्च दण्ड्यः स्यात् सहस्रं त्वन्त्यजस्त्रियम् ॥ ३८५ ॥

agupte kṣatriyāvaiśye śūdrāṃ vā brāhmaṇo vrajan |
śatāni pañca daṇḍyaḥ syāt sahasraṃ tvantyajastriyam || 385 ||

The Brāhmaṇa, approaching an unprotected Vaiśya or Kṣatriya woman, should be fined five hundred, and one thousand for approaching a woman of the lowest order.—(385)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This is the punishment for the Brāhmaṇa having intercourse with a Vaiśya or a Kṣatriya woman.

‘Of the lowest order’—i.e., the Caṇḍāla, the Śvapaca and so forth. In their case the fine shall be one thousand.

The law relating to the fine of thousand ‘paṇas’ is briefly as follows:—For the Brāhmaṇa approaching a protected woman of any of the four castes, the fine shall be one thousand; and in addition to this for having intercourse with the wife of a Vedic scholar there shall be both banishment and branding, while in other oases there shall be banishment only. We presume this to be the case with the wife of a Vedio Scholar on the ground that the expiatory rite prescribed in connection with such intercourse is of a serious character.

For intercourse with an unprotected woman, there shall be a fine of five hundred in addition to banishment and branding.

Though the unprotected woman may he spoken of as ‘another man’s wife,’ on account of her having undergone the marriage-rites, yet, in reality, when she becomes loose in her character, she practically ceases to belong to her husband.

For the non-Brāhmaṇa, there is death-penalty if he approaches by force a protected woman: for approaching a willing woman, he shall be fined one thousand, and also banishment and branding;—as laid down under 376 above.—(385)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Antyajastriyam’—‘Chāṇḍāla woman’ (Medhātithi, Govindarāja, Kullūka and Rāghavānanda);—‘woman belonging to such castes as washermen, cobblers, actors, basket-makers, fishermen, Mādas and Bhillas’ (Nārāyaṇa).

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 394), which adds the following notes:—‘Kṣatriyavaiśye’ is the dual form in the Accusative;—‘antyajastrī’, washerwoman and the like;—in view of what is said here the death-penalty laid down elsewhere for having recourse to the ‘antyaja’ woman should be understood as meant for men other than Brāhmaṇas;—in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 1008);—and in Vivādacintāmaṇi (p. 108), which explains ‘antyaja’ as ‘the washerwoman, the cobbler, and so forth.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.382-385)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.382.