Verse 10.38

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

चण्डालेन तु सोपाको मूलव्यसनवृत्तिमान् ।
पुक्कस्यां जायते पापः सदा सज्जनगर्हितः ॥ ३८ ॥

caṇḍālena tu sopāko mūlavyasanavṛttimān |
pukkasyāṃ jāyate pāpaḥ sadā sajjanagarhitaḥ || 38 ||

By the ‘Caṇḍāla,’ on the ‘Pukkasa’ woman is begotten the ‘Sopāka,’ whose livelihood consists of death, and who are wicked and despised by good people.—(38)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Vyasana’ is suffering;—the ‘mūla,’ of it is killing; what is meant is that the livelihood of these men is the executing of criminals, the carrying of the dead bodies of men dying without any relations, the taking away of their clothes, eating the cakes offered to the dead, and so forth.

This caste is born from the ‘Caṇḍāla’ on the ‘Pukkasa’ woman.

Or, ‘mūla’ may be taken as standing for the roots of trees, and the ‘vyasana’ would stand for the dissecting of these; and this forms their livelihood. That is, they live by selling the roots and other things extracted out of the trees that have been cut down.—(38)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Mūlavyasanavṛttimān’—‘Who lives by executing criminals.’ (Govindarāja and Rāghavānanda);—‘who lives by digging roots for selling them as medicines or for curing homorhoids (hemorrhoids?)’ (Nārāyaṇa and Nandana).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 10.6-41)

See Comparative notes for Verse 10.6.