Verse 11.150

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

अज्ञानात् प्राश्य विण्मूत्रं सुरासंस्पृष्टमेव च ।
पुनः संस्कारमर्हन्ति त्रयो वर्णा द्विजातयः ॥ १५० ॥

ajñānāt prāśya viṇmūtraṃ surāsaṃspṛṣṭameva ca |
punaḥ saṃskāramarhanti trayo varṇā dvijātayaḥ || 150 ||

The three twice-born castes, who have unwittingly swallowed ordure or urine, or anything that has been in contact with wine, are liable to re-initiation.—(150)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Ordure or wine’—is meant to include semen also; since we read in another Smṛti—‘This same expiation applies to the case of the eating of ordure, stenching corpse and semen.’

“Whose ordure and urine are meant here?”

Of men; the ease of those of other animals we shall deal with later on.

In connection with this offence also, the ‘Tapta - Kṛcchra’ has to be combined with what is here laid down; reasons for which have been already explained above.

Stress is meant to be laid upon the term ‘twice-born’; since another expiation for Śūdras is going to be laid down later on.

‘Unwittingly.’—This is only a reiteration; who is there who would swallow ordure or urine intentionally?

Further, in connection with the (intentional) drinking of intoxicants, it has been laid down that ‘having partaken of an intoxicant, one should perform the ‘Kṛcchra’; so that if Initiation were the only expiation meant for the intentional swallowing of ordure and urine, the text would imply that both (eating of ordure and drinking of an intoxicant) stand on the same footing (which is absurd).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.254), as referring to eases where the twice-born eats dry grain which has come into contact with liquor;—in Aparārka (p. 1074), where ‘surāsaṃspṛṣṭam’ is explained as ‘that in which the taste of liquor is absent e.g. water contained in a vessel which had contained liquor; the eating of what bears the taste of liquor being as bad as the drinking of liquor itself; it adds that here also the re-initiation is to follow the prescribed expiatory rites;—again on p. 1164;—in Nirṇayasindhu (p. 191) in Vidhānapārijāta (p. 488);—in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra p. 545);—in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta p. 298);—in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 104);—and in Saṃskāraratnamālā (p. 279), which says that the ‘punaḥ saṃskāra,’ is always to be preceded by the performance of the Tapta-Kṛcchra.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (23.3).—‘The Taptakṛcchra penance should be performed for swallowing urine, excrements or semen.’

Vaśiṣṭha (20.20).—‘The Kṛcchra and th e Atikṛcchra are prescribed for swallowing excrements, urine and semen.’

Viṣṇu (51.2).—‘If a man has tasted any of the bodily excretions, or of intoxicating drinks, he must perform the Cāndrāyaṇa penance.’

Yājñavalkya (3.255).—‘On unwittingly drinking semen, excreta or urine, the three twice-born castes have to undergo initiation a second time.’

Parāśara (11.4).—‘One who has eaten excreta or urine should, for his purification, perform the Prājāpatya penance, and then bathe with and drink the five bovine products.’

Do. (12.1).—‘The Brāhmaṇa who has eaten defiled food, or semen or beef or the food of a Cāṇḍāla, he should perform the Kṛcchra-Cāndrāyaṇa.’