Verse 11.173

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

अमानुषीषू पुरुष उदक्यायामयोनिषु ।
रेतः सिक्त्वा जले चैव कृच्छ्रं सान्तपनं चरेत् ॥ १७३ ॥

amānuṣīṣū puruṣa udakyāyāmayoniṣu |
retaḥ siktvā jale caiva kṛcchraṃ sāntapanaṃ caret || 173 ||

A man who has had sexual intercourse with nonhuman females, or with a menstruating woman,—and he who has discharged his semen in a place other than the female organ, or in water,—should perporm the ‘Sāntapana Kṛcchra.’—(173)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Non-human females’—the mare and the like.

Though the cow also is ‘non-human,’ yet in connection with it, a distinct expiation has been laid down by Gautama (23. 12-13).—‘For intercourse with a friend, a sister, a woman of the same gotra, the wife of the pupil, the daughter-in-law, and the cow, the expiation shall be equal to that for the violation of the Preceptor’s bed, or that for the immoral religions student.’ Between the two optional alternative expiations laid down by Gautama, viz., that prescribed for violating the Preceptor’s bed and that for the immoral religious student,—one has to be taken as pertaining to cases where the act has been intentional, and the other to those in which it has been unintentional.

In Gautama’s text, the term used is simply ‘talpa’ (bed), which, in view of the context in which it occurs, must be taken as standing for the ‘gurutalpa’ (Preceptor’s Bed);—and the term ‘avakara’ should be taken as standing for ‘avakīrṇa’ ‘Immorality,’ which, being the cause of the expiation, indicates the expiation itself. The word ‘sakhī’ (friend) in Gautama’s text stands for a woman with whom friendship has been contracted in the same-manner as with men; and it does not mean ‘the wife of a friend’; since the feminine affix here does not denote relation to the corresponding masculine; nor can this term be construed with the term ‘wife’ (coming later); since between the two we have the term ‘sayoni’ (sister). Vaśiṣṭha also uses the term in the same sense in the passage—‘Gurvī, sakhī, eta’

‘Menstruating woman’—the woman who is in her monthly courses.

Another reading is ‘pītvādharam puruṣaḥ, etc.’ The sense remains the same.

‘Ayoni’—a place other than the female organ.

Some people read (for ‘jale chaiva’) ‘jale khe ca’ [which means ‘in water and in Ākāśa’].

‘The Ākāśa being already included in the term ‘ayoni,’ ‘places other than the female organ,’—it need not be mentioned (by means of the word ‘khe’); as ‘kha’ stands for Ākāśa, which certainly is ‘a place other than the female organ.’ There is no force in this objection. As some people think that the presence of the term ‘yoni’ (in the compound term ‘ayoni’) indicates that the term stands for other parts of the ‘body’ [and under this view, the mention of Ākāśa would not be superfluous].

‘In water’—directly.—(173)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 1149), as referring to the act done intentionally and repeatedly;—and in Parāśa ramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 272).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 11.173-174)

Gautama (22.36).—‘For committing a bestial crime, excepting in the case of a cow, he shall offer an oblation of clarified butter, reciting the Kūṣmāṇḍa texts.’

Gautama (23.34).—‘For connection with a woman during her courses, one should perform the Kṛcchra penance for three days.’

Āpastamba (1.26.7).—‘He who has been guilty of conduct unworthy of an Aryan, of calumniating others,...... of connection with a Śūdra woman, of an unnatural crime,—shall bathe and sprinkle himself with water, reciting the seven verses addressed to Apas in proportion to the frequency with which the crime has been committed.’

Viṣṇu (53.4, 7).—‘For intercourse with a man, for unnatural crime with a woman, for wasting one’s manhood in the air, or in water, or during the day, or in a go-cart,—one must bathe in his clothes. For intercourse with cattle, or a public prostitute, one must perform the Prājāpatya penance.’

Yājñavalkya (3.288).—‘One who has intercourse with a woman in her courses, should, at the end of a three days’ fast, eat clarified butter and thereby purify himself.’

Do. (3.291).—‘If one has intercourse with a woman during the day, one should bathe and perform Breath-suspension.’