Verse 2.49

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

भवत्पूर्वं चरेद् भैक्षमुपनीतो द्विजोत्तमः ।
भवन्मध्यं तु राजन्यो वैश्यस्तु भवदुत्तरम् ॥ ४९ ॥

bhavatpūrvaṃ cared bhaikṣamupanīto dvijottamaḥ |
bhavanmadhyaṃ tu rājanyo vaiśyastu bhavaduttaram || 49 ||

The Brāhmaṇa, having undergone Initiation, should beg for food with words of which ‘bhavat’ (‘Lady’) forms the beginning; the Kṣatriya with words of which ‘bhavat’ forms the middle; and the Vaiśya with words of which ‘bhavat’ forms the end.—(49)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The word ‘bhaikṣam’ here stands for the words with which the request for alms is preferred; as it is only the words that can have ‘bhavat’ as the ‘beginning’; the food itself could not have any such beginning.

In as much as it is laid down that ladies are the first to be begged from first, and in the request made it is the person begged from that is addressed, it is the feminine vocative form of the term ‘bhavat’ that should be used.

All that the present text does is to lay down the order of the words to he used, there being some transcendental purpose served by the order. The actual words used should be—‘bhavati bhikṣām dehi,’ ‘O Lady, give me food.’

Question,—“ Wherefore could there be any possibility of

Sanskrit words being used, since they are addressed to women, and they do not understand Sanskrit

Answer.—The Initiatory ceremony, being compulsory, is of an eternal character; and it is in connection with this ceremony that the use of the words is laid down. The vernaculars (corrupt languages) are not eternal; so that there could be no connection between these and an eternal ceremony. Then again, just as when educated people hear corrupt forms of words used, they are reminded, by the resemblance, of the corresponding correct forms and thereby come to comprehend the meaning;—for instance, the (incorrect) word ‘?ā’ leads to the inference (remembrance of) of the (correct) word ‘go' through similarity, according to the theory that ‘the incorrect word is expressive only by inference, and the meaning is comprehended from the inferred correct word’; in the same manner when correct words are addressed to women, they remember, through similarity, the corresponding incorrect words whoso meaning they know, and thus they come to comprehend the; meaning of the words used. Further, the expression in question is a short, one consisting of three words only, and these being well-known words, they would be easily comprehensible by ladies also.

Similarly the Kṣatriya should use words of which the ‘bhavat’ forms the middle; the actual form being ‘bhikṣām bhavati dehi,’ ‘Give me, O Lady, food.’ So the Vaiśya should use words of which ‘bhavat’ forms the end. The word ‘bhavaduttaram’ means ‘that of which bhavat forms the end’;—the compound thus standing for the sentence (give me food, O Lady’).

‘Having undergone Initiation’;—the past-participial ending implies that the rule laid down here is to be observed also in connection with the begging for food for daily living (even after the first day of the initiation); and further, what is said in verse 68 below—‘such is the procedure of initiation for the twice-born’—is a summing up of the whole section on ‘Initiation’; and hence shows that the rule laid down in the present verse applies also to that begging for alms whicḥ forms part of the ceremony of Initiation. If we do not take it thus, then what is laid down here would only he taken either as a part of the Initiation-rites (as shown by the context), or as applying to the ordinary begging for food;—in this latter case the implication of the context would be rejected and stress would be laid only upon the sense of the past-participial ending (‘having undergone Initiation’) As a matter of fact, what is here prescribed is applicable to that ‘begging for food’ which forms part of the Initiatory Rites, as also to that which is done for the purposes of livelihood.—(49)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Smṛtitattva (p. 936); in Madanapārijāta (p. 32), which latter adds, the following notes:—

In the phrase ‘bhaikṣam charet’ the verb indicates begging, as is shown by the objective term ‘bhaikṣam’; it is in view of this that the expression to be used in the begging is—‘bhikṣām dehi’ (‘give alms’);—and as the words have to be addressed with proper respect, the term ‘bhavat’ with the vocative ending (‘Madam’ or ‘Sir’) has to be added at the beginning, middle or end, according to the caste of the begging boy;—then, inasmuch as in the house, it is, as a rule, the women-folk that give alms, it follows that the feminine-(vocative) form of the term ‘bhavat’ should be used;—thus then the precise form of the expression comes to be this—(a) The Brāhamaṇa boy should say ‘bhavati bhikṣām dehi’, (b) the Kṣatriya, ‘bhikṣām bhavati dehi,’ and (c) the Vaiśya, ‘bhikṣām dehi bhavati’. There is no such hard and fast rule as that ‘alms should be begged from women only.’

Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 481) also quotes the verse, and supplies the formula as noted in Madanapārijāta;—Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 60) quotes it, and lays down the formula for the three castes as—(a) ‘bhavati bhikṣām dadātu’, (b) ‘bhikṣām bhavatī dadātu,’ and (c) ‘bhikṣām dadātu bhavati—Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 108), which mentions the formula as given in Madanapārijāta;—and also Vīramitrodaya (Vyāvahāra, p. 124).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama-Dharmaṣūtra, 2.43.—‘The term bhavat shall be used in the beginning, middle or end, respectively, according to the caste.’

Baudhāyana-Dharmasūtra, 1.2.17-18.—‘In the formula used, the term bhavat should come in the beginning and the term bhikṣām in the middle. In begging, the Brāhmaṇa should use the term bhavat in the beginning; the Kṣatriya, in the middle; the Vaiśya, in the end.’

Āpastamba-Dharmaṣūtra, 1,3.28-30.—‘The Brāhmaṇa should beg alms with words beginning with bhavat, the Kṣatriya with words having bhavat in the middle, and the Vaiśya with words having bhavat in the end.’

Vaśiṣṭha-Smṛti, 11.50.—‘The Brāhmaṇa should beg alms with words beginning with bhavat, the Kṣatriya, with bhavat in the middle, and the Vaiśya, with bhavat in the end.’

Viṣṇu-Smrti, 27.25.—‘Alms-begging is accompanied by the term bhavat in the beginning, in the middle and in the end.’

Yājñavalkya, 1.30.—‘The alms-begging of the Brāhmaṇa, the Kṣattnya and the Vaiśya, should be accompanied by the term bhavat in the beginning, middle and end, respectively.’

Āśvalāyana-Gṛhyasūtra, 22.8.—‘The formula used should be bhavat bhikṣām dadātu.’

Pāraskara-Gṛhyasūtra, 5.2.2-4).—‘The Brāhmaṇa should beg alms with the term bhavat in the beginning; the Kṣatriya, with the term bhavat in the middle; the Vaiśya, with the term bhavat in the end.’

Śaunaka (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 439).—‘In begging from males, he should say bhikṣām bhavat dadātu, and in begging from females bhikṣām bhavatī dadātu.’