Verse 2.174

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

यद्यस्य विहितं चर्म यत् सूत्रं या च मेखला ।
यो दण्डो यत्च वसनं तत् तदस्य व्रतेष्वपि ॥ १७४ ॥

yadyasya vihitaṃ carma yat sūtraṃ yā ca mekhalā |
yo daṇḍo yatca vasanaṃ tat tadasya vrateṣvapi || 174 ||

That skin, that sac red thread, that girdle, that staff and that garment, which has been prescribed for one, stand during the observances also.—(174)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The authors of Gṛhyasūtras have laid down certain acts called ‘observances’; such for instance as, ‘for one year one desires to get up the Veda or a part of it,’—in which connection there are observances and vows and restraints prescribed; when one of these observances has been completed, and another is taken up, then all the rules and regulations that have been prescribed in connection with the Upanayana have to be followed.

“In that case how are the skin, etc., previously taken up to be disposed of?”

They are to be thrown into the water.

“That has been declared to be the method of disposing of things previously taken up; but of what form would be the disposal of such of those things as might have been destroyed (or lost)?”

As regards cases of loss, in as much as each of the things has its use definitely prescribed in the descriptions, it naturally follows that when one is lost, it is replaced by another; and this taking up of the latter would constitute the ‘disposal’ of the former.

‘That skin’ which has been prescribed for a particular Religious Student, e.g., ‘the skin of the Kṛṣṇa deer for the Brāhmaṇa, that of the Ruru deer for the Kṣatriya and so forth.

Similarly with the staff and other things.

All this stands ‘during the observances, also.’ In view of the context, ‘observances’ here must he taken as standing for ‘instruction regarding observances.’—(174)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 58), which explains ‘vrateṣu’ as standing for the Sāvitrya and the rest.’