Verse 3.241

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

घ्राणेन सूकरो हन्ति पक्षवातेन कुक्कुटः ।
श्वा तु दृष्टिनिपातेन स्पर्शेणावरवर्णजः ॥ २४१ ॥

ghrāṇena sūkaro hanti pakṣavātena kukkuṭaḥ |
śvā tu dṛṣṭinipātena sparśeṇāvaravarṇajaḥ || 241 ||

The pig defiles by sniffing, the cock by wind raised by its wings, the dog by casting his eye, and the man born of the low caste by touch.—(241).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The cock defiles by the wind raised by its wings.

The meaning of this verse has already been explained above (under 239); the sense is that the proximity of these should be avoided up to such distance that they may not be able to see the performance.

‘The man born of the low caste’—here meant is the Cāṇḍāla; as it is this that has been spoken of above.

It has been already explained above that the actions of touching and the rest stand here for the action that has been mentioned above (in 239), and not for these actions themselves. For this reason, there is no room for the following criticism.—“The touch of the Cāṇḍāla being already prohibited generally, there could be no possibility of such touching, and hence the prohibition here contained becomes superfluous; hence the ‘man born of the low caste’ must be taken as the Śūdra; and what is prohibited is the Śūdra touching the Śrāddha, etc., offered by twice-born men, but not those performed by himself.”

Even if the actions of touching, etc., stand for themselves,—what is meant is not that evil results from the Cāṇḍāla touching the articles of food and drink, but that he should not touch the unsheltered spot on the river-bank and such other places that has been selected for the performance; as the impurity caused by such contact has been described as removed by wind and fire. And thus, inasmuch as the touch of such persons would be quite possible (under the circumstances just described), it is only right that it should be prohibited.—(241)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 472), which explains ‘avaravarṇajaḥ’ as ‘Śūdra’;—in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 576);—and in Gadādharapaddhati (Kāla, p. 521), which explains ‘avaraja’ as Śūdra, and explains the meaning to be that ‘the things should be removed far enough so that the wind etc. may not reach the food.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 3.239-241)

See Comparative notes for Verse 3.239.