Verse 4.18

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

वयसः कर्मणोऽर्थस्य श्रुतस्याभिजनस्य च ।
वेषवाग्बुद्धिसारूप्यमाचरन् विचरेदिह ॥ १८ ॥

vayasaḥ karmaṇo'rthasya śrutasyābhijanasya ca |
veṣavāgbuddhisārūpyamācaran vicarediha || 18 ||

He should wander about in this world, keeping his dress, speech and thoughts in conformity with his age, occupation, wealth, learning and family.—(18)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Vayasaḥ,’ ‘with age,’— the genitive ending denotes relationship to^‘conformity.’

‘Veṣavāgbuddhi.’—this is a copulative compound.

‘Sārūpyam.’—the affix ‘ṣyan’ has the reflexive force.

Thus the meaning comes to be as follows:—

Dress and the rest should be kept in due conformity with age and other things.

‘Sārūpya,’ means here conformity, compatibility; any other kind of ‘Sārūpya,’ ‘similarity,’—such as that of figure and the like—being impossible in this case.

‘Dress’ stands for the disposition of the hair, of ornaments, and so forth. Fop instance, during boy-hood, hair is to be worn in tufts; during youth, it shall be worn in curls and such other shapes; while in old age it shall be either worn clotted, or shall be clean shaven.

‘Speech’ also should be in conformity with age. Similarly, ‘thoughts’ also; that is, during early life the man should think of the triad (of wealth, pleasure and religious merit); but as he grows old, his thoughts should rest mainly on Religious Merit.

Dress should also be in conformity with one’s occupation, as also with one’s wealth; it should be in conformity with one’s family also. So that such things as painting of the teeth and dressing of the hair, etc., even though otherwise flagrant, cease to be so when they are in keeping with one’s occupation etc.

It has been said that the present verse deals with ordinary worldly activity. That is to say, it does not lay down an Injunction;—the injunctive portion of it having been already got out from other sources. All that the verse does is to describe the ordinary usage of the world; the sense being that if one behaves in accordance with this, one follows the ways of the world, and hence does not become unpopular among men.—(18)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Paribhāṣā, p. 36);—and in Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 71).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (1.5-6).—‘He shall dress in accordance with his age;—also in conformity with his learning, his family, his circumstances and his country.’

Yājñavalkya (1.123).—‘He shall behave in a straightforward and sincere manner, in conformity with his age, intelligence, wealth, speech, dress, learning, family and duties.’