Verse 4.34

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

न सीदेत् स्नातको विप्रः क्षुधा शक्तः कथं चन ।
न जीर्णमलवद्वासा भवेच्च विभवे सति ॥ ३४ ॥

na sīdet snātako vipraḥ kṣudhā śaktaḥ kathaṃ cana |
na jīrṇamalavadvāsā bhavecca vibhave sati || 34 ||

The Accomplished Brāhmaṇa shall not, if he can, suffer from hunger; nor shall he wear torn or dirty clothes, so long as he has any property.—(34).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

If he happen to fail in some attempt at acquiring wealth, he shall not, at once, have recourse to methods permitted during abnormal times; on the contrary, he should try again and again; this is what has been said in 4.13. Consequently, if the man is a cultivator, and his crops have withered for want of grain, he should not, merely for this, at once have recourse to living upon others, or to begging.

So long as he can, and so long as he has property, torn and dirty clothes shall not be worn.—(34)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Śaktaḥ’—‘Who is able to procure food’ (Nārāyaṇa);—‘he who is able to dine shall not stint himself through avarice’ (Nandana);—‘a Snātaka, who is a fit recipient of gifts must not pine with hunger (so long as the king has anything to give);—Rāghavānanda reading ‘Yuktaḥ’ explains it to mean ‘A Snātaka suffering from hunger shall not (...?)

This verse is quoted in Nityācārapradīpa (p. 353);—and in Smṛtisāroddhāra (p. 224).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (9.3).—‘So long as he has any property, he shall not wear torn or dirty clothes.’

Vaśiṣṭha (12.4).—‘He shall not associate with a man in dirty clothes, nor with a woman in her courses.’

Viṣṇu (72.9).—[Same as Gautama.]