Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi

by Ganganatha Jha | 1920 | 1,381,940 words | ISBN-10: 8120811550 | ISBN-13: 9788120811553

This is the English translation of the Manusmriti, which is a collection of Sanskrit verses dealing with ‘Dharma’, a collective name for human purpose, their duties and the law. Various topics will be dealt with, but this volume of the series includes 12 discourses (adhyaya). The commentary on this text by Medhatithi elaborately explains various t...

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

नाश्नीयाद् भार्यया सार्धं नैनामीक्षेत चाश्नतीम् ।
क्षुवतीं जृम्भमाणां वा न चासीनां यथासुखम् ॥ ४३ ॥

nāśnīyād bhāryayā sārdhaṃ naināmīkṣeta cāśnatīm |
kṣuvatīṃ jṛmbhamāṇāṃ vā na cāsīnāṃ yathāsukham || 43 ||

He shall not eat with his wife; nor shall he look at her while she is eating, or snoring, or yawning, or sitting at her ease.—(43)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Under 5.130, it is said that ‘the mouth of women is always pure,’ and again one is advised to avoid ‘the leavings of women and Śūdras.’ Both of these are true within their own limited sphere. When the mouth is said to be ‘ever pure,’ it refers to the time of sexual intercourse, in view of what has been declared in another Smṛti regarding ‘the purity of the woman during sexual intercourse.’ From this it follows that the prohibition applies to such a woman with whom one can never have such intercourse; e.g., the mother, the sister, and the like. Specially because what is prohibited here is not simply affectionate treatment, but the entertaining of thoughts of love and longing preceded by the erotic sentiment. Hence it follows that the ‘purity’ pertains to woman related to such intercourse, and the prohibition to those not so related.

The above considerations would give rise to the notion that one may eat with one’s wife, who serves the purposes of sexual intercourse; hence with a view to preclude such an idea, the text proceeds to declare—‘he shall not eat with his wife.’

“As a matter of fact, what has been said regarding the ‘purity’ of the woman’s mouth, refers to a particular form of advances that the man in love generally makes, so that the purity can refer only to the act of kissing; and there is no possibility of its making any one inclined to eat with his wife.”

But the reiteration contained in the present verse is meant to show the form of the observance; which means that one should make a life-long vow that ‘he shall never eat with his wife.’

The ‘eating together’ that is mentioned here as the object of prohibition is—(a) eating out of the same dish, (b) eating at the same time and (c) eating at the same place. So that there can. be no room for the idea that the pohibition applies to ‘leavings.’ That the meaning of ‘eating together’ is as just mentioned we gather from other Smṛti texts and from usage; as for ‘leavings,’ this term can only mean what has been left.’ Thus, then, when it is said that—‘his friends and others he shall feed with his wife’ (3.113),—it is clear that what is meant is, not that they shall eat out of the same dish with the wife, but that they shall eat at the same time and place with her. [Hence, it must be these latter that are forbidden by the present verse].

Others have explained ‘leavings’ as something different—as what has been left after one has eaten. So that it would not be a case of ‘eating the leavings’ when one eats in the same dish with one’s wife.

According to this explanation, what would be the object of the prohibition would be the eating with Śrūdas (Śūdras?) only; and this would involve the abandoning of universally accepted notions, under which mere touch (of the Śūdra) is regarded as constituting ‘ucciṣṭa,’ ‘leaving;’ and this touch is present also when two persons are ‘eating together.’

Some people hold that what is forbidden is eating at the same time and place; that this is so, follows from the fact that the teaching herein contained is with a view to a visible purpose; the prohibition therefore being based upon the fact that men differ in their nature, some men are not pleased with their wife eating large quantities, while there are others who, on finding their wife eating little, think that she is deceiving him by eating little in his presence.

Similar to the above are the other restrictions: ‘he shall not look at her while she is eating;’ if he sees her while eating, when she may be opening her mouth wide, she may look ugly and thus fail to please her husband.

Snoring’—is the sound made by the nose filled with the wind passing down from the head. Here also the disfiguring of the face is likely to make the husband displeased.

Yawning’—the prolonged breathing out of air with the mouth, or the spreading out of the body and limbs. This also is undesirable on the said grounds.

Sitting at her ease’—with hair diśevelled, with the body thrown upon the ground.—(43)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 180);—in Mitākṣarā, (on 1.125);—in Madanapārijāta (p. 123);—in Vīramitrodaya. (Āhnika, p. 479, and again in Saṃskāra, p. 578);—in Saṃskāramayūkha, (p. 71);—and in Smṛtisāroddhāra, (p. 320).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 4.43-44)

Viṣṇu (68.46).—‘He shall not eat with his wife, nor in the sky, nor standing, nor while many men are looking on.’

Viṣṇu (71.25).—‘He shall not look at his wife while she is eating.’

Viṣṇu (72.26)—‘Nor a naked woman.’

Gautama (9.33).—‘He shall avoid the following:—kindling fire with the mouth, wrangling, obtrusive wearing of garlands and sandal-paste, eating with his wife, looking at her while she is applying collyrium to her eyes, entering by the wrong door, eating while seated on a chair, swimming in rivers, climbing of trees, etc., etc.’

Śukranīti (4.4.29).—‘Then her husband and lastly she herself shall partake of food at the instance of her husband. She should then devote her time to the examining of income and expenditure.’

Vaśiṣṭha (12.29).—‘Not between two fires, nor between two Brāhmaṇas, nor with his wife, shall one eat; by so doing, one obtains offspring devoid of virility; this we learn from the Vājasaneya texts.’

Yājñavalkya (1.131).—‘He shall not eat where his wife can see him, nor with a single cloth, nor standing.’

Yājñavalkya (l.135).—‘He shall not look at the naked woman, nor after intercourse.’

Aṅgiras (Vīramitrodaya-Āhnika, p. 479).—‘The wise do not perceive any harm in a man eating with his own wife, or her leavings.’

Smṛtyarthasāra (Do.).—‘He shall not eat with his wife.’

Like what you read? Consider supporting this website: