Verse 4.76

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

आर्द्रपादस्तु भुञ्जीत नार्द्रपादस्तु संविशेत् ।
आर्द्रपादस्तु भुञ्जानो दीर्घमायुरवाप्नुयात् ॥ ७६ ॥

ārdrapādastu bhuñjīta nārdrapādastu saṃviśet |
ārdrapādastu bhuñjāno dīrghamāyuravāpnuyāt || 76 ||

He shall eat with wet feet; but he shall not sleep with his feet wet. By eating with wet feet, one would attain long life.—(176)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Before the act of eating, one shall observe the rule that ‘one should eat with wet feet;’ it is not meant that he should go on wetting his feet till he has finished eating and become fully satisfied.

‘Shall not deep’—i.e., he shall not lay down his body upon the bed; ‘samveśana,’ ‘sleeping,’ standing for the laying down of the body on the bed.

The reason for this is next mentioned—‘Long life.’—It does not mean that the injunction is meant only for one who desires long life (and for none others); in fact, like the preceding ones, this also is obligatory; and the mention of ‘long life’ is purely illustrative.—(76)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 72).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Mahābhārata (12.191.6-7).—‘He shall eat food with five limbs wet,—facing the east and silent; he shall not decry the food, he should cat it whether it be tasty or otherwise. He shall not rise from his seat with wet hands. He shall not sleep with wet feet.’

Do. (13.104.61).—[Reproduces Manu.]

Viṣṇu (69.34).—‘Nor with unwet feet, nor with unwet hands and mouth (shall he eat).’

Viṣṇu (70.1).—‘He shall not sleep with wet feet.’