Verse 4.83

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

केशग्रहान् प्रहारांश्च शिरस्येतान् विवर्जयेत् ।
शिरःस्नातश्च तैलेन नाङ्गं किं चिदपि स्पृशेत् ॥ ८३ ॥

keśagrahān prahārāṃśca śirasyetān vivarjayet |
śiraḥsnātaśca tailena nāṅgaṃ kiṃ cidapi spṛśet || 83 ||

Catching of the hair, as also striking on the head,—these he shall avoid; having his head bathed, he shall touch no limb with oil.—(83)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Some people hold that this refers to one’s own head, as well as to the head of other persons; while others connect this with the term, ‘his own,’ of the preceding verse.

What is forbidden here is the hair-catching, etc., done in anger; for there is ‘hair-catching’ also during sexual intercourse, and this is not forbidden.

The compound ‘śiraḥ-snāta’ is to be expounded as^‘śiraḥ snātam anena,’ he whose head has been bathed, the order of the term being in accordance with the rule governing such compounds as, by appearance, belong to the ‘Rājadanta’ group (Pāṇini 2.2.31).

‘He shall not touch any limb’—of his own.—(83)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Tailena’—This, is construed by almost all the commentators with ‘spṛśet’, ‘one should not touch with oil any limb after having bathed his head’; by others with ‘Śiraḥsnātaḥ’, ‘one who has anointed his head with oil shall noṭ touch any limb’.

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 183), which construes the second line to mean ‘having anointed his head with oil, he shall not rub that same oil over any other limb, or he shall not, during the rest of that day, rub his body with any oil at all’.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (64.12).—‘He shall not touch the oiled limb.’