Verse 4.99

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

नाविस्पष्टमधीयीत न शूद्रजनसन्निधौ ।
न निशान्ते परिश्रान्तो ब्रह्माधीत्य पुनः स्वपेत् ॥ ९९ ॥

nāvispaṣṭamadhīyīta na śūdrajanasannidhau |
na niśānte pariśrānto brahmādhītya punaḥ svapet || 99 ||

He shall recite, not indistinctly, nor in the proximity of Śūdras; nor shall he go to sleep again, at the end of night, when he is tired after having recited the Veda.—(99)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Indistinct’—when the letters and accents are not clearly pronounced. This happens when a man is reciting hurriedly.

‘At the end of night’— in the latter part of night. If he, on rising from sleep, study the Veda, he shall not, if he becomes tired, go to sleep again. The right reading is—‘na niśānte pariśrānto brahmādhītya śayīta tu.’—(99)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 144) as laying down what should be avoided in the reading of the Veda;—in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 525);—in Vidhānapārijāta (p. 526);—in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Āhnika, p. 35a);—and in Saṃskāraratnamālā (pp. 313 and 323).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (16.19).—‘In the proximity of rotting smell, a dead body, a Caṇḍāla or a Śūdra (the Veda shall not be studied).’

Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (l.9.9-11).—‘The Śūdra and the outcast are like the cremation-ground—as regards the Śūdra woman, if she looks at one, or if one looks at her, the reading should be stopped.’

Vaśiṣṭha (18.9).—‘The Śūclras are the same as the cremation-ground; therefore one should not read near the Śūdra.’

Viṣṇu (30.14, 27).—‘Not near the Śūdra or the outcast; one should not sleep after having read at the end of the night.’

Yājñavalkya (1.148).—‘On hearing the sound of the dog, or of the jackal, or of the ass, or of the owl, or of Sāma-chant, or of the bamboo-flute, or of a man in pain,—as also near an unclean thing, or a dead body, or a Śūdra, or a Caṇḍāla, or the cremation-ground, or an outcast (the reading shall be stopped).’

Baudhāyana (1.11.33).—‘During the time that the Śūdra hears or sees (study shall be stopped).’

Nārada (Parāśaramādhava, p. 144).—‘He who reads without the hand, or defective in accent and syllable, he becomes scorched by Ṛk, Yajuṣ and Sāman.’

Vyāsa (Do.).—‘What is read on a forbidden day, or near a Śūdra, or for obtaining gifts, leads one to hell.’