Verse 4.107

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

नित्यानध्याय एव स्याद् ग्रामेषु नगरेषु च ।
धर्मनैपुण्यकामानां पूतिगन्धे च सर्वदा ॥ १०७ ॥

nityānadhyāya eva syād grāmeṣu nagareṣu ca |
dharmanaipuṇyakāmānāṃ pūtigandhe ca sarvadā || 107 ||

In villages and cities, it is always unfit for study, for those who seek for perfect merit; as also in foul-shelling places.—(107).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Those who desire perfect merit, should not study in villages and cities.—The term, ‘dharma,’ ‘merit’ stands for the result of merit, in the shape of Heaven, &c. Or, the ‘perfection of merit’ may consist in freedom from all contact with demerit; whereby the entire purport of an Injunction becomes fulfilled. This would imply that the said study may be permissible in cases of disability.

‘Foul-smelling places.’— There should be no studying in a place where evil smell reaches the nose.

‘All’—i.e., in all cases of foul smell; e.g., even when there is smell of a dead body.—(107)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 534), which explains ‘Dharmanaipuṇyakāmāḥ’ as ‘those who have not yet got up the Veda adding that for those who have already got up the Veda, there would be nothing wrong in reading it in the village’;—in Hemādri (Kāla, p. 771), which has the following notes:—Those who have completed their studies and carry it on further only for the sake of acquiring spiritual merit are here spoken of as ‘Dharmanaipuṇyakāma’, those still engaged in elementary studies are called ‘vidyānaipuṇyakāma’; it is for the former that reading in villages and towns is here prohibited;—in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 161), which has the same note and adds that the implication is that for those who are ‘vidyānaipuṇyakāma,’ reading in villages and towns is not forbidden;—and in Gadādharapaddhati (Kāla, p. 194), which notes that the holidays laid down for the ‘dharmanaipuṇayakāma’ are not meant for others.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (16.19).—‘In the proximity of rotting smell, dead body, Caṇḍāla or Śūdra.’

Gautama (16.46).—‘According to some, in the city, it is always unfit for study.’

Bodhāyana (1.11.23).—‘When there is rotting smell in the wind, when there is fog, and when there are sounds of dancing, music, musical instruments, weeping, and Sāma-singing,—it will be unfit for study so long as these last.’

Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (1.10.24).—‘Hotting smell.’

Do. (1.10.31).—‘Unseasonable clouds, halos round the sun and the moon, rainbow, rotting smell in the wind, fog,—in all these cases, it will he unfit for study, till they last.’

Vaśiṣṭha (13.5).—‘At sunset, during the twilight, if there is a dead body in the house, or a Caṇḍāla, in cities, in places where cowdung has been lying overnight, or which bear marks of the cowdung, near the cremation-ground, while one is lying down, or after one has taken part in a Śrāddha.’

Yājñavalkya (1.150).—‘When there is dust-storm or fiery quarters, during the twilights, when there is fog or when there is danger, while one is running, when there is rotting smell, and when a gentleman-visitor has come to the house.’

Bharadvāja (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 530).—‘When there are fire-portents or dust-storm there should be no reading in the village.’

Āpastamba (Do.).—‘When there is meteor-fall or fire-portent, there should he cessation of the study of all subjects till they last.’