Verse 4.112

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

शयानः प्रौढपादश्च कृत्वा चैवावसक्थिकाम् ।
नाधीयीतामिषं जग्ध्वा सूतकान्नाद्यमेव च ॥ ११२ ॥

śayānaḥ prauḍhapādaśca kṛtvā caivāvasakthikām |
nādhīyītāmiṣaṃ jagdhvā sūtakānnādyameva ca || 112 ||

While lying down, while his feet are prominently thrust forward, and while he is seated with his knees tied together, he shall not study; as also after having eaten meat or food given by a person during impurity.—(112).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘With feet prominently thrust forward’—i.e., with feet spread forward, or with one foot over the other, or with his feet placed together on a stool, etc.

‘Avasakthikā’—is that mode of sitting in which the knees are tied together with a piece of cloth or some such thing.

‘Āmiṣa’—is meat.

‘Impurity’—includes that impurity also which is caused by the carrying of a dead body, etc.—(112).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (on 1.151);—in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 535), which explains ‘prauḍhapādaḥ’ as ‘with feet placed on a seat or over his thighs,’—‘avasakthikā’ as ‘tying up the knees with the loin,’—and the second line as ‘indicating the time during which hands may be wet after washing and rinsing the mouth, or having taken the food specified’;—in Nirṇayasindhu, (p. 194), which explains ‘prauḍhapāda’ as ‘placing one foot over another,’ or ‘with feet placed on the seat’, the latter explanation being attributed to Haradatta;—in Gadādharapaddhati, (Kāla, p. 195);—in Hemādri (Kāla, p. 779), which explains ‘avasakthikā’ as ‘tying the knees together with a napkin’;—in Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 56), which explains ‘prauḍhapāda’ as ‘spreading the feet’, or ‘putting one foot over the other,’ and ‘avasakthikā’ as ‘tying the knees together with a piece of cloth;’—in Smṛticandrikā, (Saṃskāra, p. 162), which explains ‘prauḍhapāda’ as ‘with a foot placed upon a seat,’ and ‘avasakthikā’ as ‘tying the knees together with the waist by a piece of cloth or some such thing’;—in Puruṣārthacintāmaṇi, (p. 444), which adds the same explanation of ‘avasakthikā’;— and in Saṃskāraratnamālā (p. 235), which explains ‘prauḍhapādaḥ’ as ‘with one foot placed over the other’, or ‘with a foot placed on a seat’, as explained by Haradatta.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (16.17, 34).—‘When he is frightened, or riding a conveyance, or lying down, or when his feet are thrust forward. It is unlit for study during the rest of the day and night, on the completing of the Veda, on vomitting, on eating at Śrāddha or at sacrifices to men.’

Vaśiṣṭha (13.8).—‘While one is running, when there is rotting smell and other such things spreading, seated on a tree, on the boat, in the army, after meals while the hands are still wet, while the flute is being played, on the fourteenth day, on the moonless day, on the Aṣṭakā days, while he is thrusting forward his feet, before the cloth worn during sexual intercourse has been washed, in ṭhe outskirts of the village, when one has vomitted or passed urine or evacuated the bowels, while there are sounds of the reciting of the Ṛk, Yajuṣ and Sāman, until the food has become digested, while there is thunder, earthquake, solar or lunar eclipse, when there is rumbling in the quarters or in the mountains, or shaking of the mountains, when there is rain of flesh or blood or dust, it is to be unfit for study till the same time next day.’

Viṣṇu (30.17).—‘Nor with his feet placed on a seat.’