Verse 4.114

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

अमावास्या गुरुं हन्ति शिष्यं हन्ति चतुर्दशी ।
ब्रह्माष्टकपौर्णमास्यौ तस्मात् ताः परिवर्जयेत् ॥ ११४ ॥

amāvāsyā guruṃ hanti śiṣyaṃ hanti caturdaśī |
brahmāṣṭakapaurṇamāsyau tasmāt tāḥ parivarjayet || 114 ||

The Moonless Day destroys the Teacher, the Fourteenth Day destroys the pupil, and the Eighth Day and the Full-moon days destroy the Veda; hence these he shall avoid.—(114).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This a commendatory supplement to the foregoing rule, and it is meant to show its obligatory character. Hence, in cases where there is nothing to indicate the obligatory character of the rule, the treating of the occasion as unfit for study is meant to be optional. The Author himself is going to add (in 127 below)—‘he shall always avoid two only.’

‘These he shall avoid’—for purposes of Vedic study.—(114).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Puruṣārthacintāmaṇi (p. 441), which explains ‘Brahma’ as ‘Veda’;—in Hemādri (Kāla, p. 755);—in Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 53), which adds that this holiday lasts the whole day and night;—in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 152), which adds the same note;—and in Gadādharapaddhati (Kāla, p. 195).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Bodhāyana (1.11.40).—‘Here they cite the following,—“The eighth of the month destroys the Teacher, the fourteenth destroys the pupil, the fifteenth destroys the science; hence one should avoid reading at these junctures.”’

Viṣṇu (30.29.30).—‘What is read on the day unit for study brings no reward either in this world or in the other; by study on those days, I here is diminution of the life-span of the teacher and also of the pupil.’