Verse 4.115

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

पांसुवर्षे दिशां दाहे गोमायुविरुते तथा ।
श्वखरोष्ट्रे च रुवति पङ्क्तो च न पठेद् द्विजः ॥ ११५ ॥

pāṃsuvarṣe diśāṃ dāhe gomāyuvirute tathā |
śvakharoṣṭre ca ruvati paṅkto ca na paṭhed dvijaḥ || 115 ||

The Brāhmaṇa shall not read during a dust-storm, or while the sky is burning, or while jackals are howling, or while dogs ur donkeys or camels are crying in a line.—(115).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Gomāyu’—is the jackal; the ‘howling’ of the jackal is its crying.

It is time unfit for study only when dogs, donkeys and camels are crying together in large numbers; each of these three crying along with others of the same species.—(115).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Paṅktau’—Buhler entirely misrepresents Kullūka; Kullūka does not explain the term as ‘in a company’; he clearly explains that what is meant is that ‘one shall not read the Veda when seated in a line with horses, camels or asses’; while Medhātithi explains the meaning to be that ‘that time is unfit for study when the animals named cry out in a line

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 536);—in Hemādri (Kāla, p. 774);—in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 163);—and in Gadādharapaddhati (Kāla, p. 195).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Vaśiṣṭha (13.8).—pSee above.]

Gautama (16.8).—‘During the cry of the dog, the jackal, or the ass.’

Bodhāyana (1.11, 34).—‘When the jackal’s cry is heard at night, one shall not read till he goes to sleep.’

Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (1.10.19.33).—‘Cry of the ass, the dog, or of the jackal, or the owl, the sounds of musical instruments, the sound of weeping or of singing or of Sāma;—in the case of the jackal’s cry, till one goes to sleep.’

Viṣṇu (30.9-12).—‘Not during earthquakes, nor when there is meteor-shower or the burning of the quarters; nor when there are sounds of the dog, the jackal or the ass.’

Yājñavalkya (1.148, 150).—‘When there are sounds of the dog, the jackal, the owl, the Sāma, the arrows (or flute?) or of some one in distress; or in the proximity of an unclean thing, a dead body, a Śūdra or a Caṇḍāla, the cremation-ground or the outcast; when there is rain of dust, or burning of the quarters; during the twilights, or during a fog, or when there is some danger.’

Pāraskara. (2.11.6).—‘During a fog, when there is sound of musical instruments, or cry of distress,—in the outskirts of the village, or in the cremation-ground, or when there are sounds of the dog, the ass, the owl, the jackal or the Sāma,—it is unfit for study while all this lasts.’