Verse 4.216

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

श्ववतां शौण्डिकानां च चैलनिर्णेजकस्य च ।
रञ्जकस्य नृशंसस्य यस्य चोपपतिर्गृहे ॥ २१६ ॥

śvavatāṃ śauṇḍikānāṃ ca cailanirṇejakasya ca |
rañjakasya nṛśaṃsasya yasya copapatirgṛhe || 216 ||

Nor of dog-keepers, or of wine-sellers or of the clothes-washer, or of the dyer, or of the bard, or of the man in whose house there is a paramour.—(210)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Those who keep dogs for hunting purposes are called ‘dog-keepers.’

‘Wine-sellers,’—those who deal in wines; or those who make a living in wine-shops.

‘Clothes-washer,’—he who washes and cleans clothes; another name for them is ‘Kāruka.’

‘Dyer’—one who dyes clothes in blue and other colours.

‘Nṛśaṃsa’—is one who sings the praises of men, known as the ‘bandī,’ ‘bard.’ Or, it may stand for the pitiless man.

He in whose house there lives the paramour of his wife.—(216)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Nṛśaṃsa’—‘cruel person’ (Medhātithi, Govindarāja and Kullūka);—‘a bard’ (Nārāyaṇa and Rāghavānanda, also suggested by Medhātithi).

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (on 3.290);—in Madanapārijāta (p. 945),—and in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika, p. 496), which adds the following—‘Śvavān’ is one who keeps dogs for hunting-purposes,—‘Śauṇḍika’ is the liquor-seller,—‘Celanirṇejaka’ is one who lives by washing clothes,—‘rajaka’ is the cloth-dyer,—‘nṛśaṃsa’ is one devoid of pity—and the man in whose house a recognised paramour lives;—in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 774);—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 251), which explains ‘Śvavān’ as ‘one who keeps dogs for hunting purposes’ and remarks that ‘Śauṇḍika’ and the other terms stand for the twice-born person who follows these professions.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Vaśiṣṭha (14.3, 6).—‘The miser, the initiated, the imprisoned, the diseased, the Soma-seller, the carpenter, the dyer, the wine-seller, the spy, the usurer, the dealer in leather, the Śūdra, the weapon-wielder, the paramour, the person who permits a paramour, who burns houses, he who kills for the sake of other people eating the meat. The gods eat not the food of the dog-keeper, nor of the man who has a Śūdra wife, nor of the man controlled by his wife, nor of one who permits a paramour in the house.’

Vyāsa (3.51).—‘The actor, the wine-seller, the intoxicated, the apostate and those who have neglected their vows.’

Gautama (17.18).—(See above.)

Viṣṇu (51.16-16).—‘One who makes a living by dogs, the wine-seller, the oilsman, the clothes-washer, the woman in her courses, and of the man who has a paramour in the house of his wife.’

Yājñavalkya (1.163, 164).—(See above.)