Verse 5.20

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

अमत्यैतानि षड् जग्ध्वा कृच्छ्रं सान्तपनं चरेत् ।
यतिचान्द्रायाणं वाऽपि शेषेषूपवसेदहः ॥ २० ॥

amatyaitāni ṣaḍ jagdhvā kṛcchraṃ sāntapanaṃ caret |
yaticāndrāyāṇaṃ vā'pi śeṣeṣūpavasedahaḥ || 20 ||

Having eaten these unintentionally, he should perform the ‘Kṛcchra Sāntapana’, or the ‘Yati-Cāndrāyaṇa’; and in the case of the rest one should fast for a day.—(20)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Unintentionally’—unwillingly,—^‘having eaten these’—any one of the six just mentioned that it is any one that is meant, and not all together, is indicated by the fact that the act of eating in this case is nor. what is actually enjoined.

^‘In the case of the rest’—i.e. in the case of eating the other things—‘red exudations from trees’ and other things forbidden above,—one should desist from eating ‘for a day’;—the term^‘day’ is used as including the night also; e.g. in such passages as^‘the day is dark, the day is bright’ —(Ṛgveda 6.9.1.)

In connection with the eating of some of the things here forbidden, the text is going to prescribe in the section on Expiatory

Rites (Discourse 11) distinct expiatory rites:—e.g., in connection with^‘carnivorous animals, pig etc.’ (11.156); and in this case those are the Rites to be performed; since they have been directly enjoined in so man words; specially as the single ‘day’s fast’ here prescribed will have its application only in cases other than those especially provided for.—(20)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Cf. 11.155, 213 and 219.

This verse is quoted in Madanapārijāta (pp. 927 and 825) as laying down the expiation for the unintentional eating of the things;—in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 317) to the same effect, with the additional note that the ‘Sāntapana’ meant here must he that which extends over seven days.—The last quarter is quoted twice in Mitākṣarā on 3.290, to the effect that if one eats forbidden things other than those here mentioned only once, and that unintentionally, he has got only to fast for the day;—under 1.175 to the effect that the eating of the forbidden birds unintentionally makes one liable to fasting for the day;—and the first three quarters on 1.176, where it is pointed out that it refers to unintentional and repeated eating of the things;—also on 3.229 as laying down the expiation for unintentional eating.

It is also quoted in Aparārka (p. 1157), to the effect that by unintentionally eating the things enumerated repeatedly one becomes liable to the Yati-cāndrāyaṇa, and by eating other forbidden things to fasting during the day.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 5.20-21)

Yajñavalkya (1.176).—(See-above.)

Parāśara (2.9-10).—(See above.)

Śātātapa (Parāśaramādhava, p. 318).—‘Garlic, leek, onion, black brinjal, mushroom, tame pig, fame; cock, milk of camel, woman or ass,- on eating these one should undergo the Upanayana again and perform the ‘taptakṛcchra repeatedly.’

Viṣṇu (Parāśaramādhava, p. 319).—‘On eating the flesh of dogs, and on eating mushrooms, one should perform the Sāntapana; on eating substances cooked overnight,—except preparations of barley or wheat or milk, or what is smeared with oils, or dry sugar-candy—one should fast. Substances growing out of incisions or unclean things, the red exudation from trees, needlessly cooked rice-sesamum,... on eating these one should fast for three days and should stand in water for one day.’