Verse 5.81

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

प्रेते राजनि सज्योतिर्यस्य स्याद् विषये स्थितः ।
अश्रोत्रिये त्वहः कृत्स्नमनूचाने तथा गुरौ ॥ ८१ ॥

prete rājani sajyotiryasya syād viṣaye sthitaḥ |
aśrotriye tvahaḥ kṛtsnamanūcāne tathā gurau || 81 ||

On the death of the King in whose realm he lives, it lasts till the light; in the case of a non-learned teacher, for the whole day; as also in the case of the (ordinary) teacher.—(81).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The name ‘rājan’ is really applied indirectly to the man of a particular caste as endowed with the qualifications of anointment and the rest; that it is so is clear from the clause^‘in whose realm he lives.’ In fact when the word signifies the lord of a country belonging to a particular caste, it does so only by indirect indication, and not by direct denotation.

‘Till the light’—i.e., it continues along with the light. That is, if the death occurs during the day, the impurity lasts during the day only, and it does not go on into the night; similarly if the death occurs at night, it lasts during the night only, and does not extend to the day. The fact that the text has used this peculiar expression—‘sajyotiḥ’, ‘till the light’—in the present context (when only day, and only night are meant),—is indicative of the fact that whenever the term ‘day’ or ‘night’ is used, it means both day and night; e.g., in verses 5.66 and 5.59. in 5.64 also, where the term ‘night’ is used in addition to the term ‘day’, it is added only for the purpose of filling up the metre.

At night, the ‘light’ is that of fire, as we rend in the Brāhmaṇa-text bearing upon the Agnihotra—‘The night becomes resplendent with the light of fire, not with the light of the Sun.’

In the case of the ‘non-learned’—who does not study the Veda—‘teacher’—it lasts during the whole day; it does not extend to the night, even when the cause of impurity happens during the night.

“How can a ‘non-learned’ man be a ‘teacher’? In fact it is only one who has learnt the Veda along with its subsidiary sciences that is entitled to do the work of teaching.”

True; but a mere expounder is also called a ‘teacher.’ Hence what is meant is that ‘in the case of the person who has, somehow, learnt the subsidiary sciences (without learning the Veda) and expounds them, the impurity lasts during the day.’ That this must be the meaning is indicated by the fact that there is a distinct rule reference to the Teacher who is properly qualified, or to the Initiating Preceptor, who is the principal object of reverence.

Some people connect the negative prefix in ‘non-learned’ with the term ‘teacher’; and explain the rule laid down as referring to ‘the learned man who is the teacher of other persons, and bears no relation to the person concerned’.—(81).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 82 of others.)

‘Anūcāne tathā gurau’—‘A guru who expounds the Veda along with the subsidiary sciences’ (Govindarājā, Kullūka and Rāghavānanda);—‘the guru and the person capable of expounding the Veda’ (Nārāyaṇa);—Medhātithi construes ‘anūcāne’ with ‘aśrotriye’, and explains it to mean ‘one who, though not learned in the Veda, is yet conversant with the subsidiary sciences’;—Nandana (and also ‘others’ in Medhātithi) read ‘agurau’, and explains ‘anūcāne agurau’ ‘one who is learned in the Vedas and its subsidiaries, but is not one’s guru’.

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 215), which explains ‘Sajyotiḥ’ as that impurity which lasts ‘as long as the light’, of the sun, or of the stars;—in Mitākṣarā, which also explains the meaning to be that the impurity lasts as long as the light; i. e., if death has occurred during the day, then it lasts till sunset, while if it has occurred during the night, then as long as the stars are visible;—in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 613), which offers the same explanation, and in the same words, as Mitākṣarā;—in Madanapārijāta (p. 435), which explains the term ‘Sajyotiḥ’ as ‘lasting as long as the light’, and adds—‘during the day, it lasts till sunset, and during the night, till sunrise’;—and in Hāralatā (p. 76), which adds the following explanation:—That Kṣatriya king in whose territories one lives, if such a king, who is not a Vedic Scholar, dies, then the impurity is ‘Sajyotiṣ’, i.e., if the death occurs during the day, it lasts as long as the sun is visible, and if it occurs during the night, then as long as the stars are visible,—if the said king is an expounder of the Veda, the impurity lasts the whole day and night,—‘anūcāna’ is one who has studied the Veda and is capable of expounding it,—similarly if the ‘guru’ dies, the impurity lasts the whole day and night, ‘guru’ is one who has taught a little of the subsidiary sciences.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (22-45, 46).—‘The impurity lasts for one day, when the king of that country in which one lives has died; likewise if a man not his Sapiṇḍa has died at his house.’

Yājñavalkya (3.25).—‘Purity is attained on the same day, in the case of the death of the king in whose realm one lives.’