Verse 5.131

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

मक्षिका विप्रुषश्छाया गौरश्वः सूर्यरश्मयः ।
रजो भूर्वायुरग्निश्च स्पर्शे मेध्यानि निर्दिशेत् ॥ १३१ ॥

makṣikā vipruṣaśchāyā gauraśvaḥ sūryaraśmayaḥ |
rajo bhūrvāyuragniśca sparśe medhyāni nirdiśet || 131 ||

Flies, water-drops, shadow, the cow, the horse, the sun’s rays, dust, earth, air and fire—should be regarded as pure to the touch.—(131).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Flies’.—all sweat-born insects.

The ‘cow’ includes the goat and sheep.

The ‘horse’ includes the elephant and the mule.

The ‘sun’ includes all luminous bodies.

‘Vipruṣaḥ’, ‘water-drops’—such drops of water as are invisible and can be felt only by touch.

‘Shadow’—of the Cāṇḍāla and other unclean things.

‘Earth’—in contact with, or walked over by, the Cāṇḍāla and the like—is pure. In other cases its sweeping has been prescribed.

The flies &c. mentioned here, even though coming into contact with ordure and other unclean things, do net become sources of defilement.

Another Smṛti-text says—‘Goats and horses are pure in their mouths; cows are pure except in their mouths; cats and mongoose are touchable,—as also other auspicious birds and animals’.—(131).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 133 of others.)

‘Vipruṣaḥ.’—‘Drops of water, invisible, but perceptible by touch only’ (Medhātithi and Govindarāja);—‘drops of saliva coming out of the mouth’ (Kullūka, Rāghavānanda and Nārāyaṇa).

This verse is quoted in Madanapārijāta (p. 469), which adds the following notes:—‘makṣikā’ includes all those insects whose touch cannot be avoided;—‘vipruṣaḥ’ are those drops whose form is invisible;—‘chāyā’—other than what is expressly forbidden;—‘rajaḥ’ other than what is expressly forbidden.

It is quoted in Smṛtitattva (p. 296).

This verse is quoted in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Śrāddha, p. 17a);—in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 838);—and in Śuddhikaumudī (pp. 350 and 358), which says that ‘chāyā’ stands for the shadow cast by persons other than the caṇḍāla.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (23.52).—‘Flies, saliva-particles dropping from the mouth, shadow, cow, elephant, horse, sun-beams, dust, earth, air, fire and cat are always pure.’

Yājñavalkya (1.193 and other texts —see under 128.)