Verse 5.157

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

अनेकानि सहस्राणि कुमारब्रह्मचारिणाम् ।
दिवं गतानि विप्राणामकृत्वा कुलसन्ततिम् ॥ १५७ ॥

anekāni sahasrāṇi kumārabrahmacāriṇām |
divaṃ gatāni viprāṇāmakṛtvā kulasantatim || 157 ||

Many thousands of unmarried Brāhmaṇa students have gone to heaven, without having perpetuated their race—(157).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The preceding verse has prohibited intercourse with another man for the purpose of maintenance; the present verse prohibits it, if betaken to for the purpose of continuing the race.

It has been declared that ‘there is no heaven for the childless person (‘aputrasya’).’ But in this sentence no significance attaches to the masculine gender used. In view of this text a widow might be prompted to take to another husband; and it is for meeting such a case that we have the present text.

‘Many thousands of unmarried students’—life-long celebates—‘have gone to heaven’—do go to heaven.

As for the^‘Niyoga’ that is prescribed for the widow in Discourse IX, that refers to a case where she is commanded to do so by her elders and not where she herself desires offspring.

‘Without having perpetuated their race’—The begetting of offspring is for the purpose of perpetuating one’s race; and they did not do it; i.e., they did not beget children.

‘Many, anekāni’.—In a negative compound the latter term forms the predominant factor: hence the use of the plural ending is open to question. Even though the compound contains the negation of unity, vet plurality is inadmissible. What the word signifies therefore is a very large number, though its exact nature is not expressed, and the character of unity is abandoned. Just as it is in the case of such words as ‘modat’ (?), ‘grāmaḥ’ and the like which denote multitude. Says the author of the Cūrṇikā—‘The form anekasmāt becomes justified where he has declared the correctness of the use of the singular number.

Or, the term ‘aneka’ may signify^‘alone, helpless’; the meaning being ‘the men who had become helpless by the death of their wife.’—(157).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 159 of others.)

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā, (on 2.127) to the same effect as the preceding verse;—and in Parāśaramādhava, (Prāyaścitta, p. 45) as laying down a life of continence for the widow.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 5.154-163)

See Comparative notes for Verse 5.154.