Verse 9.178

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

यं ब्राह्मणस्तु शूद्रायां कामादुत्पादयेत् सुतम् ।
स पारयन्नेव शवस्तस्मात् पारशवः स्मृतः ॥ १७८ ॥

yaṃ brāhmaṇastu śūdrāyāṃ kāmādutpādayet sutam |
sa pārayanneva śavastasmāt pāraśavaḥ smṛtaḥ || 178 ||

If a Brāhmaṇa, through lust, begets a son on a Śūdra woman, he is as a corpse, even though living, and hence called the ‘living corpse.’—(178)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

(verses 9.173-178)

[The Bhāṣya on these verses is not available in any of the manuscripts.]

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

“The designation ‘a corpse’ indicates that his father derives imperfect benefits from his offerings (Kullūka, Nārāyaṇa and Rāghavānanda),—or that he is blameable (Rāghavānanda).”—Buhler.

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava, (Prāyaścitta, p. 38);—in Vivādaratnākara (p. 574), which adds the following notes:—‘Pārayan,’ conferring some benefits upon the man whom he regards as his father,—he is called ‘śava’ ‘corpse,’ because of his being capable of conferring very little benefit upon his father;—in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī, (pp. 552 and 688);—in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Vyavahāra 38a);—in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra 189b)—and by Jīmūtavāhana (Dāyabhāga, p. 220), which says that this refers to the son of a Śūdra woman who is not a married wife.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Baudhāyana (2.3.30).—‘He who is begotten, through lust, by a man of the first twice-born caste on a Śūdra woman, is the Pāraśava son.’

Vaśiṣṭha (17.38).—‘They declare that the son of a woman of the Śūdra caste is the sixth (among those who are kinsmen, not heirs.)’

Viṣṇu (15.27).—‘The son born of a non-descript woman, Yatra-kvacana-utpādita, is the twelfth.’

Arthaśāstra (p. 42).—‘The son of a Brāhmaṇa father (and Śūdra mother) is the Niṣāda or the Pāraśava.’