Verse 11.24

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

न यज्ञार्थं धनं शूद्राद् विप्रो भिक्षेत कर्हि चित् ।
यजमानो हि भिक्षित्वा चण्डालः प्रेत्य जायते ॥ २४ ॥

na yajñārthaṃ dhanaṃ śūdrād vipro bhikṣeta karhi cit |
yajamāno hi bhikṣitvā caṇḍālaḥ pretya jāyate || 24 ||

The Brāhmaṇa shall never beg from a Śūdra wealth for the purpose of sacrificial performances; if one perform sacrifices with wealth so begged, he is born, after death, as a Caṇḍāla.—(24)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

It is begging that is forbidden here; if anything comes unasked, the acceptance of that is not forbidden; since it has been declared that—‘the acceptance of riches that come unasked is declared to be no acceptance at all, in accordance with special usage and texts.’

This prohibition is with reference to the begging of wealth for sacrificial purposes, and not to that for maintaining one’s dependants.

Some people regard this verse only as supplementary to what has gone before; the meaning being that—‘inasmuch as begging is found to be beset with an undesirable feature, the appropriation of the property of Śūdras should be done in other ways.’—(24)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 165);—in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra p. 185);—and in Hemādri (Dāna, p. 60).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 11.24-25)

Viṣṇu (59.11).—‘He shall not make an offering of food obtained as alms from a Śūdra.’

Yājñavalkya (1.127).—‘If a man performs a sacrifice with accessories obtained in alms from a Śūdra, he becomes a Caṇḍāla.—If one does not offer away in a sacrifice what he has obtained for that purpose, one becomes a Bhāsa bird or a crow.’