Verse 11.156

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

क्रव्यादसूकरोष्ट्राणां कुक्कुटानां च भक्षणे ।
नरकाकखराणां च तप्तकृच्छ्रं विशोधनम् ॥ १५६ ॥

kravyādasūkaroṣṭrāṇāṃ kukkuṭānāṃ ca bhakṣaṇe |
narakākakharāṇāṃ ca taptakṛcchraṃ viśodhanam || 156 ||

For eating the meat of carnivorous animals, of pigs, of camels, of cocks, of crows, of asses, or of human flesh,—the atonement consists of the Tapta-Kṛcchra.—(156)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The particle ‘ca’ indicates that the previous verse (154) also is to be construed with the present one; so that for the eating of the meat of the village-pig and other animals mentioned therein, this same should be the expiation.

And the second ‘ca’ indicates that the expiation for swallowing the ordure or urine of carnivorous and other animals (mentioned in the present verse), would be the same as that in the case of that of the village-pig and other animals (mentioned in 154); but with this difference that in another Smṛti, what is laid down in the present verse is found to be applied to the case of all men; hence so far as the present verse is concerned, no significance can be attached to the specification of ‘twice-born men’ (in 154), where it is said that ‘the twice-born man shall perform the Cāndrāyaṇa.’

Thus these two verses (154 and 156) should be taken along with Verse 159; so that the eating of what has been touched by the mouth of these animals (mentioned in the present verse) shall be treated on the same footing as the eating of things touched with the mouth of the cat and other animals (mentioned in 159).

On the same ground, the ordure and urine of all the animals (mentioned in the three verses) become forbidden; so that the expiation for the swallowing of the ordure and urine of the cat and other animals (mentioned in 159) would be the same as that for the swallowing of those of the carnivorous and other animals (mentioned in the present verse).—(156)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Cf. 5.19-21.

For the Tapta-Kṛchhra see 11.215.

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 1166);—and in Mitākṣarā (3.291).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (23.4-5).—‘For eating any part of a carnivorous beast, of a camel, or of an ass, or of tame cocks, or of tame pigs,—one should perform the penance of Taptakṛcchra.’

Vaśiṣṭha (23.30).—‘If he has swallowed the flesh of a dog, a cock, a village pig, a grey heron, or an owl,—he must fast for seven days and thus empty his entrails; after that he must eat clarified butter and undergo Initiation a second time.’

Viṣṇu (51.3-4).—‘One must perform the Cāndrāyaṇa penance if he has eaten garlic or onions, or other things having the same flavour, or the meat of village pigs, of tame cocks, of apes or of cows;—and in all these cases, the man must undergo Initiation a second time, after the penance is over.’