Verse 11.198 [Expiation for the abandoning of Refugees]

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

शरणागतं परित्यज्य वेदं विप्लाव्य च द्विजः ।
संवत्सरं यवाहारस्तत् पापमपसेधति ॥ १९८ ॥

śaraṇāgataṃ parityajya vedaṃ viplāvya ca dvijaḥ |
saṃvatsaraṃ yavāhārastat pāpamapasedhati || 198 ||

If a twice-born man has abandoned a refugee, or has tampered with the Veda, he atones for that offence by living upon barley for one year.—(198)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The ‘refugee’ is of two kinds, as described above (under 190),—‘abandoning’—discarding of him, if one is able to afford him protection (is sinful). This has been discussed before.

‘Tampered with the Veda’—(a) Has studied it on a day on which it should not be studied;—or (b) has interfered with a man who is reading it in the correct form, by telling him some such tiling as—‘What are you reading?—You have mangled the text,’—or (c) through greed for wealth recites it, without being invited to do so. The Smṛti has declared that—‘by reciting the Veda for gain one becomes degraded, says Manu.’—(198)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Vedam viplāvya.’—‘Having taught the Veda to people who should not be taught’ (Medhātithi, Govindarāja, Kullūka and Nandana);—‘having wrongly interpreted the Veda or perverted its sense by omitting anusvāras etc.’ (Nārāyaṇa);—‘having intentionally forgotten the Veda’ (Rāghavānanda).

This verse is quoted in Madanapārijāta (p. 918), which adds the following notes:—If the man abandons one who comes to him seeking safety from some danger, or for the prescription of an expiation,—‘Vedam viplāvya,’ i.e., reading it within hearing of the Cāṇḍāla or other snob persons, or on days unfit for study.

It is quoted in Aparārka (p. 1152), to the effect that when a man comes to one in the hope of obtaining shelter for his life, and the latter, though capable of saving him, refuses to do so,—similarly one who reads the Veda from an improper person, or in an improper place, or at an improper time,—or learns it from or teaches it to an unqualified person,—both these should live on barley for one year.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 11.197-198)

See Comparative notes for Verse 11.197.