Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi
by Ganganatha Jha | 1920 | 1,381,940 words | ISBN-10: 8120811550 | ISBN-13: 9788120811553
This is the English translation of the Manusmriti, which is a collection of Sanskrit verses dealing with ‘Dharma’, a collective name for human purpose, their duties and the law. Various topics will be dealt with, but this volume of the series includes 12 discourses (adhyaya). The commentary on this text by Medhatithi elaborately explains various t...
Verse 11.201 [Expiation for riding a Camel and other similar Offences]
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
उष्ट्रयानं समारुह्य खरयानं तु कामतः ।
स्नात्वा तु विप्रो दिग्वासाः प्राणायामेन शुध्यति ॥ २०१ ॥uṣṭrayānaṃ samāruhya kharayānaṃ tu kāmataḥ |
snātvā tu vipro digvāsāḥ prāṇāyāmena śudhyati || 201 ||If a Brāhmaṇa intentionally hides a conveyance drawn by a camel, or one drawn by asses,—or if he bathes naked,—he becomes pure by ‘breath-suppression.’—(201)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Uṣṭra-yāna’ is a cart to which a camel is yoked.
Riding on the camel itself would involve a heavier expiation,—in the shape of the repetition of ‘Breath-control.’
‘Digvāsā’—naked.
For the atonement of the offence of being naked, the man should bathe along with his clothes, and then perform the ‘Breath-suppression.’—(201)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 1184), which adds that in the case of the offence being unintentional, the expiation is to consist of bathing only;—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 462).
Comparative notes by various authors
Yājñavalkya (3.291).—‘The man who rides in a cart drawn by an ass or a camel should perform breath-suspension in water.’
Viṣṇu (54.23).—‘One who has been riding upon a camel, or upon an ass, and one who has bathed, or slept, or eaten, quite naked, must suspend his breath thrice.’