Verse 3.161

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

भ्रामरी गन्डमाली च श्वित्र्यथो पिशुनस्तथा ।
उन्मत्तोऽन्धश्च वर्ज्याः स्युर्वेदनिन्दक एव च ॥ १६१ ॥

bhrāmarī ganḍamālī ca śvitryatho piśunastathā |
unmatto'ndhaśca varjyāḥ syurvedanindaka eva ca || 161 ||

An epileptic, one having a string of scrofulous swellings, one who suffers from leucoderma, the backbiter, the lunatic, the blind man, and the derider of the Veda—all these should be avoided.—(161)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The words here used signify particular diseases.

‘Bhrāmarī’—is an epileptic.

‘Gaṇḍamāti’—on whose cheeks and throat there appear swellings in the form of a string.

‘Śvitra’—is white leprosy, leucoderma.

‘Piśuna,’ ‘backbiter,’ is one who betrays other people’s secrets, and accuses them on the sly.

‘Lunatic’—whose mind is unsettled, either when there is derangement of his humours or when he is obssessed by a ghost, and he says and does things at random.

‘Blind man’—who is without eyes.

‘Derider of the Veda’—“The derider of the Veda has been already mentioned before by the term ‘brahmadviṭ’ ‘who is inimical to Brahman,’ where the term ‘brahman’ has been explained as having several meanings (signifying the Brāhmaṇa as well as the Veda).”

Not so; deriding is something totally different from being inimical; being inimical is a property of the mind, while deriding is speaking ill, of one by words expressing disregard.—(161)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 688), and on p. 694, the term ‘bhrāmarī’ is explained as ‘vṛttyarthameva bhramaravat arthārjakaḥ,’ ‘one who, for his living, picks up wealth from here, there and everywhere, like the black bee’;—in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 481);—and in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Śrāddha, p. 9a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 3.150-166)

See Comparative notes for Verse 3.150.