Manusmriti — Chapter on Expiations and Ritual-Juridical Remedies, Shloka 77
हविष्यभुग् वानुसरेत् प्रतिस्रोतः सरस्वतीम् जपेद् वा नियताहारस् त्रिर् वै वेदस्य संहिताम् //
haviṣyabhug vā anusaret pratisrotaḥ sarasvatīm japed vā niyatāhāras trir vai vedasya saṃhitām //
The text prescribes that, subsisting on sacrificial oblations (haviṣ), one should travel along the Sarasvatī River against the current; or, maintaining a regulated diet, one should recite the Saṃhitā of the Veda three times.
हविष्यभुक् (haviṣyabhuk): one who eats haviṣ/oblations; वा (vā): or; अनुसरेत् (anusaret): should follow/travel along; प्रतिस्रोतः (pratisrotaḥ): against the stream, upstream; सरस्वतीम् (sarasvatīm): the Sarasvatī (river); जपेत् (japet): should recite/mutter; वा (vā): or; नियताहारः (niyatāhāraḥ): with regulated food/diet; त्रिः (triḥ): three times; वै (vai): indeed/emphatic particle; वेदस्य (vedasya): of the Veda; संहिताम् (saṃhitām): the Saṃhitā (collected hymns/text)
FAQs
Within Adhyaya 11, the verse functions as part of the Dharmaśāstra catalogue of prāyaścitta (expiatory rites). It reflects a historical model in which ritual acts—pilgrimage-like movement along a sacred river and formal Vedic recitation—are textualized as mechanisms for addressing transgressions within a Brahmanical legal-religious framework.
The verse presents alternative expiatory options: (1) an observance combining restricted ritual food (haviṣ) with an upstream traversal of the Sarasvatī, and (2) a discipline of regulated diet paired with thrice-recitation of a Vedic Saṃhitā. The structure illustrates how the tradition encodes expiation as a choice among standardized, text-authorized practices.
The verse uses optative verb forms (अनुसरेत्, जपेत्) typical of prescriptive Dharmaśāstra style, while framing alternatives with repeated वा (vā, “or”). The compound नियताहारः (“regulated-dieted”) and the term संहिता (Saṃhitā) anchor the passage in technical ritual and textual vocabulary.
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