Manava Dharmashastra 2.80

2.80

etayā sāvitryā | visaṃyuktaḥ hīnasandhyopāsanastyaktasvādhyāyaśca | garhaṇāṃ nindāṃ sādhuṣu viśiṣṭeṣu yāti prāpnoti | kīdṛśīṃ garhaṇāṃ prāpnotyata āha kāle ca kriyayā svayā | kāla “āṣoḍaśāt” ityasminniyukte gate ninyate | evamupanīto'pi svādhyāyārambhayogyaḥ sāvitrīvarjiteā vrātya eva bhavati | trayāṇāṃ yā sādhāraṇī svakriyā | seha nirdiṣṭā | sā copanayanameva | kālaśabdaścaivamarthavān | adhyayanādisvakarmavivakṣāyāmetāvadeva vācyaṃ syāt yat kriyayā svayeti | yoniśabdo janmaparyāyo jātyarthaṃ gamayati | viprādijātīya ityarthaḥ | arthavādo'yaṃ vrātyaprāyaścittārthaḥ |

Bereft of this verse, and of the timely performance of his own duty, a person of Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya or Vaiśya birth incurs the odium of good men.—(80)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘By this verse’—by the Sāvitrī.

‘Bereft’;—he who fails to observe the Twilight Prayers and neglects Vedic Study.

‘Odium’—Blame.

‘Among good men’—Among the highly cultured people.

‘Incurs’—becomes open to.

With a view to show what sort of odium he incurs, the Text adds—‘and of the timely performance of his own duty.’—‘Timely’—e.g., the sixteenth year for the Brāhmaṇa and so forth. When the man is bereft of these rites, he becomes despised.

From this it is clear that even though the boy may have been initiated, and as such become qualified for Vedic Study,—yet, if he is bereft of the Sāvitrī, he becomes a ‘Vrātya,’ apostate.

What is meant by ‘his own duty’ is just that duty which is common to the three castes; and this is the duty of Initiation. It is only when we interpret it thus that the qualification ‘timely’ comes to have any sense. If the ‘duty’ meant were the duties of Vedic Study and the rest, the text would have said simply ‘performance of his own duty’ (without the qualification ‘timely’).

The term ‘yoni’ being synonymous with ‘birth’ denotes caste. So what is meant is the person of the Brāhmaṇa and other castes.

The present verse is only a descriptive supplement, added for the purpose of making the Expiatory Rites prescribed for the Vrātya (apostate) applicable to the omissions mentioned here.—(80)

The text of this verse, and hence its meaning, is entirely changed in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 429); the words as quoted here are,

it may be rendered thus—‘Equipped with this verse, and timely performance of this act, a person of Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya or Vaiśya birth becomes acceptable among the good.’

Comparative notes by various authors
Viṣṇu-smṛti, 55.14—[reproduces, with slight variations, the words of Manu].

Baudhāyana-Dhaṛmasūtra, 2. 4. 15.—‘Those who offer not the Morning-prayer before the advent of Dawn, nor the Evening-prayer before the lapse of Eve,—how can these be called Brāhmaṇas? Those Brāhmaṇas who offer? not the? Morning and Evening Prayers, them the king should employ in works fit for the Śūdra.