Manava Dharmashastra 4.79

4.79

"nanu ca 'nādhārmikajanāvṛte' 'nopasṛṣṭe'ntyajaiḥ' iti coktamevaitat |" neti brūmaḥ | tatra nivāsaḥ pratiṣiddhaḥ | iha tu saṃvāsaḥ | yatra grāme te vasanti na tatra vastavyaṃ gṛhasthityeti tatroktam | saṃvāsastu taiḥ saha saṃvyavahāro dānagrahaṇādibhirmaitrīkaraṇam, tadgṛhasamīpe ca vāso'pi ekataḥ chāyopajīvanamityādi | 'āvṛta'grahaṇācca tatra bāhulyaṃ gamyate | yasmin grāme bhūyāṃsaste tasya samīpe'pi na vastavyamiti tasyārthaḥ | iha tvabāhulye'pi samīpavāsādi pratiṣidhyata ityeṣa vivekaḥ |
pulkasā niṣādāḥ śūdrāyāṃ jātāḥ |
antyā medaprabhṛtayo mlecchāḥ |
antyāvasāyīti niṣādastriyāṃ caṇḍālājjāto vakṣyate (a0 10 ślo0 36) "niṣādastrī caṇḍālāt" ityādi |
avaliptā madoddhatāḥ dhanādinā garvitāḥ |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
“What is here said has already been declared above—(a) that ‘he shall not live at a place surrounded by men...... nor in that which is haunted by men of the lowest castes’ (4. 6).”

Not so, we reply. What has been forbidden there, is the inhabiting of such places; while what is forbidden here is associating. What was said there was that ‘one shall not set up as a householder in a village inhabited by such people;’ while the present verse forbids associating with them; this ‘associating’ consisting of the setting up of friendly relations by accepting their gifts, living near their house, sitting with them under the shade of the same tree, and so forth. Further, the former text speaks of the village as being ‘surrounded,’ which implies that the said people live there in large numbers; so that, what it means is that ‘one should not live even near a village where the said people live in large numbers.’ In the present verse, however, what is forbidden is living near a village, where even a few of these people live. Herein lies the difference between the two passages.

‘Pulkasas’ are Niṣādas, born of Śūdra mothers.

‘Antyas,’ i.e.—the Medas and other Mleccchas.

‘Antyāvasāyins’—is born from a Niṣāda mother and Cāṇḍāla father; as will be described later on (10.39).

‘Haughty’—overbearing in vanity due to wealth and such other causes.—(79)