Manava Dharmashastra 5.11

5.11

kravyāda āmamāṃsabhakṣakāḥ kaṅkagṛdhrādayaḥ | abhakṣyatvatkevalāmāṃ sabhakṣakā gṛhyante | na tūbhayaraktā mayūrādayaḥ |
grāmanivāsinaḥ akravyādā api | ekaśaphā aśvāśvataragardabhādayaḥ |
anirdiṣṭāṃstu nābhakṣyatvenoktāste na bhakṣyā iti | ye tūktāstatraiva bhakṣyāḥ | ye tūṣṭravaḍavaṛkṣagauragardabhāḥ prajākāmasteṣāṃ ca māṃsamaśnīyāditi |
“nanu ca śrutita eva tatra bhakṣyāvāptiḥ | pratyuta nirdiṣṭagrahaṇe sati śrutau coditānāmanyatra bhakṣyatāśaṅkā, ‘anirdiṣṭānvarjayenna nirdiṣṭāniti’ vākyārthapratipatteḥ | na ca smṛtau kecidbhakṣyatvena nirdiṣṭāḥ, yena tadvatiriktaviṣayamanirdiṣṭagrahaṇaṃ vyākhyāyeta | ataḥ śrutau ye'nirdiṣṭāste na bhakṣyā iti prāpnoti” |
ucyate | ācārāvirodhī sa smṛtyarthaḥ | anirdiṣṭagrahaṇamanuvādaḥ |
ṭiṭṭibhaḥ śakunireva, ṭiṭīti yo vāśate | prāyeṇa śabdānukaraṇanimittaṃ śakunīnāṃ nāmadheyapratilambhaḥ | taduktaṃ niruktakāreṇa ‘kāka iti śabdānukṛtistadidaṃ śakuniṣu bahulamiti’ |

He shall avoid all carnivorous birds, and also those living in villages, the one-hoofed animals not specified, and also the Ṭiṭṭibha.—(11)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Carnivorous’;—those that eat raw flesh; such as the Heron, the Vulture &c. What are meant are those that eat raw flesh only; and not those that eat both (raw and cooked flesh), such as the Peacock and the rest.

‘Living in villages’—even though they be not carnivorous.

‘One-hoofed animals;’—e.g., the Horse, the Mule, the Ass and so forth.

‘Not specified’;—i.e. those that have not been specified as fit to be eaten should not be eaten: those that have been so specified are lit to be eaten. For instance, it has been declared that ‘one who desires to obtain offspring shall eat the meat of the camel, the horse, the bear and the white ass’. [and here the one-hoofed animals, horse and white ass, are specified as fit to be eaten].

“The eatability of these animals is known only from this Śruti passage. And the presence of the term ‘specified’ in the verse would he understood to mean that the animals thus specified in the Vedic passage may be eaten even elsewhere (apart from Vedic sacrifices also); the meaning of the text being ‘one shall avoid those nut specified, but not those specified.’ As a matter of fact however, nowhere in the Smṛti have any one-hoofed animals been specified as fit to be eaten, with reference to which the term ‘not specified’ (of the text) could be explained. Hence it comes to this that ‘those not specified in the śruti are unfit to be eaten”.’

Our answer to the above is that such a sense of the Smṛti would be contrary to all usage. The term ‘not specified’ is a mere re-iterative reference.

‘Ṭiṭṭibha’—is a bird which is always screaming ‘ṭiṭ’, ‘ṭiṭ’. In most cases the names of birds are in imitation of their sounds: as says the Nirukta—‘The name Kāka is in imitation of the sound; such is the case with most bird-names.’—(11).