Manava Dharmashastra 5.139

5.139

'niṣṭhevyoktāmṛtānyani ceti' (5 | 144) niṣṭhīvane ācamanavidhānādanācāntasyāśuddhatā jñāpitā | vipruṣāmapi mukhānniṣkramaṇaṃ niṣṭhīvanameva | ato vipruṣāṃ śleṣmanirasanarūpaniṣṭhovanādācamanaprāptāvidamāha | mukhe bhavā mukhanirgatā vā mukhyāḥ vipruṣaḥ ityanucchiṣṭaṃ kurvanti na cedaṅge nipatantīti | nanu ca vipruṣaḥ śuddhā ityuktaṃ “makṣikā vipruṣa” ityatra |” daihikamallavyatirekeṇānyatra | idameva jñāpakam | na sarvo viṣayaḥ saṃdarśitaḥ | śmaśrūṇi dāḍikāṃlomāni | āsyagatāni praviṣṭāni | nocchiṣṭaṃ kurvantītyanuṣaṅgaḥ | ataścāmyatpūgaphalādi janayatyeva | tathā dantāntaradhiṣṭhitaṃ lagnam | smṛtyantare viśeṣaḥ | “dantaśliṣṭe tu dantavadanyatra jihvāvimarśanāt—prākcyuterityeke—cyuteṣvālāghavadgiyānnigirantaiva tacchuciriti” | . cyuteṣvajihvayeti vidyāt, jihvāṃsaṃsparśe śucitvaniṣedhāt |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
In the text—‘on having spat and on having told a lie &c.’ (5.144)—it has been laid down that on spitting one should sip water; which indicates that until one has sipped water, he remains impure. Drops issuing from the mouth would also be a form of ‘spitting;; so that the issuing of drops of water from the mouth standing on the same footing as the spitting of phlegm, it might be thought that it should necessitate the sipping of water. With a view to this contingency, the author has added the present verse.

‘Mukhyaḥ’— produced in, or issuing from, the mouth such ‘drops’ do not make one impure, if they do not fall upon the body.

“But it has been already declared that drops are pure (5-132.)”

But that was with reference to things other than bodily excretions. That this was meant there is clearly indicated by the present verse; which makes it clear that all kinds of drops were not meant when they were declared to be pure.

‘Śmaśruṇi’—hairs of the beard,—‘that enter the mouth’—‘do not make one impure’; this has to be construed with the present phrase; so that they do become the cause of some slight evil effects (even though they do not make the man impure).

So also ‘what adheres to the teeth.’ In connection with this we have greater details in another Smṛti text—‘What adheres to the teeth is like the teeth, except what is touched by the tongue;—some say that this is so before it falls off from the teeth;—what falls off is to be treated as saliva the man becomes pure by swallowing it.’ (Gautama 1.38 to 40.) ‘Those that fall off’—i.e. without bang touched by the tongue: since the touch of the tongue has been declared to be not pure.—(139).