Manava Dharmashastra 5.49

5.49

aśucisthāne kukṣau garbhavṛddhiḥ, śukraśoṇitābhyāṃ vā'śucibhyāṃ prabhavaḥ | tathā vadhabandhau śarīravatāṃ tatkṛtau | etatsarvaṃ prasamīkṣya nipuṇabuddhyā tattvato nirūpya | nivarteta sarvamāṃsasya bhakṣaṇātsarvasyāpratiṣiddhasyāpi, kiṃpunaḥ pratiṣiddhasya | arthavādo'yam | na punastattvataḥ aśucyeva māṃsaṃ jñeyam | na hi tadaśucitvavidhiparaṃ vākyam |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The foetus grows in the womb, which is an unclean place: and it is produced from semen and ovule, both unclean things.

‘Fettering and killing’—involved in the obtaining of meat.

‘Having duly pondered over’—carefully considered with an alert mind;—‘all this,—one shall abstain from the eating of all meat’—i.e., also of that which is not forbidden; what to say of what is actually forbidden?

The present text is a commendatory exaggeration: it is not meant that meat should be always regarded as unclean; the sentence does not mean to lay down that all meat is actually unclean.—(49)