Verse 2.17 [Qualified Countries]

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

सरस्वतीदृशद्वत्योर्देवनद्योर्यदन्तरम् ।
तं देवनिर्मितं देशं ब्रह्मावर्तं प्रचक्षते ॥ १७ ॥

sarasvatīdṛśadvatyordevanadyoryadantaram |
taṃ devanirmitaṃ deśaṃ brahmāvartaṃ pracakṣate || 17 ||

The region lying between the divine rivers Sarasvati and Dṛṣasvatī which has been created by the gods,—they call ‘Brahmāvarta’—(17)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The sources of the knowledge of Dharma have been described; it has also been stated that in cases of couflict there is option; persons entitled to the performance of dharma have also been indicated in a general way. Now the author proceeds to describe those countries that are fit for the performance of Dharma, and where (on that account) it becomes incumbent to perform it.

‘Sarasvatī’ is the river bearing that name. ‘Dṛṣadvatī’ is another river; that which lies between these two, that region they call by the name of ‘Brahmāvarta’; that is the region which the cultured speak of by that name.

‘Created by the Gods’—is for the purpose of eulogising the boundaries and the bounded region; the sense being that ‘the region is created by the Gods, and is therefore more sacred than all other regions.’—(17)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

The Aparārka quotes this verse along with verses 19,21 to 23, as indicating the views that the ‘black antelope’ is to serve as a mark of the ‘yajñīya deśa’ only in the case of the countries other than those described in these verses. This verse and verses 18 to 22 have been quoted in the Madanapārijāta (p. 12) in support of the view that the ‘Custom’ or ‘Right Behaviour’ that is to be regarded as authoritative and trustworthy is that prevalent among the people inhabiting the tract of land herein defined.

Other writers, among whom are Vaśiṣṭha and Śaṅkha define ‘Āryāvarta’ as that tract ‘where the black antelope roams’; which, according to Manu (2.23) is the characteristic feature of the ‘yajñīya deśa’ ‘land fit for sacrificial acts’.

This verse is quoted in Hemādri (Vrata, p. 27),—in the Vīramitrodaya (Paribhāṣā, p. 55), which explains that the epithet ‘devanirūpitam,’ ‘created by the Gods,’ is only meant to be eulogistic;—in the Dānamayūkha (p. 7),—and in the Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 4).