Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi
by Ganganatha Jha | 1920 | 1,381,940 words | ISBN-10: 8120811550 | ISBN-13: 9788120811553
This is the English translation of the Manusmriti, which is a collection of Sanskrit verses dealing with ‘Dharma’, a collective name for human purpose, their duties and the law. Various topics will be dealt with, but this volume of the series includes 12 discourses (adhyaya). The commentary on this text by Medhatithi elaborately explains various t...
Verse 1.67 [‘Day’ and ‘Night’ of the ‘Gods’]
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
दैवे रात्र्यहनी वर्षं प्रविभागस्तयोः पुनः ।
अहस्तत्रोदगयनं रात्रिः स्याद् दक्षिणायनम् ॥ ६७ ॥daive rātryahanī varṣaṃ pravibhāgastayoḥ punaḥ |
ahastatrodagayanaṃ rātriḥ syād dakṣiṇāyanam || 67 ||One ‘year’ (of men) forms the ‘Day and Night’ of the Gods; and the division of these is that the ‘Northern course’ is the ‘Day,’ and the ‘Southern Course’ the ‘Night.’—(67)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘One year,’ of men,—i.e., twelve months,—‘forms the Day and Night of the Gode.’—The division of these is by means of the ‘Northern Course’ and the ‘Southern Course’; the six months during which the Sun moves towards the North is the ‘Northern Course,’ ‘Udagayanam’; the term ‘ayana’ standing for moving or occupying; the meaning being that during the six months the Sun rises towards that particular quarter. Turning hack from that, there comes the ‘Southern course’; during these six months the Sun abandons the Northern quarters and rises towards the South.—(67)