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...

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

आ षोदशाद् ब्राह्मणस्य सावित्री नातिवर्तते ।
आ द्वाविंशात् क्षत्रबन्धोरा चतुर्विंशतेर्विशः ॥ ३८ ॥

ā ṣodaśād brāhmaṇasya sāvitrī nātivartate |
ā dvāviṃśāt kṣatrabandhorā caturviṃśaterviśaḥ || 38 ||

For the Brāhmaṇa the Sāvitrī does not lapse till the sixteenth year; for the Kṣatriya till the twenty-second year; and for the Vaiśya till the twenty-fourth year.—(38)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

For the Initiatory Rite, the principal as well as the optional time have been prescribed. From this it would seem that if, on account of the death of the father, or by reason of illness and such other causes, the boy remains uninitiated and the prescribed time has gone by,—he becomes unfit, for initiation; this idea being countenanced by the faot that, even though the prescribed time is a secondary factor in the rite, yet on the lapse of that time, the performer’s title to the performance ceases; just as we find in the case of omission of the Agnihotra -offerings after the prescribed morning and evening have gone by. It is with a view to this that the present verse propounds an exception to the general rule, and lays down the necessity of performing the rite even after the passing off of the prescribed time.

Till the end of the sixteenth year after conception, the Brāhmaṇa’s title to the Initiatory Bite does not cease. The term ‘Sāvitrī’ in the text stands for the ‘Rite of Initiation,’ which is the means whereby the teaching of the is accomplished. ‘Does not lapse,’ i.e., does not become out of date.

Similarly ‘for the Kṣatriya till the twenty-second year,’—i.e., for the person belonging to the Kṣatriya caste. Tho term ‘bandhu’ is used (a) sometimes in a deprecatory sense; e.g., in such passages as—‘how doth thou know this. O Brahma-bandhu! (wretched Brāhmaṇa)?’;—(b) sometimes it is used in the sense of ‘family’; e.g., in the passage—‘the possession of a number of villages, the presence of a large following, extensive family-connections (), and alliances,—these are not to be trifled with even by Indra himself; what to say of persons possessing only parts of the earth!’;—(c) in some cases it also means ‘substance’; e.g., in Pāṇiṇi’s Sutra (5.4.9)—‘a word ending with the term jāṭi takes the affix ca, when it denotes bandhu (i.e., a substance belonging to a particular class).’ In the present context the first two meanings of the term ‘bandhu’ being inapplicable, we take it in the third sense.

The nominal affix (ḍaṭ) in the term ‘dvāviṃśaḥ’ means that which completes the number twenty-two, i.e., the twenty-second.

For the Vaiśya till the twenty-fourth year’.—Here also though the presence of the ‘ḍaṭ’-affix implying completion was necessary, yet it has not been used in view of metrical contingencies; but the sense is there all the same. That this must be so is proved by the fact that the number ‘twenty-four,’ which denotes the entire lot of twenty-four years, could never form the limit of anything; while tine ‘twenty-fourth year' which is one part of the ‘twenty-four,’ can very well form the limit.

People explain the particle ‘ā’ as denoting inclusion.

In support of what is said in this verse people cite the Vedic text—‘The Brāhmaṇa should be initiated with the Gāyatrī, the Kṣatriya with the and the Vaiśya with the Jagatī’ [the Gāyatrī metre containing 24, three times eight, the Tṛṣtup 33, three times eleven, and the Jagatī, 48, four times twelve, syllables]; the ages spoken of in the text (16, 22 and 24) suffice to complete two quarters of each of the three metres; up till then the metres retain their force and do ṇot abandon the castes that form their receptacles; when however the third quarter has passed, they lose their essence, become aged and having their force reduced, they disappaer, just as the man becomes old at 50 (which represents two quarters of his life of 100 years). It is for this reason that the said metres abandon their respective castes, when they find that they have not been studied by them; and it is thus that (after the said ages) the Brāhmaṇa ceases to be ‘related to the Gāyatrī,’ the Kṣatriya ceases to be ‘related to the Triṣṭup’ and the Vaiśya ceases to be ‘related to the Jagatī.’

Sāvitrī’—is the name of that verse which has for its deity; and that such a verse is the Gāyatrī has been shown above, on the strength of the Gṛhyasūtras.

For the Kṣatriya, the ‘Sāvitrī’ is the verse ‘Ākṛṣṇena, etc.’ (Ṛgveda, 1.35-2; Vājasaneya, 33.43), which is in the Triṣṭup metre; and for the Vaiśya, it is the verse ‘Viśvā rūpāṇi, etc.’ Ṛgveda, 5.81.2; Vājasaneya, 12.3).—(38)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Burnell, in applying the name ‘vrātya’ to ‘Aryans not Brāhmanised,’ should have quoted his authorities.

Kullūka notes that some people have taken the particle ‘ā,’ ‘till,’ in the sense of ‘until the beginning of’.

This verse has been quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 342), where it is pointed out that the ‘sixteenth’ and other years mentioned here should be counted ‘from conception,’ as in the case of the eighth and others in verse 36. It points out that this verse lays down the many secondary occasions for the performance of the ceremony.

This same work on p. 344, refers to the passage in Medhātithi, where a Vedic text is quoted, which connects. the Gāyatrī Triṣṭup and Jagati metres with the Brāhmaṇa, the Kṣatriya and the Vaiśya respectively; and as under 36, so here also, it explains that the limits fixed in this verse too are determined by the number of syllables in a foot of each of the three metres mentioned. A foot of the gāyatrī has eight syllables; so till the bṇy is sixteen years old, the Gāyatrī retains more than a third of its force; and it is only when the boy has passed his sixteenth year (corresponding to the sixteen syllables of the two feet of the Gāyatrī) that the force of the mantra becomes weakened. Similarly twenty two years correspond to the twenty-two syllables of the two feet of the Triṣṭup, sacred for the Kṣatriya, and twenty four years correspond to the twenty four syllables of the first two feet of the Jagati metre, sacred for the Vaiśya.

It is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 446); and in Madanapārijāta (p. 36) as the outside age-limit for Upanayana;—in Hemādri (Pariśeṣa, p. 751), which adds that ‘ā’ here denotes limit;—in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Saṃskāra. p. 41b);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 72), as Laying down the secondary times for the initiation.

Vidhānapārijāta, (p. 471) has quoted the verse as laying down the secondary occasion for Upanayana;—so also Nirṇayasindhu (p. 184).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(Verse 38-39)

Viṣṇu, 1.27.26.—(Exactly the same words as in Manu.)

Gautama-Dharmasūtra, 1.14.16.—‘For the Brāhmaṇa, the Sāvitrī does not lapse till the sixteenth year; for the Kṣatriya, till the twenty-second year; for the Vaiśya till two years longer.’

Baudhāyana-Dharmasūtra, 1.2.13.—‘There is no lapse for these till the sixteenth, the twentv-second and the twenty-fourth year, respectively.’

Āpastamba-Dharmasūtra, 1.1.27.—‘Till the sixteenth year there is no lapse for the Brāhmaṇa; till the twenty-second, for the Kṣatriya; and till the twenty-fourth, for the Vaiśya; till then they would be fit for keeping the observances that we are going to describe.’

Vaśiṣṭha-Smṛti, 11.51.53.—‘For the Brāhmaṇa, the time does not lapse till the sixteenth year; for the Kṣatriya, till the twenty-second year; for the Vaiśya, till the twenty-fourth year.’

Āśvalāyana-Gṛhyasūtra, 1.19.5-6.—‘For the Brāhmaṇa, the time does not lapse till the sixteenth year; for the Kṣatriya, till the twenty-second year; for the Vaiśya, till the twenty-fourth year; after this, they become lapsed from the Sāvitrī.’

Pāraskara Gṛhyasūtra, 2.5.36-38.—‘For the Brāhmaṇa, the time does not become lapsed till the sixteenth year; for the Kṣatriya, till the twenty-second and for the Vaiśya till the twenty-fourth year.’

Paiṭhīnasi (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 3-12).—‘The twelfth, the sixteenth and the twentieth years are the times not deprecated.’

Yājñavalkya (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 342).—‘The time for Upanayana extends up to the sixteenth, the twenty-second and the twenty-fourth year, for the Brāhmaṇa, the Kṣatriya and the Vaiśya, respectively.

Yājñavalkya 1.38 (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 347).—‘After these years all the three become fallen, excluded from all religious rites; and become apostates, deprived of the Sāvitrī, until they perform the Vrātyastoma.’

Vyāsa (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 343).—‘Sixteen years, twenty-two years and twenty-four years constitute the time for Upanayana.’

Śaṅkha (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 343).—‘Sixteen years have been prescribed for the Brāhmaṇa, twenty-two years for the Kṣatriya and twenty-four years for the Vaiśya.’

Yama (Vīramitrodaya-Saihskāra, p. 343).—‘He who has dropped the Sāvitrī for fifteen years, should keep the observance after having shaven his head along with the Śikhā.’

Yama (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 347).—‘The apostates, fallen from Sāvitrī, should be studiously shunned.’

Āśvalāyana-Smṛti (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 343).—‘Sixteenth is the limit for Brāhmaṇas for securing the status of the twice-born; twenty-second for Kṣatriyas; and twenty-fourth for Vaiśyas.’

Āśvalāyana-Smṛti (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 347).—‘After this, not having acquired the status of the twice-born, they fall and become apostates, excluded from Vedic rites.’

Vaśiṣṭha (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 345).—The Brāhmaṇa who has passed his sixteenth year, should not have his Upanayana performed; the Kṣatriya after the twentieth year: and the Vaiśya after the twenty-fifth year.’

Śaṅkha (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 347).—(Has the same defìni-tion of the ‘Apostate’ as Yājñavalkya.)

Yama (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 347).—(Same as Manu, 39.)

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