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:

न तिष्ठति तु यः पूर्वां नौपास्ते यश्च पश्चिमाम् ।
स शूद्रवद् बहिष्कार्यः सर्वस्माद् द्विजकर्मणः ॥ १०३ ॥

na tiṣṭhati tu yaḥ pūrvāṃ naupāste yaśca paścimām |
sa śūdravad bahiṣkāryaḥ sarvasmād dvijakarmaṇaḥ || 103 ||

But he who does not stand during the morning-twilight, and who does not sit through the evening-twilight, should be excluded, like the Sśūdra, from all that is due to twice-born persons.—(103)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The present verse, describing the evil accruing from the non-performance of the Twilight-Prayers, serves to emphasise the compulsory character of these.

He who does not keep standing during the morning-twilight and who does not keep seated during the evening-twilight, should be regarded as a Śūdra.

From all that is due to twice-born persons’;—i.e., entertaining as a guest, honouring, offering of gifts and so forth.—‘He should be excluded,’—i.e., discarded.

For this reason, in order to avoid being treated as a Śūdra one should observe the Twilight Prayers every day.

This verse also points out the motive behind the performance; and standing and seating during the repeating of the Sāvitrī are the acts enjoined in the present context; and that act is to be regarded as of primary importance with which the motive happens to be connected; so that all the rest of what is said in the present connection is only subsidiary and of secondary importance.—(103)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Ācāra, p. 258),—where ‘Dvijakarma’ is explained as studying and the rest,—as precluding the neglector of Twilight Prayers from all Brahmanical functions.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Baudhāyana-Dharmasūtra (2.4.15).—‘Here are two verses recited by Prajāpati—One who does not worship the Morning Twilight before its advent, and who does not worship the Evening Twilight before its lapse,—how can they be regarded as Brāhmaṇa? Those Brāhmaṇas who worship not the Morning and Evening Twilights, them the righteous king would be free to employ in the works of Śūdras.’

Dakṣa (Parāśaramādhava, p. 268).—‘The man devoid of the Twilight Prayers is unclean and unfit for all rites.’

Gobhila (Parāśaramādhava, p. 278).—‘One who knows not, and observes not the Twilight Prayers,—while living—he remains a Śūdra, and on death becomes born as a dog.’

Viṣṇu-purāṇa (Parāśaramādhava, p. 278).—‘Those who observe not the Morning or Evening Prayers, those evil-minded ones fall into the darkest hell.’

Kūrmapurāṇa (Parāśaramādhava, p. 379).—‘If one neglects the Twilight Prayers, and devotes his attention to other acts, he falls into ten thousand hells.’

Yājñavalkya (Parāśaramādhava, p. 379).—‘If a Brāhmaṇa, except when he is ill, omits the Twilight Prayers, he incurs sin and is despised in the world.’

Atri (Parāśaramādhava, p. 379).—‘Those who, while in good health, observe not the Twilight Prayers,—are wicked and injure the sun.’

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