Verse 2.167

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

आ हैव स नखाग्रेभ्यः परमं तप्यते तपः ।
यः स्रग्व्यपि द्विजोऽधीते स्वाध्यायं शक्तितोऽन्वहम् ॥ १६७ ॥

ā haiva sa nakhāgrebhyaḥ paramaṃ tapyate tapaḥ |
yaḥ sragvyapi dvijo'dhīte svādhyāyaṃ śaktito'nvaham || 167 ||

It is said that that twice-born man, who, even though garlanded, recites the Veda daily to the best of his capacity, undergoes the highest penance to his very nail-tips.—(167)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This is another commendatory statement pertaining to the injunction of Vedic Study contained in the Vājasaneya-Brāhmaṇa.

The construction is—‘ā nakhāgrebhya eva.’

‘Ha’ denotes hearsay.

The term ‘highest’ having already signified the high character of the penance, the phrase ‘to his very nail-tips’ h as been added with a view to expressing the fact that the penance intended is higher even than the highest; the sense being that even though the nail-tips are insensible, yet they also are affected by the penance; the Kṛcchra and other penances, not pervading over tho nail-tips, are not productive of all that is desirable; but the penance in question reaches even those tips. This is the special praise bestowed upon the penance.

‘Tapyate tapaḥ’;—tbe augment ‘yak’ and the Ātma nepada ending are in accordance with Pāṇini 3.1.88, by which the root ‘tap’ takes the said augment and ending, when governing the noun ‘tapas.’

‘Even though garlanded.’—One who wears a garland is called ‘garlanded,’ i.e., the man who wears a string of flowers.

This epithet indicates the renouncing of the restraints imposed upon the Religious Student. The meaning is that, even if one were to renounce the duties of the Religious Student, and yet recite the Veda ‘to the heat of his capacity,’—as much as he can do, even though that be little,—‘daily’—every day,—he becomes endowed with excellent success.

This is mere praise; it does not moan that one should read the Veda after renouncing the restraints.—(107)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Cf. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, 11. 5. 7. 4.

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 509), which adds the following explanatory notes:—The meaning is that the man who, even though wearing the garland,—i.e. though not observing the rules and restrictions strictly,—sedulously carries on Vedic study, carries on excellent austerity ‘to the very fingertips—the particle ‘ha’ indicates that the fact stated is universally recognised. Thus the sense is that “when Vedic study, carried on without strict adherence to the rules, is conducive to excellent results,—what to say of it, when done in strict accordance with the rules.”

This is quoted in Aparārka (p. 69), which gives the Anvaya as—‘ānakhāgrebhyaḥ tapastapyate ha’;—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 128), which explains the meaning as one who studies the Veda to the best of his capacity performs the ‘highest austerity, to the very finger-tips it adds the notes—‘ha’ indicates that what is stated here is well-known,—‘sragvī’, wearing a garland, i.e. even though not strictly observing the restraints and observances.

 

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Baudhāyana (2. 2. 1).—‘Always wearing the Sacred Thread, always reading the Veda...... the Brāhmaṇa falls not from the Brāhmic regions.’

Smṛtisārasamuccaya (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 510).—‘He who hears the Veda in his body is never touched by sin.’

Vyāsa (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 512).—‘Just as fire burns even wet trees, so does one knowing the Veda burn all the evil in one’s self.’