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 2.231
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
पिता वै गार्हपत्योऽग्निर्माताऽग्निर्दक्षिणः स्मृतः ।
गुरुराहवनीयस्तु साऽग्नित्रेता गरीयसी ॥ २३१ ॥pitā vai gārhapatyo'gnirmātā'gnirdakṣiṇaḥ smṛtaḥ |
gururāhavanīyastu sā'gnitretā garīyasī || 231 ||The Father has been declared to be the Gārhapatya Fire, the Mother the Dakṣiṇa Fire, and the Preceptor the Āhavanīya fire; and this Triad of fires is highly important.—(231)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The father, etc., have been called ‘gārhapatya’ and the rest by reason of some sort of resemblance.
‘This Triad of Fires’—i.e., the three sacrificial Fires—‘is highly important,’—i.e., conducive to great results.
The word ‘treta’ (Triad) is etymologically analysed as ‘trāṇam itā’ which means ‘got up for the purposes of protection.’—(231)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
“For the arrangement of these three fires, see the plan at the end of the first volume of Haig’s Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, and that at page 191 of Hillebrandt’s Das Altindische Neu-und Vollmondsopfer. These fires are on circular, semi-circular and square altars respectively. For the same comparisons, otherwise employed, see Āpastamba, 2.7.2.”—(Burnell—Hopkins).
This verse is quoted in Prāyascittaviveka (p. 128);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 95).
Comparative notes by various authors
Viṣṇu (31.8).—‘The father is the Gārhapatya Fire; the Mother, the Dakṣiṇāgni; and the Teacher, the Āhavanīya.’
Mahābhārata (12.108.7).—(Same as Manu.)