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 3.21
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
ब्राह्मो दैवस्तथैवार्षः प्राजापत्यस्तथाऽसुरः ।
गान्धर्वो राक्षसश्चैव पैशाचश्चाष्टमोऽधमः ॥ २१ ॥brāhmo daivastathaivārṣaḥ prājāpatyastathā'suraḥ |
gāndharvo rākṣasaścaiva paiśācaścāṣṭamo'dhamaḥ || 21 ||(1) The Brāhma, (2) the Daiva, (3) the Ārṣa, (1) the Prājāpatya, (5) the Āsura, (6) the Gāndharva, (7) the Rākṣasa and (8) the Paiśāca, which is the eighth and the lowest.—(21)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
These are the names of the eight forms of Marriage that were referred to in the preceding verse by the number ‘eight.’
‘Lowest’— this has been added with a view to deprecate the Paiśāca form of marriage.—(21)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 846) as enumerating the different forms of marriage;—in Madanapārijāta (p. 155);—in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 485);—in Vidhānapārijāta (p. 758);—in Saṃskāra-ratnamālā (p. 479);—in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Saṃskāra, p. 61a);—in Hemādri (Dāna, p. 682)—in Vyāvahāra Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 175);—in Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 99);—in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 227);—and by Jīmūtavāhana (Dāyabhāga, p. 152).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 3.20-21)
See Comparative notes for Verse 3.20.