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 3.178
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
यावतः संस्पृशेदङ्गैर्ब्राह्मणान् शूद्रयाजकः ।
तावतां न भवेद् दातुः फलं दानस्य पौर्तिकम् ॥ १७८ ॥yāvataḥ saṃspṛśedaṅgairbrāhmaṇān śūdrayājakaḥ |
tāvatāṃ na bhaved dātuḥ phalaṃ dānasya paurtikam || 178 ||As many Brāhmaṇas the officiator at the sacrifices performed by Śūdras may happen to touch with his limbs,—the reward relating to charity in connection with the gift to so many Brāhmaṇas fails to accrue to the giver.—(178)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
As many Brāhmaṇas he may happen to touch with his limbs,—when he happens to enter the same line with them;—here also the actual touching of the body is not meant; mere presence at the place is meant.
‘Reward relating to charity’—i.e., the rewards that follow from gifts made outside the ‘sacrificial altar.—(178)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
‘Paurtikam’—‘Rewards that follow from gifts made outside the sacrificial altar’ (Medhātithi and Govindarāja);—‘the gift of food at a Śrāddha’ (Kullūka and Rāghavānanda).
This verse is quoted in Aparārka, (p. 454);—and in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 498).
Comparative notes by various authors
Viṣṇu (82.14).—‘Those who sacrifice for the Śūdra (should be avoided).’
Bṛhad-Yama-Smṛti (35, 37, 38).—‘The ill-visaged, the eunuch, the heretic, the decrier of the Veda, the sophist, the sacrificer for the Śūdra, and those who sacrifice for improper persons,—these should be avoided with great care at the Śrāddha.’