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 4.17
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
सर्वान् परित्यजेदर्थान् स्वाध्यायस्य विरोधिनः ।
यथा तथाऽध्यापयंस्तु सा ह्यस्य कृतकृत्यता ॥ १७ ॥sarvān parityajedarthān svādhyāyasya virodhinaḥ |
yathā tathā'dhyāpayaṃstu sā hyasya kṛtakṛtyatā || 17 ||He shall relinquish all things impeding study, maintaining himself somehow. This is what constitutes the accomplish ment of his aims.—(17)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
Those things that are likely to obstruct Vedic study should all be relinquished; such acts, for instance, as attending upon the palaces of kings and ministers; as also the act of being overmuch addicted to worldly Affairs, constantly thinking of earning more and more wealth by means of money-lending and such other means, and thereby maintaining his family, and obtaining a prosperous household teeming with male and female slaves.
‘This constitutes the accomplishment of his aims’—i.e., of the Accomplished Student. The fact that, carrying on his daily study of the Veda, he maintains his family by some means or other, constitutes his highest success in life,—(17)
Comparative notes by various authors
Viṣṇu (71.4).—‘He shall not do any act that may obstruct Vedic Study.’
Yājñavalkya (1.121).—[See under 15.]