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...

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

न संवसेच्च पतितैर्न चाण्डालैर्न पुल्कसैः ।
न मूर्खैर्नावलिप्तैश्च नान्त्यैर्नान्त्यावसायिभिः ॥ ७९ ॥

na saṃvasecca patitairna cāṇḍālairna pulkasaiḥ |
na mūrkhairnāvaliptaiśca nāntyairnāntyāvasāyibhiḥ || 79 ||

He shall not associate with outcasts, nor with Cāṇḍālas, nor with Pulkasas; nor with the illiterate; nor with the haughty; nor with Antyas; nor with Antyāvasāyins.—(79)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

“What is here said has already been declared above—(a) that ‘he shall not live at a place surrounded by men...... nor in that which is haunted by men of the lowest castes’ (4. 6).”

Not so, we reply. What has been forbidden there, is the inhabiting of such places; while what is forbidden here is associating. What was said there was that ‘one shall not set up as a householder in a village inhabited by such people;’ while the present verse forbids associating with them; this ‘associating’ consisting of the setting up of friendly relations by accepting their gifts, living near their house, sitting with them under the shade of the same tree, and so forth. Further, the former text speaks of the village as being ‘surrounded,’ which implies that the said people live there in large numbers; so that, what it means is that ‘one should not live even near a village where the said people live in large numbers.’ In the present verse, however, what is forbidden is living near a village, where even a few of these people live. Herein lies the difference between the two passages.

Pulkasas’ are Niṣādas, born of Śūdra mothers.

Antyas,’ i.e.—the Medas and other Mleccchas.

Antyāvasāyins’—is born from a Niṣāda mother and Cāṇḍāla father; as will be described later on (10.39).

Haughty’—overbearing in vanity due to wealth and such other causes.—(79)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

 

Pukkasa... Antyāvasāyin’—Defined under 10—12, 39, 49.

This verse is quoted in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Saṃskāra, p. 71b).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Āpastamba (1.21, 5-6).—‘There is to be no concern with outcasts,—nor with apapātras.’

Baudhāyana (2.42).—‘There is to be no concern with outcasts.’

Baudhāyana (3.42).—‘Nor with outcasts, nor with woman, nor with a Śūdra.’

Baudhāyana (2.62).—‘One falls by associating with outcasts for one year, through sacrifice or teaching or marriage,—also through conveyances, seats or feeding.’

Gautama (9.17).—‘He shall not converse with Mlecchas, or with unclean or unrighteous persons.’

Devala (55, 58, 75).—‘He who has lived with Mlecchas, for a period extending from five to twenty years—for him the expiation has been prescribed to be two cāndrāyaṇas.—If in an assembly, one comes into contact with a Mleccha, he shall bathe with his clothes on and go without food for one day. If a Brāhmaṇa has lived in the dwelling of a Mleccha for one, two, three or four years (he shall perform an expiatory rite).’

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