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 5.54
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
फलमूलाशनैर्मेध्यैर्मुन्यन्नानां च भोजनैः ।
न तत् फलमवाप्नोति यत्मांसपरिवर्जनात् ॥ ५४ ॥phalamūlāśanairmedhyairmunyannānāṃ ca bhojanaiḥ |
na tat phalamavāpnoti yatmāṃsaparivarjanāt || 54 ||By subsisting upon sacred fruits and roots, and by eating the food of hermits, one does not obtain that reward which he does by abstaining from meat—(54).
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Sacred’—fit for Gods.
‘Food of hermits’—i.e., such grains as are got without cultivation; e.g., the Nirāra and the like.
This verse also is a purely commendatory exaggeration—(54)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 719), which adds that the renouncing of meat here spoken of refers to meat other than the ‘consecrated’ and the rest that have been spoken of before.
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 5.54-55)
Viṣṇu (51.77.78).—(Same as Manu.)