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:

मङ्गलार्थं स्वस्त्ययनं यज्ञश्चासां प्रजापतेः ।
प्रयुज्यते विवाहे तु प्रदानं स्वाम्यकारणम् ॥ १५० ॥

maṅgalārthaṃ svastyayanaṃ yajñaścāsāṃ prajāpateḥ |
prayujyate vivāhe tu pradānaṃ svāmyakāraṇam || 150 ||

At their wedding, the sacrifice to Prajāpati, which is the means of securing welfare, is performed for the purpose of procuring good fortune; it is the giving away that is the source of ownership.—(150).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Good fortune’ consists in the accomplishment of the desired object; what brings about this is said to be ‘for that purpose;’ it is for this that there is ‘sacrifice to Prajāpati.’ The term ‘maṅgalārtham’ is in the neuter form, because it is an adverb.

Svastyayanam’ is that by which ‘svasti’, welfare—‘īyate’,—is secured; i.e. whereby the person’s loved objects do not become lost.

Their’—of women.

At wedding’, ‘sacrifice’ is offered to the deity Prajāpati. This refers to certain offerings of butter that are presented as to be made at marriage with the mantras ‘Prajāpate &c.’ This is only illustrative: it indicates the other deities also—e.g. Pūṣan, Varuṇa and Aryaman. Indicative also of these other deities are such mantra-texts as —‘Puṣannu devam varuṇanna devam, &c., &c.’

What, the present text, means is that even without the marriage, ownership is produced by the giving away; and no significance is meant to be attached to the statement that the marriage-sacrifices are performed only for the purpose of securing good fortune; because ‘marriage’ has been declared to consist in the ‘taking of a wife’; and even though there may be ownership, the girl does not become ‘wife’ until the marriage is performed.—(150).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(Verse 152 of others.)

Svastyayanam’—‘The recitation of benedictory verses’ (Govindarāja and Kullūka);—‘the Puṇyāhavācana and the rest’ (Nārāyaṇa);—‘the recitation of the texts that precede the nuptial Homa’ (Rāghavānanda and Nandana);—‘that whereby welfare is acquired,’ (Medhātithi who does not connect the word with ‘yajñaḥ’).

Prajāpateḥ’—Medhātithi takes this as ‘referring to the oblations at marriage to Prajāpati with the mantra Prajāpate na tvadetanya &c.’ (Ṛgveda 10.121.10), laid down in certain Gṛhyasūtras;—Nārāyaṇa holds that ‘Prajāpatī’ here stands for Manu, who is the guardian deity of the bride.

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 853),.which adds the following notes:—‘Svastyayana’ means ‘the request to Brāhmaṇas for the pronouncing of the benedictory syllable svasti,’—‘Prajāpati-yajña means ‘the offering of cooked rice into fire to Prajāpati’;—and in Vyavahāra Bālambhaṭṭi (p. 529).

It is quoted in Smṛtitattva, (p. 130) which adds the following notes:—‘Svastyayanam’ stands for the wearing of gold for the purpose of passing a happy life, or for the request to Brāhmaṇas for pronouncing the syllable svasti; and the offering ‘to Prajāpati’ is that which is made during marriage to Prajāpati as the deity;—the ‘svāmyakāraṇa’ is the ‘giving’, the actual giving away, not the mere betrothal.

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