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:

दृष्टिपूतं न्यसेत् पादं वस्त्रपूतं जलं पिबेत् ।
सत्यपूतां वदेद् वाचं मनःपूतं समाचरेत् ॥ ४६ ॥

dṛṣṭipūtaṃ nyaset pādaṃ vastrapūtaṃ jalaṃ pibet |
satyapūtāṃ vaded vācaṃ manaḥpūtaṃ samācaret || 46 ||

He shall place his foot sight-purified, drink water cloth-clarified, utter speech truth-sanctified and act with pure mind—(46).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Having looked over the path with the eye, he should place his foot on a spot where there may be no animals to suffer from his tread.

It being already known that one should tell the truth, the term ‘pūta’, ‘sanctified’, is meant to show that the term ‘satya’, ‘truth’, is purely indicative; hence there is nothing incongruous in this.

One shall always remain pure in his mind; i.e. he shall not even think of possessing what belongs to another and so forth.—(46)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 953);—and in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 569).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Baudhāyana (2.11.25, 24).—‘He shall perform the necessary purifications with water which has been taken out and has been strained. He shall carry a cloth for straining water for the sake of purifications.’

Do. (2-17.43).—‘He shall not sip water which has not been drawn up, which has not been strained and which has not been thoroughly cleansed.’

Do. (2.18.2).—‘Abstention from injuring living beings, truthfulness, abstention from appropriating the property of others, continence and liberality.’

Viṣṇu (96.14-17).—‘He must set down his feet purified by looking down: he must drink water purified (by straining) with a cloth; he must utter speech purified by truth; ho must perform acts purified by his mind.’

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