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 स्कन्दते न व्यथते न विनश्यति कर्हि चित् ।
वरिष्ठमग्निहोत्रेभ्यो ब्राह्मणस्य मुखे हुतम् ॥ ८४ ॥

na skandate na vyathate na vinaśyati karhi cit |
variṣṭhamagnihotrebhyo brāhmaṇasya mukhe hutam || 84 ||

What is offered into the mouth of the Brāhmaṇa, which is neither spilt nor spoilt, nor wasted, is far superior to the Fire-offerings.—(84)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

That the act just mentioned must be performed is asserted again in another form; What is offered into the Fire is sometimes ‘spilt’— it flows out, when it is poured out; sometimes it becomes spoilt—as in the case of the cake—by becoming overburnt. Similarly it becomes ‘wasted’—in the eyes of all cultured men—by reason of defects in the ritualistic detail. None of these defects is possible in the case of what is given to Brāhmaṇas.

It is in view of this that the text asserts that this is ‘superior to the Fire-offerings’—i.e. to the offerings poured into fire. Or, the term ‘Agnihotra’ may be taken in its literal sense of the name of the Rite; and in that case we have to supply the term ‘et cetera.’

Offered into the mouth.’—The hand of the Brāhmaṇa is his ‘mouth’; according to the declaration—‘The Brāhmaṇa has been described as having his hands for his mouth.’

Superior’—more excellent.

This is purely commendatory; and should not be taken as actually detracting from the value of the Fire-offerings.—(84)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Chyavate’—‘Becomes spoilt’ (Medhātithi); Kullūka reads ‘vyathate’ and explains it as ‘dries up’; and Rāghavānanda as ‘causes pain’.

This verse is quoted in Rājanītiratnākara (p. 14a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Vaśiṣṭha (30.7).—‘The offering made through the mouth of a Brāhmaṇa, which is neither spilt nor causes pain, nor assails him who makes it, is far more excellent than the Agnihotra.’

Yājñavalkya (1.315),—‘What is offered into the Brāhmaṇa-fire is an oblation that involves no spilling and no pain, and is not tainted by expiations.’

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