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:

यमो वैवस्वतो देवो यस्तवैष हृदि स्थितः ।
तेन चेदविवादस्ते मा गङ्गां मा कुरून् गमः ॥ ९२ ॥

yamo vaivasvato devo yastavaiṣa hṛdi sthitaḥ |
tena cedavivādaste mā gaṅgāṃ mā kurūn gamaḥ || 92 ||

‘The, god Yama, the son of Vivasvat, who sits in your heart,—if you have no quarrel with him, you need not visit the Gaṅgā, nor the Kurus.—(92)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

With a view to strike terror in the heart of the man, it is next described who is the ‘silent watcher’ (mentioned in the preceding verse).

You have heard of the God, who is the destroyer of the body and property and other things belonging to all living beings, and who punishes them with torments; that God resides in your heart, and not away from you; in the event of committing a wrong, he will punish you immediately;—and do not think that being your own sold, ho will ignore your fault; because no one is his ‘own.’

If you have no quarrel with him’—if he is satisfied with you and trusts you, then what would be the need for your going to bathe in the Gaṅgā for the cleansing of your sins? What too would be the need for going to Kurukṣetra? For the reward of going to these places consists in the destruction of sins and acquiring of merit; and all this is obtained by the man here and now, if he is at pence with the Supreme Self (within him). As a matter of fact, the soul of a sinner is never free from fear; the unbeliever also has doubts regarding what is going to happen to him at death.

The Gaṅgā is a river that purifies: and in ‘Kurukṣetra’ it is the land itself that purities.—(92)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 674);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Vyavahāra, p. 204), which explains ‘Kūrun’ as ‘Kurukṣetra.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.89-97)

[See the texts under 79 et seq.]

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