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 11.261
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
हत्वा लोकानपीमांस्त्रीनश्नन्नपि यतस्ततः ।
ऋग्वेदं धारयन् विप्रो नैनः प्राप्नोति किं चन ॥ २६१ ॥hatvā lokānapīmāṃstrīnaśnannapi yatastataḥ |
ṛgvedaṃ dhārayan vipro nainaḥ prāpnoti kiṃ cana || 261 ||Even if he kills the three worlds, or if he eats here and there, he does not incur any sin, if he retains the Ṛgveda (in memory).—(261)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
This also is purely commendatory, meant to indicate that the retaining of the Ṛgveda is a ‘Secret Expiation.’
Others, however, hold that the whole set of verses from 258 to the present, are descriptive of the ‘Secret Expiation.’—(261)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 174).
Comparative notes by various authors
Vaśiṣṭha (27.3).—‘A Brāhmaṇa who remembers the Ṛgveda is not tainted by any guilt.’