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:

तापसा यतयो विप्रा ये च वैमानिका गणाः ।
नक्षत्राणि च दैत्याश्च प्रथमा सात्त्विकी गतिः ॥ ४८ ॥

tāpasā yatayo viprā ye ca vaimānikā gaṇāḥ |
nakṣatrāṇi ca daityāśca prathamā sāttvikī gatiḥ || 48 ||

Ascetics and hermits, Brāhmaṇas, celestial beings, lunar asterisms, and Daityas represent the first state partaking of ‘Sattva.’—(48)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Ascetics’—the Recluse and others devoted to austerities.

Hermits’—wandering mendicants, and the rest.

This shows that the said state belongs to people, not only by birth, but by conduct also because there are no such species by birth as ‘ascetics’ and the rest; in fact the names are based upon what the men do.

Others, however, think that there are a people known as ‘Yatis,’ ‘Hermits,’ inhabiting the Meru mountain; as is clear from what we read regarding ‘India having made over the Yatis to the Sālāvṛkas.’

Vimānas’—celestial cars, Puṣpaka, and the rest; those who move about in these are ‘Vaimānikas,’ ‘celestial beings,’ denizens of heaven.

First’—lowest—(48)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārkā (p. 999);—in Madanapārijāta (p. 694);—in Parāśaramādhava, (Prāyaścitta, p. 488);—anil in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Prāyaścitta 41a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 12.32-51)

See Comparative notes for Verse 12.32.

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