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 12.114
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
अव्रतानाममन्त्राणां जातिमात्रोपजीविनाम् ।
सहस्रशः समेतानां परिषत्त्वं न विद्यते ॥ ११४ ॥avratānāmamantrāṇāṃ jātimātropajīvinām |
sahasraśaḥ sametānāṃ pariṣattvaṃ na vidyate || 114 ||Even if thousands of Brāhmaṇas come together,—who have not fulfilled their duties, who are ignorant of the sacred texts, who subsist merely by the name of their caste,—the character of the ‘Assembly’ cannot belong to them.—(114)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Who have not fulfilled their duties’;—what has been already asserted before is stated here in the negative form.
When persons fulfilling their duties and learned in the Veda lay down a certain law, no doubts should be entertained regarding it,—either by learned or by ignorant men. Nor should any optional alternatives be admitted in such cases.—(114)
Comparative notes by various authors
Baudhāyana (1.1.16).—‘Many thousands cannot form an Assembly, if they have not fulfilled their sacred duties, are unacquainted with the Veda, and subsist only by the name of their caste.’
Vaśiṣṭha (3.5).—(Same as above.)
Parāśara (8.12).—(Same as Manu.)