Verse 1.27 [Creation of Gross and Subtile things]

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

अण्व्यो मात्रा विनाशिन्यो दशार्धानां तु याः स्मृताः ।
ताभिः सार्धमिदं सर्वं सम्भवत्यनुपूर्वशः ॥ २७ ॥

aṇvyo mātrā vināśinyo daśārdhānāṃ tu yāḥ smṛtāḥ |
tābhiḥ sārdhamidaṃ sarvaṃ sambhavatyanupūrvaśaḥ || 26 ||

The evanescent subtile constituents of the half-ten (Elemental Substances) that have been described,—along with those, this whole (world) comes forth, in due order.—(27)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This verse sums up what has gone before.

‘Of the half-ten’—i.e., of the five elemental substances;—‘the subtile,’—minute,—‘constituents,’—parts; i.e., the ‘Rudimentary substances’; these are ‘evanescent’;—they are called ‘evanescent’ (liable to destruction) in the sense that, being liable to undergo modifications, they take up grosser forms.—‘along with those,' ‘this whole’—world,—‘comes forth,’—is produced;—‘in due order,’—in proper sequence; i.e., from the subtile the gross, and from the gross the grosser; or in the order in which they have been described (in the foregoing verses).—(27)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Vināśinyaḥ’—because liable to change into gross substances (Medhātithi, Govinda and Kullūka); or because they are products (Rāghavā.)

The commentators are at some pains to explain the incongruity of the inter-position of the present verse in the middle of what purports to be a connected account of the process of creation. Medhātithi says the verse serves the purpose of summing up what has been said so far;—Govindarāja and Kullūka make it serve the purpose of setting aside the notion that the creation was accomplished by Brahman without the help of the ‘principles’;—and Nārāyaṇa holds that it is meant to lay stress upon the non-eternality of atoms;—Nandana has solved the difficulty by placing this verse after verse 19.