Verse 1.47 [Different ways of Fruit-bearing]

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

अपुष्पाः फलवन्तो ये ते वनस्पतयः स्मृताः ।
पुष्पिणः फलिनश्चैव वृक्षास्तूभयतः स्मृताः ॥ ४७ ॥

apuṣpāḥ phalavanto ye te vanaspatayaḥ smṛtāḥ |
puṣpiṇaḥ phalinaścaiva vṛkṣāstūbhayataḥ smṛtāḥ || 47 ||

Those trees that are called ‘vanaspati’ bear fruits without flowers; and those called ‘vṛkṣa’ bear both flowers and fruits.—(47)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

[The ordinary meaning of the verse is as follows]—Those trees, in whom fruits are produced without flowers, are called ‘Vanasputi,’ not ‘Vṛkṣa’; while those that bear flowers as well as fruits are, by reason of the presence of both, called ‘Vṛkṣa’ As a matter of fact, however, Vanaspatis are also called ‘Vṛkṣa,’ and Vṛkṣas are spoken of as ‘Vanaspati.’ The particular grounds of such usage will have to be shown later on.

What we hold however (as to the real meaning of this verse), is as follows:—The present work does not make it its business to lay down the meanings of words, in the manner of grammatical works; so that the meaning of the verse cannot be that ‘those that have such and such a character are denoted by the word Vanaspati, and so forth.’ In fact what is described here is the manner of the birth of fruits; this (manner of birth) having been put forward (in Verse 42) as the subject ih hand. The meaning thus is as follows:—Fruits are produced in two ways: they are produced without flowers, and also from flowers; and flowers are produced from trees (called Vṛkṣa). Thus then, it follows that, even though the statement is apparently in the form 'those that bear fruits without flowers are to be known as Vanaspati,’—yet in view of what forms the subject-matter of the context, the ‘yat’ (‘which’) and ‘tat’ (‘that’) should be made to change their places; the construction being—‘those trees that are known by the name Vanaspati have no flowers, and yet they bear fruits’;—i.e., in these trees fruits grow without flowers; this construction is adopted on the strength of actual facts. Such altering of the construction on the strength of facts we also find in such cases as the following Though the actual words are in the form ‘vāsasā pariveṣṭayeṭ,’ ‘the post should bo surrounded with cloth,’—yet in as much as the cloth has got to be worn by the man, the words are constructed as ‘stambhe nidhāya vāsaḥ paridhāpayet’ ‘the cloth should be hung on the post and then made to be worn.’

Though what is stated in the present verse is a well known fact (and as such did not need to be mentioned in the Smṛti), yet it has been mentioned with the purpose of serving as an introduction to what is going to be stated below in Verse 49—‘Enveloped in darkness, &c. &c.’—(47)