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:

स्वायम्भुवाद्याः सप्तैते मनवो भूरितेजसः ।
स्वे स्वेऽन्तरे सर्वमिदमुत्पाद्यापुश्चराचरम् ॥ ६३ ॥

svāyambhuvādyāḥ saptaite manavo bhūritejasaḥ |
sve sve'ntare sarvamidamutpādyāpuścarācaram || 63 ||

These seven almighty Manus, of whom Svāyambhuva is the first, having called into existence the whole of this world, consisting of movable and immovable beings, sustained it, each during his own regime.—(63)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Here seven Manus have been mentioned by me; elsewhere they are spoken of as fourteen.

Each during his own regime’—during his time, i.e., during the time of his sovereignty.—‘Having called into being’ the offerings, they ‘maintained,’ nourished, them.—‘During his own regime’—means during the time of his sovereignty; i.e., that Manu whose time or turn it was to create and maintain the continuity of the world.

Others explain the term ‘antara’ as denoting a particular time-period, just like the words ‘month’ &c.

But this is not right; it is only when the term ‘antara’ occurs along with the term ‘Manu’ (i.e., in the compound ‘Manvantara’) that it becomes expressive of a time-period,—i.e., the time-period known ns ‘Manvantara,’—and not when it stands by itself (as it does in the text).

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