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 1.108
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
आचारः परमो धर्मः श्रुत्योक्तः स्मार्त एव च ।
तस्मादस्मिन् सदा युक्तो नित्यं स्यादात्मवान् द्विजः ॥ १०८ ॥ācāraḥ paramo dharmaḥ śrutyoktaḥ smārta eva ca |
tasmādasmin sadā yukto nityaṃ syādātmavān dvijaḥ || 108 ||Morality [Right Behaviour] is highest Dharma; that which is prescribed in the śruti and laid down in the Smṛti. hence the twice-born person, desiring the welfare of his soul, should be always intent upon Right Behaviour.—(108)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Highest Dharma is Morality’ [Right Behaviour]; that which has been prescribed in the Śruti, i.e. Veda; and also ‘that laid down in the Smṛti.’ Hence one should be ever intent upon Dharma in the shape of Right Behaviour i.e. he should carry it into practice.
‘Ātmavān’—lit. ‘endowed with soul,’ really means ‘desiring the welfare of his soul’; all men are ‘endowed with soul’; hence the affix ‘matup’ is taken to mean ‘welfare of soul.’—(108).
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
(Verse 108-109)
Vaśiṣṭha, 6.1-5.—(Same as Manu.)