Verse 2.19

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

कुरुक्षेत्रं च मत्स्याश्च पञ्चालाः शूरसेनकाः ।
एष ब्रह्मर्षिदेशो वै ब्रह्मावर्तादनन्तरः ॥ १९ ॥

kurukṣetraṃ ca matsyāśca pañcālāḥ śūrasenakāḥ |
eṣa brahmarṣideśo vai brahmāvartādanantaraḥ || 19 ||

Next to Brahmāvarta is the ‘Brahmarṣideśa,’ comprising the regions op Kurukṣetra, Matsyas, Pañchālas and Śukasenakas. (19).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

These are the names of the various regions.

‘Kurukṣetra’ is what is known as Samantapañcaka, the place where the Kurus were exterminated. The etymological signification of the name ‘Kurukṣetra h as been explained as meaning—‘do good deeds here, and salvation shall come quickly,’ ‘kuru sukṛtamatra kṣiprantrāṇam bhavati.’

‘Matsyas’ and the rest are the names of countries, in the plural form.

‘Brahmarṣideśa’ is the name of the entire group. Brahmāvarta is the country ‘created by the Gods’; and since the Brahmarṣis are a little lower in degree than the Gods, this country, being related to Brahmarṣis, is slightly lower in grade than Brahmāvarta. This is what is meant by this being ‘next to Brahmāvarta,’—i.e., slightly different from it;—the negative particle (in ‘a denoting slightly; just as when it is said that ‘the sick person should drink gruel when it is not-hot,’ it is meant that it should be drunk when it is slightly hot. The term ‘antara’ means different; as it is found in such assertions as ‘mahadantaram,’ ‘in the case of men, women and water, even a slight difference makes a great difference.’ (19)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

The tract here described “comprises,”—says Buhler—“the Doab from the neighbourhood of Delhi as far as Mathura,” and Burnell refers us to a map in the Numismata Orientalia, Part I.

This verse is quoted in the Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra P. 17) which reads ‘Anantaram’ and explains—it as ‘slightly less important’;—in the Vīramitrodaya (Paribhāṣā, p. 56), which adds the following notes:—‘Matsya, Virātdeśa,—Pāñchāla’ the Kānyakubja and adjacent countries,—Śūrasena, country about Mathura,—‘anantaraḥ’ slightly inferior;—in the Dānamayūkha (p. 7.) and the Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 4), which have the same explanations as the Vīramitrodaya.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(Verses 18-23)

See Comparative notes for Verse 2.18 (The Practice of Good Men).