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 2.193
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
नित्यमुद्धृतपाणिः स्यात् साध्वाचारः सुसंवृतः ।
आस्यतामिति चौक्तः सन्नासीताभिमुखं गुरोः ॥ १९३ ॥nityamuddhṛtapāṇiḥ syāt sādhvācāraḥ susaṃvṛtaḥ |
āsyatāmiti cauktaḥ sannāsītābhimukhaṃ guroḥ || 193 ||He should always have his arm raised, remain well behaved, and well-guarded; when addressed with the words “be seated,” he should sit facing his teacher.—(193)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The arm should be raised, not only above the saered thread, but also out of the upper garment.
The adverb ‘always’ is meant to imply that the arm is to be raised not only while he is standing, nor only while he is reading, but on other occasions also.
‘Well-behaved’;—he should have his behaviour—speech and other acts—good, above reproach. The word ‘implies that even when not near the Teacher, he should not utter indecorous words, or do any such wrongful act.
‘Well-guarded’;—i.e., fully self-controlled, regarding speech, mind and eyes,—he should avoid even the slightest defects. The man who follows the bent of his desires (and does not restrain them) is called among people ‘unguarded’; and the opposite of this is ‘well-guarded.’
Others explain this to mean that ‘near his Teacher one should keep his body covered, and he should not take off his upper garment.’
In the manner thus described, ‘he should stand’ (as laid down in the preceding verse); but when the Teacher says to him ‘be seated’—either in so many words, or by the gesture of his brows, etc.; the function of the injunction being to convey the direction, and this conveying need not be done only by means of words,—‘he should sit.’
‘Facing his Teacher’—with his face towards the Teacher.—(198)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Madanapārijāta (p. 100);—in Aparārka (p. 56);—and in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Saṃskāra, p. 47a).
Comparative notes by various authors
Gautama (1.60).—‘Being permitted, the pupil should sit to the teacher’s right, facing either the east or the north.’