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:

स्त्रियो रत्नान्यथो विद्या धर्मः शौचं सुभाषितम् ।
विविधानि च शिल्पानि समादेयानि सर्वतः ॥ २४० ॥

striyo ratnānyatho vidyā dharmaḥ śaucaṃ subhāṣitam |
vividhāni ca śilpāni samādeyāni sarvataḥ || 240 ||

Wives, gems, learning, virtue, purity, wise saying and the various arts may be obtained from all sources.—(240)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Gems’—precious stones, even though obtained from such low-born people as the Śabara, the Pulinda and so forth, are regarded as clean; similarly should learning be regarded.

Arts’—e.g., Painting, etc., and those that have been regarded as mean, such as clothes-washing, the colouring and tying of cloth and so forth.

From all sources’—i.e., irrespective of considerations of caste.

May be obtained,’—accepted; by persons whose patience is truly assured. Begininng with Verse 239, all that is said is syntactically connected, and forming part of the same context, the whole is to be regarded as a commendatory statement.—(240)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Striyo ratnāni’—‘Wives, gems’ (Medhātithi and Govindarāja);—‘gem-like wives’ (Rāghavānanda).

This verse occurs in Devalasmṛti also (quoted in Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 514).

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