Verse 3.143

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

दातॄन् प्रतिग्रहीतॄंश्च कुरुते फलभागिनः ।
विदुषे दक्षिणां दत्त्वा विधिवत् प्रेत्य चैह च ॥ १४३ ॥

dātṝn pratigrahītṝṃśca kurute phalabhāginaḥ |
viduṣe dakṣiṇāṃ dattvā vidhivat pretya caiha ca || 143 ||

The presenting of the gift, according to rule, to the learned makes the givers and receivers partakers of reward, here as well as after death.—(143)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

That the gift that is presented to the learned person makes the givers partakers of reward is only right: but what is the reward obtained by the receivers? If it be held that they obtain some transcendental result,—that, cannot be right: because the act of receiving gifts has not been so enjoined, and also because the receiver is prompted to accept the gift only with a view to the perceptible reward. If, on the other hand, the reward to the receiver be held to be something perceptible,—then such a reward is found to be obtained by the ignorant person also.”

True; but what is stated here is mere praise; the sense lasing that—‘the presenting of offerings to the learned man is so effective that the receiver also comes to partake of the imperceptible reward, in addition to the perceptible one,—what to say of the giver.’

‘Alter death’— in heaven.

‘Here’—the reward is in the form of fame; the man being praised by men as doing things in exact accordance with the scriptures,

‘According to rule;’—this is a mere reiterative reference to the injunction that ‘gifts should be made to persons posessing such and such qualifications.’—(143)

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Yājñavalkya (1.270).—‘Men’s grandfathers, when pleased, bestow upon them, long life, offspring, wealth, learning, heaven, final deliverance and pleasures.’