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 3.196
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
दैत्यदानवयक्षाणां गन्धर्वौरगरक्षसाम् ।
सुपर्णकिन्नराणां च स्मृता बर्हिषदोऽत्रिजाः ॥ १९६ ॥daityadānavayakṣāṇāṃ gandharvauragarakṣasām |
suparṇakinnarāṇāṃ ca smṛtā barhiṣado'trijāḥ || 196 ||The Barhisads, the sons of Atri, are declared to be the Pitṛs of Daityas, Dānavas, Yakṣas, Gandharvas, Uragas, Rākṣasas, Suparṇas and Kinnaras.—(196)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
All these, Daityas, &c., though not worthy of being mentioned in scriptures, have been mentioned here for purposes of the laudatory description. The forms and character of these beings are as described in the Itihāsas.
‘Suparṇas’—are a particular kind of birds.
‘Kinnaras’—are horse-faced beings.
The purport of this laudatory description is that—so essential is the performance of Śrāddhas that even Daityas, Dānavas and Rākṣasas, who generally interfere with sacrificial performances, cannot avoid it; nor even animals, who have no intelligence and no memory.
The sons of Atri are called ‘Barhiṣads.’— (196)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 55).