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 4.69
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
बालातपः प्रेतधूमो वर्ज्यं भिन्नं तथाऽसनम् ।
न छिन्द्यान्नखरोमाणि दन्तैर्नोत्पाटयेन्नखान् ॥ ६९ ॥bālātapaḥ pretadhūmo varjyaṃ bhinnaṃ tathā'sanam |
na chindyānnakharomāṇi dantairnotpāṭayennakhān || 69 ||The young sun and the smoke from the dead body, should be avoided, as also a broken seat. He shall not cut his nails and hair, nob shall he tear his nails with his teeth.—(69)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
For three ‘muhūrtas’ after rising, the sun is called the ‘young sun,’
‘Smoke from the dead body’—that which rises from a dead body being burnt.
‘Broken seat’—i.e., that which is torn, or with holes, or injured. All this should be avoided.
‘He shall not cut his nails and hair’—himself; when they have grown too long, he should get them cut by the barber.
He should not tear his nails—even though they may have become very long—with his teeth.
Others construe as follows:—‘He shall not cut bis nails and hair with his teeth,—aud the nails he shall not cut even with his teeth.’
Young women often tear their nails, in the process of adorning, them.—(69)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
‘Bālātapaḥ’—The morning sun’ (Medhātithi);—‘the Sun in the sign of Virgo, i.e., the autumnal Sun’ (Rāghavānanda).
‘Na chindyānnakharomāni’—‘He should not clip his nails or hair,’—‘himself, i.e., he should employ a barber’ (Medhātithi and Govindarāja),—‘before they have grown long’ (Kullūka),—‘except at the proper time for dipping’ (Nandana).
This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 183);—and in Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 71), which explains ‘Bālātapa’ as the ‘autumnal Sun’ [‘Bāla’ standing for the zodiacal sign of Kanyā, Virgo, and it is during the month of Kārtika that the Sun (ātapa) is in that sign].
Comparative notes by various authors
Viṣṇu (71.44, 46).—‘He shall not cut his nails or hair with his teeth; he shall avoid sitting under the young sun.’
Yājñavalkya (1.139).—‘He should avoid the smoke issuing from the dead body.’