Verse 4.100

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

यथोदितेन विधिना नित्यं छन्दस्कृतं पठेत् ।
ब्रह्म छन्दस्कृतं चैव द्विजो युक्तो ह्यनापदि ॥ १०० ॥

yathoditena vidhinā nityaṃ chandaskṛtaṃ paṭhet |
brahma chandaskṛtaṃ caiva dvijo yukto hyanāpadi || 100 ||

According to the prescribed rule, the Brāhmaṇa shall, every day, during normal times, diligently recite the Veda in verse, as also the Veda in verse and prose.—(100)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The term ‘verse’ stands for the ‘Gāyatrī’ and other metres; and the Veda with these, is the Ṛgveda, and also the Sāma Veda. The term ‘kṛta’ is used here in the sense of association, the root ‘kṛ’ having several significations, it is explained as denoting ‘association’ in the present context. The root ‘kṛ’ has the sense of ‘collecting’ in such expressions as ‘gomayān kuru’ (collect cowdung),—it has the sense of rubbing, in the expression ‘pṛṣṭham kuru’ (Rub the back); similarly, in the present text it means ‘association.’

‘Brahmachandaskṛtam’—that which is in verse and prose. In the Yajurveda, there are prose-passages, as also Mantras composed in the Gāyatrī and other metres; both kinds of passages being found in the same chapter. It is not so in the Ṛgveda or in the Sāma Veda; in both of which the mantras (in metre) form one part and the Brāhmaṇas (prose) form a distinct part. It is on the basis of this difference in the character of the Vedas that the text mentions them in the way in which it has done. Thus have the older writers explained the text.

‘According to rule’—This sums up the rules laid down in connection with normal times. In abnormal times, one would need the presence of the Teacher for enlightening him regarding the distinction mentioned in the text; and if, on that account, he were not to repeat the texts, he would forget them; hence, in this case, the aforesaid distinction need not be observed.—(100)

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (quoted in commentary on Gobhila, p. 64).—‘There is no stopping of reading for that reading which has been laid down as to be done every day.’