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:

एतद् विद्वन्तो ??विद्वांसस्त्रयीनिष्कर्षमन्वहम् ।
क्रमतः पूर्वमभ्यस्य पश्चाद् वेदमधीयते ॥ १२५ ॥

etad vidvanto ??vidvāṃsastrayīniṣkarṣamanvaham |
kramataḥ pūrvamabhyasya paścād vedamadhīyate || 125 ||

Knowing this, the learned dally recite first the essence of the three Vedas, in due order; and it is only after this that they recite the Veda.—(125)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Knowing this’,—i. e., the connection of the Vedas with the presiding beings of the three Regions, as described in the preceding verse;—‘the learned’—wise men—‘first’— ‘recite the essence of the three Vedas’— in the shape of (1) the syllable ‘om,’ (2) the Vyāhṛtis (the syllables, ‘bhūḥ bhuvaḥ—svaḥ’) and (3) the ‘Sāvitrī’ verse—in this ‘order;’—and ‘after this they recite the Veda.’ By the reciting of the said three ‘essences,’ all the three regions and the three presiding beings become comprehended.

Though this matter has already been asserted in Discourse II, yet it is repeated here; and this with a view to emphasise the fact, that—‘just as one does not recite the Veda at a time that is unfit for study, so also should he not recite it until he has previously recited the essence of the three Vedas.’—(125).

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