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:

एतत् त्रयं हि पुरुषं निर्दहेदवमानितम् ।
तस्मादेतत् त्रयं नित्यं नावमन्येत बुद्धिमान् ॥ १३६ ॥

etat trayaṃ hi puruṣaṃ nirdahedavamānitam |
tasmādetat trayaṃ nityaṃ nāvamanyeta buddhimān || 136 ||

Because these three, when despised, may destroy the man,—therefore, the intelligent man shall never despise these three.—(136)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The man’—i.e., he who does the despising.

These three, when despised.’—The Kṣatriya and the. snake destroy a man with their visible (physical) power, while the Brāhmaṇa does it by means of incantations and oblations, as also by means of the spiritual wrong involved in his ill-treatment.

Therefore these three &c.’—This sums up the whole thing. Having indicated the evil involved, the Author has added this summing up, with a view to show that what is here mentioned is to be avoided with special care; and from the great care thus enjoined it follows that the act here prohibited involves a correspondingly serious Expiatory Rite also.—(136)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 194).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 4.135-136)

See Comparative notes for Verse 4.135.

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