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 4.233
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
सर्वेषामेव दानानां ब्रह्मदानं विशिष्यते ।
वार्यन्नगोमहीवासस्।तिलकाञ्चनसर्पिषाम् ॥ २३३ ॥sarveṣāmeva dānānāṃ brahmadānaṃ viśiṣyate |
vāryannagomahīvāsas|tilakāñcanasarpiṣām || 233 ||The giving or Veda surpasses all gifts or water, food, cows, buffaloes, clothes, sesamum, gold and clarified butter.—(233)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
This is a commendatory supplement to the foregoing injunction.
The term ‘dāna’ stands for things given, gifts, or for the act of giving.
‘Giving of Veda’—Studying and expounding the Veda,
It is superior to the giving of every other thing, in the shape of water, etc.—(233)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 516);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 145).
Comparative notes by various authors
Vaśiṣṭha (29.20).—‘Three gifts they have described as extreme gifts—viz., of cows, land and Veda; the gift of gold is the very first of gifts; and superior even to that is the gift of learning.’
Yājñavalkya (1.212).—‘Brahman (Veda) being the embodiment of all Dharma, its gift is superior to all gifts; he who makes a gift of it obtains the imperishable region of Brahman.’
Bṛhaspati (19).—‘Three gifts they have described as extreme gifts;—viz., of cows, land and Veda; these three bring about the salvation of the giver through recitation, sowing and milking.’