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 4.244 [Relationships and Connections]
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
उत्तमैरुत्तमैर्नित्यं सम्बन्धानाचरेत् सह ।
निनीषुः कुलमुत्कर्षमधमानधमांस्त्यजेत् ॥ २४४ ॥uttamairuttamairnityaṃ sambandhānācaret saha |
ninīṣuḥ kulamutkarṣamadhamānadhamāṃstyajet || 244 ||Being desirous of raising his family to eminence, he shall always form connections with superior kinds of people; he shalt, avoid all inferior ones.—(244)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The word, ‘uttumaiḥ,’ has been repeated, in view of the fact that there are several kinds of ‘superior’ people; some are ‘superior’ in caste, some in learning, some in character. Or, the repetition may be due to diversity of connections; some connections being desirable for some kinds of ‘superior’ people, and some with the other.
‘With superior people’—w ith people superior in caste, etc.,—‘he shall form connections’ of marriage, etc.
‘Being desirous of raising his family to eminence’—to a superior status.
‘He shall avoid the inferior kinds.’—The injunction that connections shall he formed with superior people, implies that those with inferior people shall be avoided; the emphasizing of this latter, therefore, is meant to permit the forming of connections with middle class people, if superior people are not available.
‘Inferior’—low.—(244)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 587);—in Vidhānapārijāta (p. 674);—and in Saṃskāraratnamālā, (p. 75). All these quote the following description of the ‘uttama’ as from Manu; but these verses are not found in Manu—
viśuddhāḥ karmami(bhi?)ścaiva śrutismṛtinidarśitaiḥ |
aviplutabrahmacaryā mahākulasamanvitāḥ |
mahākule ye manbaddhā mahattve ca vyavasthitāḥ ||
santuṣṭāssajanahitāḥ sādhavaḥ samadarśinaḥ |
lobharāgadveṣāmarṣamānamohādivarjitāḥ |
a??odhanāḥ suprasādāḥ kārthāssambandhinaḥ sadā ||
and as description of ‘adharma’ they quote Manu 3.150-152.
It is quoted in Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 75);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 205).