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 6.11
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
वासन्तशारदैर्मेध्यैर्मुन्यन्नैः स्वयमाहृतैः ।
पुरोडाशांश्चरूंश्चैव विधिवत्निर्वपेत् पृथक् ॥ ११ ॥vāsantaśāradairmedhyairmunyannaiḥ svayamāhṛtaiḥ |
puroḍāśāṃścarūṃścaiva vidhivatnirvapet pṛthak || 11 ||With the pure grains fit for hermits, which grow in spring and in autumn, and which he has himself gathered, he shall severally prepare cakes and boiled messes, according to law—(11).
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
If the phrase ‘grains fit for hermits’ is not connected with what has gone before, then there is no room for the objection—“how can the sacrificial offerings be made, which are laid down as to consist of Vrīhi and other cultivated grains?”
The ‘boiled mess’ and ‘cake’ meant here are those that have been prescribed by the rules laid down for Hermits.
‘Vāsanta’—those that grow, or ripen, during spring; similarly ‘śārada’.
‘Sacred’—this is a mere re-iteration.
‘Which he has himself gathered’.—This forbids such means of livelihood as receiving gifts and the like. For the due fullilment of the aforesaid s mārta rites, grains have to be gathered by wandering hither and thither.
‘According to law’, ‘severally’.—Both these terms are added for filling up the metre.—(11).
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (on 3.46), which notes that even though the ‘munyanna’ is by nature pure, yet the text has added the epithet ‘medhya’ with a view to indicate that the grains should be fit for being offered at a sacrifice;—and in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 528), which explains ‘munyanna’ as ‘uncultivated grains,’ and ‘medhya’ as ‘fit for being offered at sacrifices.’
Comparative notes by various authors
Āpastamba (2.22.17-18).—‘He shall offer the burnt oblations, sustain his life... Rice must be used for those sacrifices for which cakes mixed with meat are offered by the Householder.’
Yājñavalkya (3.48).—‘The rites prescribed in the Smṛti and in the Śruti, as also all acts, he shall perform with oils extracted from fruits.’