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 6.44
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
कपालं वृक्षमूलानि कुचेलमसहायता ।
समता चैव सर्वस्मिन्नेतत्मुक्तस्य लक्षणम् ॥ ४४ ॥kapālaṃ vṛkṣamūlāni kucelamasahāyatā |
samatā caiva sarvasminnetatmuktasya lakṣaṇam || 44 ||The potsherd, the roots of trees, coarse cloth, solitude, e quality towards all,—are the mark of the liberated man.—(44).
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The ‘potsherd’—the broken jar—shall be his dish and his begging-bow;—The ‘roots of trees’ shall be his home.
‘Coarse cloth’—Rough and torn pieces of doth.
‘Equality’—towards the friend and the enemy, to one who is neither a friend nor an enemy, as well as towards himself.
‘Mark of the liberated person’. What this means is that to such a man liberation is quickly attained; not that the man becomes liberated by these alone.—(44).
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 953);—and in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 569).
Comparative notes by various authors
Mahābhārata (12.245.7).—(Same as Manu, the second line being read as ‘Upekṣā sarvabhūtānāmetāvadbhikṣulakṣaṇam.’)
Gautama (3.18-19, 25).—‘He shall wear a cloth just to cover his nakedness; an old rag, duly washed, say some. He shall not undertake anything for his spiritual or temporal welfare.’
Baudhāyana (2.11, 19, 21).—‘He shall wear cloth just to cover his nakedness. He shall wear a dress dyed yellowish red.’
Do. (2.17.44).—‘He should no longer wear any white dress.’
Āpastamba (2. 21.11).—‘It is ordained that he shall wear clothes discarded by others.’
Vaśiṣṭha (10.9, 10, 13, 27).—‘He should wear a single garment; or cover his body with a skin or with grass that has been nibbled at by the cow. He shall dwell at the extremity of the village, in a temple, or in an empty house, or at the root of a tree. He should not be crooked in bis ways; he should not observe the rules of impurity on account of deaths or births; he should not have a house; he should he of concentrated mind.’
Viṣṇu (96.10, 11).—‘He must live in an empty house; or at the root of a tree.’