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:

यथा नदीनदाः सर्वे सागरे यान्ति संस्थितिम् ।
तथैवाश्रमिणः सर्वे गृहस्थे यान्ति संस्थितिम् ॥ ९० ॥

yathā nadīnadāḥ sarve sāgare yānti saṃsthitim |
tathaivāśramiṇaḥ sarve gṛhasthe yānti saṃsthitim || 90 ||

Just as rivers and rivulets attain their resting-places in the Ocean, so do men of all other orders obtain support in the Householder.—(90).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Rivers’—the Gaṅgā and the rest;—‘rivulets’—the Bhidya and others. The distinction between ‘rivers’ and ‘rivulets’ is based upon the difference of position or of taste.

In actual usage both are treated as one and the same; and the diversity of gender (in that case) is explained as standing on the same footing as that in the ease of the synonymous words ‘bhāryā’ (feminine) and ‘dārā’ (Masculine).

Resting place’—support.

Just as the Ocean is the resting place for all kinds of water, so is the Householder entitled to the performance of all duties—(90)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(verses 6.87-93)

See Comparative notes for Verse 6.87.

(verses 6.90)

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 563);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 175).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Vaśiṣṭha (8.15-17).—‘As all rivers, great and small, find a resting place in the ocean, even so men of all orders find protection with Householders. As all creatures exist through the protection afforded by their mothers, even so all mendicants subsist through the protection afforded by Householders.’

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