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:

पुरोहितं च कुर्वीत वृणुयादेव चर्त्विजः ।
तेऽस्य गृह्याणि कर्माणि कुर्युर्वैतानिकानि च ॥ ७८ ॥

purohitaṃ ca kurvīta vṛṇuyādeva cartvijaḥ |
te'sya gṛhyāṇi karmāṇi kuryurvaitānikāni ca || 78 ||

He shall appoint a household priest and select officiating priests; they shall perform his domestic rites, as also the fire-sacrifices.—(78)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Even though the Accusative case-ending has been used, yet the singular number (in ‘purohitam’, ‘priest’) should be regarded as significant; specially as the singleness of the household priest has been declared elsewhere also; the present construction being analogous to that in the case of such sentences as ‘he cuts a post’, ‘one should obtain a wife’, and so forth.

He shall select officiating priests’—The exact number of these should be ascertained from Vedic texts. Their qualifications arc—‘They should be neither too fat nor too lean, neither too tall nor too short, neither too old nor too young, having at least six ancestors on both sides famed for learning, austerity and actions, their Brāhmaṇa-hood should be above suspicion and they should themselves be learned’; and so forth.

Domestic rites’—those that are performed for the allaying of evil portents and for the securing of welfare.

Fire sacrifices’—sacrificial rites performed in connection with the Three Fires.—(78)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 407);—and in Rājanītiratnākara (p. 13b).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (11.12-18).—‘He shall select as his domestic priest, a Brāhmaṇa who is learned, of noble family, eloquent, handsome, of proper age, and of virtuous disposition, who lives righteously and is austere. With his assistance, he shall fulfil his religious duties; for it is declared in the Veda that “Kṣatriyas who are assisted by Brāhmaṇas prosper and do not fall into trouble.” He shall also take heed of that which astrologers and interpreters of omens tell him.... He shall perforin in the Fire of the Hall the rites ensuring prosperity, which are connected with Śānti (allaying of portents), festivals, a prosperous march, long life and auspiciousness; as well as those that are intended to cause enmity, to subdue enemies, to destroy them by incantations, and to cause their misfortune. Officiating priests shall perform for him the other sacrifices, according to the law.’

Baudhāyana (1.18.7, 8).—‘The king shall choose a domestic priest, foremost in all transactions;—and shall act according to his instructions.’

Kāmandaka (4.32).—‘A person well versed in the Vedic Triad and in the Science of Government should he appointed as the Royal Priest; he shall perform the Śānti, Pauṣṭika and other rites according to the Atharva Veda.’

Vaśiṣṭha (19. 3-6).—‘He shall appoint a domestic priest to perform those rites that are obligatory for householders. It is declared in the Veda that a realm where a Brāhmaṇa is appointed domestic priest, prospers. Thus shall both his duties he fulfilled;—by himself alone the king would be unable to do both.’

Viṣṇu (3.70).—‘He shall appoint as domestic priest a man conversant with the Vedas, the Epics, the Institutes of Sacred Law, and the science of what is useful in life,—of a good family, not deficient of limbs, and persistent in the performance of austerities.’

Yājñavalkya (1.312-313).—‘He shall appoint the domestic priest, who is well versed in astrology, endowed with the aforesaid qualities, expert in criminal law, and also in the Atharvāṅgirasa rites. For the performance of Śrauta and Smārta rites, he shall appoint the sacrificial priests and shall perform, according to law, sacrifices at which large fees are paid.’

Arthaśāstra (p. 46).—‘He shall appoint as his domestic priest a person whose family and character are well-known, who is well-instructed in the Veda with the six subsidiaries, in portents and the science of government, competent to allay all troubles from human and superhuman sources hy means laid down in the Atharva Veda; him the king shall follow as the pupil follows the teacher, the son the father, or the servant the master.’

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