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:

आयतिं सर्वकार्याणां तदात्वं च विचारयेत् ।
अतीतानां च सर्वेषां गुणदोषौ च तत्त्वतः ॥ १७८ ॥

āyatiṃ sarvakāryāṇāṃ tadātvaṃ ca vicārayet |
atītānāṃ ca sarveṣāṃ guṇadoṣau ca tattvataḥ || 178 ||

He shall fully think over the future and the present condition of all undertakings, as also the good and bad points of all past ones.—(178)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Undertakings’— Business affairs. When any work is going to be undertaken, he shall consider its ‘future’—i.e., its developments to come,—and also its ‘present condition’,—i.e., its condition at the beginning,—‘fully’— in all its real details. As a matter of fact, undertakings have several offshoots, and undergo transformation in a moment; so that if both ends (future and present) of an undertaking are not dearly grasped, it is difficult to ascertain in what manner it shall be proceeded with; hence the necessity of consi d eration, which the present text enjoins.

Also the good and bad points of all past ones’—shall then be pondered over. Here also having thought over the good and bad points of past actions, one has to make up his mind to undertake first those which are found to have only good points; and brain lies the use of thinking over the good and bed points of past acts,—which are enjoined in the present text—(178)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 328).

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