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:

न वै कन्या न युवतिर्नाल्पविद्यो न बालिशः ।
होता स्यादग्निहोत्रस्य नार्तो नासंस्कृतस्तथा ॥ ३६ ॥

na vai kanyā na yuvatirnālpavidyo na bāliśaḥ |
hotā syādagnihotrasya nārto nāsaṃskṛtastathā || 36 ||

Neither a girl, nor a youthful woman, nor a man of little learning, nor a fool, nor one distressed, nor one without the sacraments shall act as a ‘Hotṛ’ at the Agnihotra.—(36)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

In connection with the appointing of the priests at the Agnihotra it has been said,—‘one shall pour the libations or have it poured;’ and as these words are applicable equally to the man and the woman, as being entitled to the pouring of milk-offerings, the present text forbids it in regard to girls and youthful women.

Similarly the possibility of such offerings being made by one who is possessed of ‘little learning’—i.e., knows only the texts bearing on the two oblations,—or by ‘a fool.’

Distressed’—by illness.

Without sacraments’—who has not been initiated.

Some people hold that this explanation of the text is not right. As regards the Śrauta Agnihotra, the declaration is—‘on each Parva day one shall pour the libations himself, or one of the priests shall do it;’ there is no possibility for a woman ever acting as a ‘priest’; hence the prohibition herein contained must pertain to ‘the girl and the youthful woman,’—its purpose being to indicate the possibility of its being done by a woman who has got a son. In support of this they quote the following words of other Sūtra-writers—‘The wife may freely pour the morning and evening libations in the domestic fire.’ Others again, on the strength of what is said (in the next verse) regarding one being ‘skilled in the rituals,’ hold that the prohibition pertains to the Three Fires (of the Śrauta ritual).

But as a matter of fact the term ‘vitāna’ (used in the next verse) stands for ‘ritual’; and all this is performed only in Śrauta fires; so that there is no possibility of either women or unlearned men. performing these; specially as it has been laid down that only very specially qualified persons should act as priests.

From all this it is clear that the term ‘Agnihotra’ here stands for all kinds of rites, and the term ‘hotṛ’ for all classes of priests. So that the present Smṛti is only a reiteration of what has been enjoined in the Veda.—(36)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

See 2.172; 5.155; 9.18.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 11.36-37)

Mahābhārata (12.165.21-22).—(Same as Manu.)

Gautama (2.4).—‘One must not employ a child to offer oblations into the fire or to make Bali offerings.'

Āpastamba (2.15.17-18).—‘A female shall not offer any oblations into the fire; nor a child that has not been initiated.’

Vaśiṣṭha (2-6).—‘Hārīta quotes the following verse—“No religious rite can be performed by a child before he has been girt with the sacred girdle; since he is on a level with the Śūdra before he is born in the Veda.’

[See above.—2.72; 5.155 and 9.18.]

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