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 11.39
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
पुण्यान्यन्यानि कुर्वीत श्रद्दधानो जितेन्द्रियः ।
न त्वल्पदक्षिणैर्यज्ञैर्यजेतेह कथं चन ॥ ३९ ॥puṇyānyanyāni kurvīta śraddadhāno jitendriyaḥ |
na tvalpadakṣiṇairyajñairyajeteha kathaṃ cana || 39 ||The man who has faith and control over his senses may perform other meritorious acts; but he shall not, on any account, perform sacrifices with small fees.—(39)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
A sacrifice is regarded as ‘with small fees’ when the fee given at it is smaller than what has been prescribed.
“The fee is a sort of hire; if a worker is obtained at a lower hire, why should anything higher be paid? This is the principle that governs all dealings of people in the ordinary world, with the ploughman and other workers. There is the saying also—‘when a thing can be had for one paṇa, what wise men shall buy it for ten paṇas?’ If the sacred texts prescribe ‘twelve-hundred’ as the fee, this is done only with a view to the obtaining of higher rewards.”
It is people entertaining such notions for whose sake the present text sets forth the prohibition, and it does not refer to a case where the prescribed fee itself is small.—(39)
Comparative notes by various authors
Mahābhārata (12.165.24).—(Same as Manu.)