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:

यजेत वाऽश्वमेधेन स्वर्जिता गोसवेन वा ।
अभिजिद्विश्वजिद्भ्यां वा त्रिवृताऽग्निष्टुताऽपि वा ॥ ७४ ॥

yajeta vā'śvamedhena svarjitā gosavena vā |
abhijidviśvajidbhyāṃ vā trivṛtā'gniṣṭutā'pi vā || 74 ||

Or, he may offer the Aśvamedha, or the Svajit—the Gosava, or the Abhijit—Viśvajit, or the triple Agniṣṭut.—(74)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

It is only the lord of a kingdom that is entitled to the performance of a Horse-sacrifice; as the sacrificial fee prescribed in that connection is such gold and other metals as have been won from the Eastern and other quarters.

Those persons who have not performed the Fire-laying rite are not entitled to the performance of any sacrifice. Nor would they he justified in laying the Fires for the purpose of these sacrifices only; because the rites for the purposes of expiation are to be done only along with their own accessory details, and ‘Fire-laying’ does not form the accessory of any of these sacrifices.—(74)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Svarjitā.’—‘Svarjit’ is the name of a sacrifice, according to Nārāyaṇa and Kullūka;—according to others the term is only an epithet of ‘gosavena.’

Trivṛtā’.—Qualifies the ‘Agniṣṭut’, according to Medhātithi;—but stands for a distinct sacrifice, the Trivṛtstoma, according to Govindarāja and Nārāyaṇa.

For the Gosava see Kātyāyana-śrautasūtra 22.11.3 for the Ābhijit, Āśvalāyana-śrautasūtra 8.5.13;—for the Agniṣṭut, Ibid 9.7.22—25.

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.248);—and in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 405).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 11.72-86)

See Comparative notes for Verse 11.72.

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