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 11.97
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
यस्य कायगतं ब्रह्म मद्येनाप्लाव्यते सकृत् ।
तस्य व्यपैति ब्राह्मण्यं शूद्रत्वं च स गच्छति ॥ ९७ ॥yasya kāyagataṃ brahma madyenāplāvyate sakṛt |
tasya vyapaiti brāhmaṇyaṃ śūdratvaṃ ca sa gacchati || 97 ||When the ‘Brahman’ resident in his body has been once deluged by wine, the ‘Brāhmaṇahood’ disappears and the man becomes a Śūdra.—(97)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
When the Veda has been duly studied, it remains in the man’s heart, in the form of memory; and it is the Veda thus committed to memory that is called here ‘Brahman.’ The meaning thus is that when the heart has become ‘deluged with wine,’ the man becomes a Śūdra.
‘Brāhmaṇahood’ has been mentioned with a view to indicate that all kinds of wine are forbidden for the Brāhmaṇa,—the wine distilled from grains alone being forbidden for the Kṣatriya and Vaiśya.—(97)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika p. 548).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 11.94-97)
See Comparative notes for Verse 11.94.