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 11.242
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
तपसैव विशुद्धस्य ब्राह्मणस्य दिवौकसः ।
इज्याश्च प्रतिगृह्णन्ति कामान् संवर्धयन्ति च ॥ २४२ ॥tapasaiva viśuddhasya brāhmaṇasya divaukasaḥ |
ijyāśca pratigṛhṇanti kāmān saṃvardhayanti ca || 242 ||It is only when the Brāhmaṇa has been purified by Austerities that Heavenly Beings accept their sacrifices and advance their interests.—(242)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
Before undertaking a rite conducive to a desirable result, it is necessary to perform an austerity; it is this fact that is referred to here. To this end it. has been declared that—‘First of all one should perform austerities, and thereby become pure and sanctified; he then becomes fit for performing religious acts.’ In the case of rites, where preliminary Initiation and such other rites are prescribed, these would constitute the necessary ‘austerity’; also the penance that is prescribed in connection with certain rites, is an ‘austerity,’ and in such rites as are performed for the allaying of troubles, and obtaining of strength, and also the domestic rites,—it is necessary to perform an austerity, as a preliminary step. This is what the verse means.
The term ‘Brāhmaṇa’ stands here for all those persons that are entitled to the performance of sacrifices, and are prompted by desire for their results.
It has also been declared elsewhere—‘Unless a man has performed austerities, the gods do not accept his offerings, and until his offerings are accepted, his desires are not fulfilled.’
Though as a matter of fact, it is not the gods that bestow the results of sacrifices, yet, inasmuch as no ‘sacrifice’ can be accomplished without its ‘deity,’ it has been declared that the gods ‘advance the man’s interests.’
When the gods are described as ‘accepting the offerings,’ it is not meant that they actually take hold of the materials offered; all that is meant is that they do not refuse to be the recipients of the offerings.—(242)
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 11.234-244)
See Comparative notes for Verse 11.234.