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 11.252
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
एनसां स्थूलसूक्ष्माणां चिकीर्षन्नपनोदनम् ।
अवेत्यर्चं जपेदब्दं यत् किं चेदमितीति वा ?? ॥ २५२ ॥enasāṃ sthūlasūkṣmāṇāṃ cikīrṣannapanodanam |
avetyarcaṃ japedabdaṃ yat kiṃ cedamitīti vā ?? || 252 ||One who desires to expiate sins great and small, shall repeat, for one year, the verse beginning with ‘ava’, or that beginning with ‘yatkiñcedam.’—(252)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
After the treatment of the ‘Heinous Offences,’ other ‘sins, great and small,’—i.e., the ‘minor offences,’—are next dealt with.
He who ‘desires to expiate’ these should ‘repeat for one year the verse beginning with “ava.”’—The term ‘ava’ indicates the opening word of the verse ‘Ava te hedo varuṇa namobhiḥ, etc.’ (Ṛgveda, 1.24.14),—this verse containing words indicating absolution from sins; it does not stand for the other verse beginning with ‘ava’—‘avatadenīmāheturāṇam.’ Or, he shall recite the verse ‘Yatkiñcedam varuṇa daivyejanaḥ, etc.’ (Ṛgveda, 7.89.5).—(252)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
The two verses mentioned are Ṛgveda 1.24.14 and 7.89.5.
This verse is quoted in Madanapārijāta (p. 993), which adds that as the number of repetitions is not mentioned, the texts have to be recited at all times, except when the man’s time may be taken up by other necessary acts;—it remarks that what is stated here refers to cases of repeated offence.
It is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.306), which makes the same remarks as Madanapārijāta.