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 12.99
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
बिभर्ति सर्वभूतानि वेदशास्त्रं सनातनम् ।
तस्मादेतत् परं मन्ये यत्जन्तोरस्य साधनम् ॥ ९९ ॥bibharti sarvabhūtāni vedaśāstraṃ sanātanam |
tasmādetat paraṃ manye yatjantorasya sādhanam || 99 ||The eternal lore of the Veda upholds all beings; f or th is reason I regard this as the best means of accomplishing the ends of every creature.—(99)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
That the Veda upholds all beings has been indicated in the following Brāhmaṇa-text—‘Sacrificial materials are offered into fire,—the fire raises it up to the Sun,—the Sun bears it on his rays,—thence comes rain; thus it is that the sacrificial material comes to be regarded as the cause of the birth and existence of all beings.’ This same idea has been expressed in the present work also—‘The material rightly thrown into the fire rises up to the Sun,’ and so forth (3.76).
For these reasons I regard this as the best means for the accomplishing of the ends of man. In what manner the Veda supplies all the knowledge regarding man’s duties has been already shown.
“What fulfils all these ends,—is it Vedic (spiritual), or worldlly (physical)?”
The duty is spiritual, but the actual act, which is visible to the eye, is physical.—(99)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
Cf. 3.76.