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 12.112
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
ऋग्वेदविद् यजुर्विद्च सामवेदविदेव च ।
त्र्य्ऽवरा परिषद्ज्ञेया धर्मसंशयनिर्णये ॥ ११२ ॥ṛgvedavid yajurvidca sāmavedavideva ca |
try'varā pariṣadjñeyā dharmasaṃśayanirṇaye || 112 ||A person knowing the Ṛgveda, a person knowing the Yajurveda, and a person knowing the Sāmaveda, shall be understood to form the assembly of at least three members, competent to decide doubtful points of law.—(112)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The meaning of the Veda is understood with the help of Nirukta, Vyākaraṇa and Mīmāṃsā. A knowledge of these should be possessed by all the three persons, as these do not help the comprehending of the meaning of any one Veda only, and not of others. Hence a knowledge of these is essential in all cases.
The distinction of the three Vedas—Ṛgveda and the rest—has been mentioned on the basis of the distinction made in the Gṛhyasūtras.—(112)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.300) as prescribing a second kind of ‘Assembly’;—in Aparārka (p. 21);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 8).
Comparative notes by various authors
Yājñavalkya (1.9).—‘Four persons well versed in the Veda and in Law, or learned in the three Vedas, constitute the Pariṣad, Assembly; whatever this Assembly declares is the Law; or what is declared by a single person thoroughly cognisant of the Self.’