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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...

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

पितॄणा� मासिकं श्राद्धमन्वाहार्यं विदुर्बुधा� �
तच्चामिषेण� कर्तव्यं प्रशस्ते� प्रयत्नत� ?? � १२� �

pitṝṇā� māsika� śmanvāhārya� vidurbudhā� |
taccāmiṣeṇ� kartavya� praśastena prayatnata� ?? || 123 ||

The monthly ś to the Pitṛs the wise call “anvāhārya;� and it should be carefully performed with such meat as has been commended.�(123)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (Գܲṣy):

Աⲹ� is the name of the fee paid to the priests officiating at the ٲṣa-ūṇa sacrifices; and the monthly ś offered to the Pitṛs is the ‘Ա� fee� for the Ancestors; and the sense of the metaphor is that the Pitṛs are as much pleased on receiving the ś-ofterings as the Priests are on receiving the fee. This name serves to indicate that the ś is performed for the Pitṛs. But the relation in which the Ancestors stand to the ś is not the same in which the Deities stand to the ٲś and other sacrifices; as the ś is performed for their benefit; and it is in this sense that we have the genitive case in �辱ṛṛṇām (辱ǹ峾?)�; if the Pitṛs were the ‘deities,� then there would be no reason for the omitting of the Dative affix.

Another reading giving a totally different sense is �piṇḍānām māsikam.�

The wise call Աⲹ’� This also indicates the obligatory character of the ʾ�-ⲹñ (which is as necessary as the sacrificial gift); but with this difference that it is not a mere subordinate factor (as the sacrificial fee is).

It should be performed with such meat as has been comended’�i.e., not prohibited, or particularly recommended; as in 268, where it is said ‘with the meat of fish the Ancestors remain satisfied for two months, etc., etc.�

This is the principal method; in the absence of meat, curds, butter, milk, cakes, etc., shall be offered, as is going to be prescribed later on.

The meat, however, is only the sauce for the seasoning of such food as cooked rice and the like; it does not consti-tute a food by itself, since the text is going to describe ‘such subsidiaries us soup and vegetables, etc.� (226), and also ‘on what kinds of food, etc.� (next verse).�(123)

The question that arises now is that the ś consisting of the several acts of (a) oblations in fire, (b) feeding of Brāhmaṇas, (c) offering of hulls of food, and so forth,—are they all equally principal and expressible by the name �ś?� Or, some are principal and some secondary? The answer is that, in view of suoh expressions as—‘one should feed Brāhmaṇas in ś,� ‘this man has eaten at the ś,� and so forth, where ‘feeding� and �ś� are spoken of as synonyms,—the ‘feeding of Brāhmaṇas appears to be the principal factor.� To the same end our Author says�

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in (Śrāddha, p. 573);—and in Ҵǻ󲹰貹󲹳پ (Kāla, p. 431), which expounds the name �Աⲹ� as �anu, paścāt, āhāryam kāryam,� and says that this the learned call �ś-Ś.�

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Ā貹ٲ-ٳ󲹰ūٰ (2.16).—‘Śrāddha should be performed month by month.�

Ā貹ٲ-ٳ󲹰ūٰ (2.19).—‘The first alternative is that at these Śrāddhas the offering should consist of butter and meat.�

վṣṇ-ṛt (70.24).—[The Pitṛs are represented as saying]—‘Kālaśāka, Mahāśalka, the meat of the Vārdhrīṇasa goat, and the meat of the rhinoceros whose horn has not come out,—these we partake of.�

ܲṣi (quoted in Parāśaramādhava, p. 308)—‘The twice-born person whose father is dead must perform Śrāddha on the moonless day every month.�

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