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 3.171
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
दाराग्निहोत्रसंयोग� कुरुते योऽग्रजे स्थिते �
परिवेत्त� � विज्ञेयः परिवित्तिस्त� पूर्वज� � १७� �dārāgnihotrasaṃyoga� kurute yo'graje sthite |
parivettā sa vijñeya� parivittistu pūrvaja� || 171 ||He who unites himself with “wife� and “Agnihotra,� while his elder remains, is to be regarded as the “superseder of his elder;� and the elder is to be regarded as “one who is superseded.”’�(171)
ѱپٳ’s commentary (Գܲṣy):
�Agraja,� �elder brother’Ĕis the uterine brother born before one. Thus has it been asserted—‘There is no harm in the superseding of the uncle’s sons, the step-mother’s sons and the sons of other’s wives, by marriage and the setting up of fire;� hence, in the present context, the term ‘elder brother� stands for the uterine brother. While he �remains’�i.e., without marriage and without having set up the fire; the root �ٰ� (in the term �ٳê�) has been used in the sense of the absence of the act mentioned.
The term �agnihotra,� though the name of the act of sacrifice, stands for the setting up of fire for purposes of that act.
In another ṛt, we find an exception—‘the lunatic, the sinner, the leper, the outcast, the eunuch and the consumptive need not be waited for.� What is mentioned here is meant to be indicative of the condition in the form of the elder brother being in any way not entitled (to marry and set up the fire). Hence the ‘defiler of company� is also included.
A special period has also been specified during which one is to wait for his elder brother to marry and set up the fire—‘one should wait for eight years,’Ĕ‘some say for six years� (Gautama, 18.19). This period is to be reckoned from the time when the younger brother has reached the age of marriage; and the age of marriage is the time when one has duly fulfilled the injunction of Vedic Study.
“As a matter of fact, the period of time stated in the passage quoted refers to the man who has gone out travelling. The passage quoted above begins with the word ‘the elder brother being,� which refers to the time during which the elder brother is out on travel. [So that it can have no bearing upon supersession by marriage].�
True; but the term ‘who has gone out on travel� is distinctly found to be connected with one sentence [this sentence being �pravrajite nivṛtti� prasaṅgāt, Gautama, 18.16]; so that, for connecting the same word with another sentence [�bhrātari chaivam jyāyasi yavīyān, 18.18], some special reasons should be stated. There is, however, no such reason; as there is in the case of such words as ‘there is connection between this and the term svarita;� no such words, however, are found in the case of the sentences in question; nor is one sentence incomplete without the connection of the word in question.
ղśṣṭ has used the generic term ‘fire and has, therefore, meant the �ٲ� Fire.
Some people have held this definition of ‘superseder� to apply also to one whose father has not set up the Fire; the term �agraja,� ‘elder,� meaning simply ‘one born before one;� so that the Father also is one’s ‘elder.�
In this manner, what is said here would apply to other ‘older� persons also; as a matter of fact, however, the terms ‘younger� and ‘elder� are never used between father and son.
In another ṛt we find—‘the elder brother being, etc., etc.� (Gautama, 18.18. where the Brother is specifically mentioned).
The elder brother is called the �superseded’� (171)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
ѱپٳ�(P. 259, l.5)—�Bhrātarītyādi paṭhitam�,�i.e., in Gautama �Pravrajite nivṛtti� prasaṅgāt� (18.16)... �Bhrātari chaivam jyāyasi yavīyān kanyāgnyupayameṣu� (18.18);—the latter ūٰ is referred to again in 1.11.
This verse is quoted in Ѿṣa (on 1.223) in the sense that—‘the younger brother, who takes a wife or sets up the Fire, before his elder brother has done so, is called ʲٳ, and the elder brother is called Parivitti.�
貹첹 deals with this subject in detail, under this same text of Yājñavalkya.
Ѳ岹Բٲ (p. 170) quotes this verse and explains that the ‘elder brother� meant here is the uterine brother, not the step-brother.
It is quoted in īٰǻ岹ⲹ (Saṃskāra, p. 760), which also explains that the ‘elder brother� meant is the uterine brother, as is clearly declared in a text quoted from Garga. It quotes another verse from ‘Manu�, which is not found in our texts:�
agraje brahmacaryasthe yo'nujo dārasaṅgraham |
kurute parivettā sa paricitto'grejo bhavet ||
It has a curious note regarding the exact signification of the term �ṣo岹ⲹ� (generally understood to mean uterine): It says—�sodaryatva� is of three kinds�(1) due to the father being the same; (2) due to the mother being the same, and (3) due to both being the same; the idea that �sodaryatva� is based upon the sameness of the Father is derived from the ҲDZ貹Ծṣa text that ‘at first the fetus is born in the male�, as also from the Ѳٲ text—‘Having stayed in the father’s stomach, he entered the Mother through his semen�; and again in the same work, Kacha is representented as saying to Devayānī that she was his ‘sister� because she had lived in the same father’s stomach as he himself had done.
The verse is quoted in ʲś (Ācara, p. 690), where also ‘elder brother� is explained as the uterine brother;—also in վԲٲ (p. 723), where the construction of the phrase �agraje sthite� is explained as �agraje anūḍhe akṛtāgnihotre ca sthite�. The untraced verse from ‘Manu� quoted in īٰǻ岹ⲹ is quoted here also.
This verse is quoted in ṇaⲹԻ (p. 233) as forbidding the setting up of the Fire by the younger brother if it has been already set up by his elder;—and in 貹첹 (p. 445, and again on p. 1050) as defining the Parivitti;—i (Kāla, p. 811), which notes that this refers to uterine brothers only, and that also not in cases where the elder brother is either an outcaste, or insane, or sexless, or blind, or deaf, or dumb, or idiot, or dwarf, or leper, or suffering from leucoderma, or consumptive, or suffering from dropsy, or from some incurable disease, or heretic, or renunciate, or gone away for a long time;—i (Śrāddha, p. 371);—and in ṃsٲԲ (p. 514).
Comparative notes by various authors
Gobhila-ṛt (1.70).—‘He who takes a wife or performs fire-laying before his elder brother should be regarded as the Superseder of the Elder, and the elder brother is to be regarded as the Superseded.�
-Śٲ貹 (40).—[Reproduces the words of Manu.]
Garga (ʲś, p. 690).—‘While the uterine elder brother remains unmarried, if one takes a wife or lays the fire, he becomes an outcast.�
Śٲ貹 (Do.).—‘The sin of supersession is not involved if one marries before such brothers as are the sons of uncles or of step-mothers, or of other women.�
Yama (ʲś, p. 690).�(Do.)