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 6.38 [Procedure of going forth as a Wandering Mendicant]
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
प्राजापत्य� निरुप्येष्टि� सर्ववेदसदक्षिणाम� �
आत्मन्यग्नीन् समारोप्य ब्राह्मण� प्रव्रजेद् गृहात् � ३८ �prājāpatya� nirupyeṣṭi� sarvavedasadakṣiṇām |
ātmanyagnīn samāropya brāhmaṇa� pravrajed gṛhāt || 38 ||Having performed the ʰ貹ٲⲹ Sacrifice, wherein all his belongings are given away as the sacrificial fee,—and having reposited the Fires within himself,—the Brāhmaṇa should go forth from his house.�(38).
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
�ʰ貹ٲⲹ Sacrifice’—as prescribed in the Yajurveda; at this the giving away of all one’s belongings is enjoined. After this has been performed, the Fires are reposited by the man within himself; the exact procedure of this repositing also has to be learnt from that same Veda.
The compound �岹岹ṣiṇa’is to be treated as a ܱī compound; ‘that at which all one’s belongings are given away as the sacrificial fee�. �Vedas� mean wealth; and the whole of this is to be given away. This is the sense attributed to the ‘an� affix in the term �屹岹�. Or the �an� affix may be taken in the reflexive sense; the �ʰñ徱 group� (which are laid down as taking the said affix in this sense) being a purely tentative one.
Others have explained the ‘ʰ貹ٲ� sacrifice� as human sacrifice. At this latter the Brāhmaṇa forms the first animal to be sacrificed in accordance with the injunction ‘the Brāhmaṇa should be sacrificed to Brahman�; and ‘Prājāpati� is only another name f or Brahman; and since a sacrifice is named after its chief deity, ‘ʰ貹ٲⲹ� is the name for the human sacrifice. Farther, it is only in connection with this sacrifice that the scriptures have enjoined the giving away of all belongings, the repositing of the Fires within oneself and the going forth as a mendicant. We have the following Śܳپ -text on this point:—‘Having reposited the
Fires within himself, and regarding this repositing as a worship rendered unto Āditya, the man should go forth; then alone does he become securer than gods and men
Some people have held that the ‘repositing of the Fires within himself�, which is mentioned in connection with Renunciation, becomes fulfilled if the Fires are made over to the wife at her death; and hence Renunciation is to be taken to only in the event of the wife’s death, when a second wife need not be taken.
But in that case the text bearing on the subject should have been in some such form as—‘in the event of the wife dying first, the Fires should be made over to her at her funeral rite�, and since the present treatise is the work of a human author, and not a Veda, the answer would not be available that no exception can be taken to its words. (?)�(38).
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
The second half of this verse is quoted in Ѿṣa (on 3.57) to the effect that the Brāhmaṇa only is entitled to the life of Renunciation.
The verse is quoted in ʲś (Ācāra, p. 538), in the sense that when going to enter the stage of Renunciation, the man should perform the ʰ貹ٲⲹ sacrifice in which he should give away all his belongings as the ‘sacrificial fee�;—and in ۲پṅg (p. 13).
Comparative notes by various authors
ǻⲹԲ (2.17.21).—‘A Brāhmaṇa who, knowing this, dies after fasting during the night of Brahman, and depositing within himself the sacred fires, conquers all guilts, even that of killing a Brāhmaṇa.�
վṣṇ (96.1, 2).—‘After having passed through the first three stages, and annihilated passion, he must offer an oblation to Prajāpati, in which he bestows all his wealth as the sacrificial fee, and enter the stage of the Renunciate. Having reposited the fires in his own mind, he must enter the village in order to collect alms.�
ñⲹ (3.56).—‘Either after Studentship, or after Hermitship, having performed the ʰ貹ٲⲹ sacrifice, at which his entire wealth is given away as the sacrificial fee, and at its completion, repositing the fires within himself,�(he shall turn his mind towards liberation).�
ūܰṇa (ʲś, p. 538).—‘Repositing the fires within himself, the twice-born should go forth as a Renunciate, devoted to the practice of Yoga. After having performed the ʰ貹ٲⲹ or the ĀԱī sacrifice, and having all his impurities evaporated within himself, he should have recourse to the stage dedicated to Brahman.�
ṛsṃhܰṇa (ʲś, p. 539).—‘Leading the life of the Hermit, having his sins burnt by austerity, the twice-born person should, in accordance with the law, take to renunciation and enter the fourth stage. Having made offerings to gods, ʾṛs, sages and men, and also to himself, and having performed the ʰ貹ٲⲹ or the ղśԲī sacrifice, he shall reposit the fire within himself and, reciting mantras, go forth.�
ٲⲹԲ (ʲś, p. 542).—‘Having reposited the fires within himself, seated in the centre of the altar, and meditating upon Hari, having obtained the permission of his guru, he should pronounce the ʰṣaԳٰ.�