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 11.117
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
एतदे� व्रत� कुर्युरुपपातकिनो द्विजा� �
अवकीर्णिवर्ज्य� शुद्ध्यर्थ� चान्द्रायणमथाप� वा � ११� �etadeva vrata� kuryurupapātakino dvijā� |
avakīrṇivarjya� śuddhyartha� cāndrāyaṇamathāpi vā || 117 ||Twice-born men who have committed the minor offences, except the ‘immoral� religious student, may, in order to purify themselves, perform this same penance, or the �Իⲹṇa� penance.�(117)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
�This same�:—this means that the expiatory rites laid down for cow-killing are applicable to all ‘minor offences.� And the �Իⲹṇa� is another optional alternative.
Inasmuch as this latter rule has been laid down with special reference to the other �minor offences� some people hold that the �Իⲹṇa� does not apply to the case of the cow-killer.
But according to this view, it will be necessary to find out why the cow-killer has been mentioned at all among ‘those who have committed minor offences.’�(117)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Ѿṣa (3.265), as referring to cases of intentionally committed offences, and as standing for the ‘Three Years ʱԲԳ�;—i 貹 (p. 1105), which also notes that this stands for the ‘Three Years ʱԲԳ�;—i ʲś (Prāyaścitta, p. 425) as referring to the ‘Three Years ʱԲԳ�;—i ʰⲹśīٳٲ첹 (p. 394 and 463);—and in ṛtǻ (p. 362), which says that �etat� stands for the ‘Three monthly Penance� prescribed for cow-killing.
Comparative notes by various authors
ñⲹ (3.263).—‘From the 貹ٲ첹 (minor sins), one becomes absolved either in the aforesaid manner, or by the Իⲹṇa, or by the ʲ첹, or by living upon milk for a month.�