Manava Dharmashastra 2.167

2.167

ayamaparo vājasaneyakasvādhyāyavidhitrām̐hmaṇe'rthavādānuvādaḥ | ā nakhāgrebhya eveti sambandhaḥ | haśabda aitihyasūcakaḥ | paramaśabdāttapasaḥ prakarṣe pratipanne nakhāgragrahaṇaṃ prakṛṣṭasyāpi prakarṣamāha | nakhāgrāṇi nirjīvāni tānyapi tapasā'nena vyāpyante | tapo hi kṛcchrādikaṃ nakhāgrāṇāmavyāpakatvānna niḥśeṣaphalapradam, idaṃ tu tānyapi vyāpnotīti praśaṃsā | tapyate tapa iti | "tapastapaḥkarmakasyaiva” (pā. sū. 1|

It is said that that twice-born man, who, even though garlanded, recites the Veda daily to the best of his capacity, undergoes the highest penance to his very nail-tips.—(167)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
This is another commendatory statement pertaining to the injunction of Vedic Study contained in the Vājasaneya-Brāhmaṇa.

The construction is—‘ā nakhāgrebhya eva.’

‘Ha’ denotes hearsay.

The term ‘highest’ having already signified the high character of the penance, the phrase ‘to his very nail-tips’ h as been added with a view to expressing the fact that the penance intended is higher even than the highest; the sense being that even though the nail-tips are insensible, yet they also are affected by the penance; the Kṛcchra and other penances, not pervading over tho nail-tips, are not productive of all that is desirable; but the penance in question reaches even those tips. This is the special praise bestowed upon the penance.

‘Tapyate tapaḥ’;—tbe augment ‘yak’ and the Ātma nepada ending are in accordance with Pāṇini 3.1.88, by which the root ‘tap’ takes the said augment and ending, when governing the noun ‘tapas.’

‘Even though garlanded.’—One who wears a garland is called ‘garlanded,’ i.e., the man who wears a string of flowers.

This epithet indicates the renouncing of the restraints imposed upon the Religious Student. The meaning is that, even if one were to renounce the duties of the Religious Student, and yet recite the Veda ‘to the heat of his capacity,’—as much as he can do, even though that be little,—‘daily’—every day,—he becomes endowed with excellent success.

This is mere praise; it does not moan that one should read the Veda after renouncing the restraints.—(107)