Verse 1.30

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

यथर्तुलिङ्गान्यर्तवः स्वयमेवर्तुपर्यये ।
स्वानि स्वान्यभिपद्यन्ते तथा कर्माणि देहिनः ॥ ३० ॥

yathartuliṅgānyartavaḥ svayamevartuparyaye |
svāni svānyabhipadyante tathā karmāṇi dehinaḥ || 30 || 

Just as on the approach of the turn of the Seasons, each season, by itself, acquires its own seasonal characteristics,—so in the same manner living beings take up their respective lines of action.—(30)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

In support of what has been said in the foregoing verses, an illustration is cited. Just as even inanimate things have their character fixed by the law of God,—so animate beings also do not go beyond the law laid down by Prajāpati, in accordance with the past acts of men; they have recourse to that same line of action which has been assigned to the family of beings in which they are born; any other line of action they cannot take up, even though they may wish to do so.

‘The seasons’—Spring and the rest;—‘its own seasonal characteristics’—in the form of leaves, flowers, cold, heat, rain and so forth.—‘at the approach of the turn’—when the turn, the occasion for functioning, of a particular season arrives,—that season acquires its character, by itself; and it does not stand is need of any act of man. For instance, at the advent of spring, mango-blossoms bloom forth by themselves, and they, do not stand in need of watering at the roots. In the same manner the ‘lines of action’ of men—which exist in their ‘unseen’ or latent form—[operate by themselves]. As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as is not affected by the ‘acts’ (of men); for instance, it is in the nature of the Rainy Season that there should be rain, and yet on account of the faulty action, either of the king or kingdom itself, there is sometimes drought. From all this it follows that the force of ‘action’ is irrepressible.

The frequent repetition of the term ‘ṛtu’ season,’ is due to the exigencies of metre.