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...

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

स्वमेव ब्राह्मणो भुङ्क्ते स्वं वस्ते स्वं ददाति च ।
आनृशंस्याद् ब्राह्मणस्य भुञ्जते हीतरे जनाः ॥ १०१ ॥

svameva brāhmaṇo bhuṅkte svaṃ vaste svaṃ dadāti ca |
ānṛśaṃsyād brāhmaṇasya bhuñjate hītare janāḥ || 101 ||

What the Brāhmana eats is his own; his own what he wears and his own also what he gives; it ts due to the good will of the Brāhmaṇa that other people enjoy (things). (101).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

What the Brāhmaṇa eats as a guest in the house of others is really his own; it should not be thought that he is receiving food from another person’s kitchen.—Similarly ‘what he wears is his own’;—i.e., when he obtains clothing, either by begging or otherwise, it does not mean that he has acquired it from others; what it means is that he is employing what is his own in the covering of his body.—What he obtains for his own use, in that he may lie exercising his own right of possession; hut when he gives away to people what belongs to others, this also is nothing wrong for him; it is only his good will, benevolence. It is by reason of the large-heartedness of the Brāhmaṇa that Kings on earth enjoy their possessions; otherwise, if the Brāhmaṇa were to wish—‘I should take all this and apply it to my own use,’—then all others would become penniless, having nothing that they could use for their own benefit.—(101)

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