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 4.60
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
नाधर्मिके वसेद् ग्रामे न व्याधिबहुले भृशम् ।
नैकः प्रपद्येताध्वानं न चिरं पर्वते वसेत् ॥ ६० ॥nādharmike vased grāme na vyādhibahule bhṛśam |
naikaḥ prapadyetādhvānaṃ na ciraṃ parvate vaset || 60 ||He shall not dwell long in an unrighteous village, nor in one abounding in sickness. Alone, he shall not undertake a journey; nor shall he reside for long on a mountain.—(60)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The village, inhabited by many such persons as have committed sins of varying grades of seriousness, is, by reason of their presence, called ‘unrighteous.’ In such a village he shall not dwell. The term ‘village’ stands for human dwelling-places; hence the prohibition applies to cities also.
A marshy country abounds in sickness; in such a country, and in a desert, which also abounds in sickness, he shall not dwell. He shall also leave a country where by chance some epidemic might begin to rage.
‘Alone’—without a companion—‘he shall not undertake a journey.’—(60)
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 4.60-61)
Viṣṇu (63.2).—‘He shall not go on a journey, alone.’
Do. (72.64-68).—‘He shall not live in the kingdom of a Śūdra; nor in a place crowded with unrighteous people; he shall not live in a place where there is no physician; nor in a place frequented (by low castes); he shall not dwell for long on a mountain.’
Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (16-22).—‘The dwelling of the Brāhmaṇa should be in a place where there is abundance of fuel and water, and where moving about is dependent upon himself.’
Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (32.18).—‘He shall not attend on Śūdras; nor shall he dwell in places controlled by Śūdras.’
Baudhāyana (2.3.51).—‘The righteous man should try to live in a village where there is abundance of fuel and water, of fodder, sacrificial fuel, kuśa-grass and garlands, which is inhabited by wealthy persons, where idle men do not abound, where cultured people abound, and which cannot be entered by robbers.’