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 4.219
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
कारुकान्नं प्रजां हन्ति बलं निर्णेजकस्य च ।
गणान्नं गणिकान्नं च लोकेभ्यः परिकृन्तति ॥ २१९ ॥kārukānnaṃ prajāṃ hanti balaṃ nirṇejakasya ca |
gaṇānnaṃ gaṇikānnaṃ ca lokebhyaḥ parikṛntati || 219 ||The food of artisans impairs the offspring, that of the clothes-washer impairs strength; the food of a multitude and the food of the harlot out off the max from the regions.—(219)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Artisans,’—the professional cook and others following not very low crafts;—this is what distinguishes these from other craftsmen.
The ‘impairing’ of offspring means that children are not born.—(219)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika, p. 507);—and in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 782).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 4.219-220)
Mahābhārata (35.28).—‘The usurer’s food is ordure; and the harlot’s food is semen,’