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 5.38
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
यावन्ति पशुरोमाणि तावत्कृत्वो ह मारणम् ।
वृथापशुघ्नः प्राप्नोति प्रेत्य जन्मनि जन्मनि ॥ ३८ ॥yāvanti paśuromāṇi tāvatkṛtvo ha māraṇam |
vṛthāpaśughnaḥ prāpnoti pretya janmani janmani || 38 ||As many hairs there are on the body of the animal, so m any times after dying does its needless killer suffer violent death, birth after birth.—(38.)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
For so many lives does he suffer violent death.
‘Needless killer of the animal’,—one who kills the animal in a way not prescribed in the Śruti or the Smṛti: from the context it is clear that this refers to that animal-sacrifice which ordinary people perforin on the Mahānavamī.
The term ‘paśaghna (?)’ is a Vedic form formed with the affix ‘ka’—(38).
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
Cf. The Mahābhārata 13.93.121.
This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika, p. 538).
Comparative notes by various authors
Viṣṇu (51.60).—(Same as Manu.)
Yājñavalkya (1.180).—‘The wicked man who kills animals unlawfully dwells in hell for as many days as there are hairs on the animal’s body.’
Mahābhārata (13.93.121).—(Same as Manu.)