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 5.146
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
बाल्ये पितुर्वशे तिष्ठेत् पाणिग्राहस्य यौवने ।
पुत्राणां भर्तरि प्रेते न भजेत् स्त्री स्वतन्त्रताम् ॥ १४६ ॥bālye piturvaśe tiṣṭhet pāṇigrāhasya yauvane |
putrāṇāṃ bhartari prete na bhajet strī svatantratām || 146 ||In childhood she should remain under the control of her father, in youth under that of her husband, and on the husband’s death under that of her sons; the woman should never have recourse to independence.—(146).
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
It has been declared thus—‘In the absence of any sapiṇḍa-relation of her husband, some one on her father’s side shall be the woman’s protector; on the total extinction of both families, the King has been declared to be the woman’s guardian.’
This refers to a case where the husband is no more. (146).
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
(Verse 148 of others.)
This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 427);—and in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 286), which adds that a woman living on terms of intimacy with any one other than her natural guardians should be regarded as ‘lost.’
Comparative notes by various authors
Baudhāyana (2.3.45).—‘hey quote the following:—“Their father protects them in childhood; their husbands, in youth; their sons, in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.”’
Vaśiṣṭha (5.2).—‘They quote the following:—“Their father protects them in childhood; their husbands in youth; their sons, in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.”’
Viṣṇu (25.13).—‘To remain subject, in her infancy, to her father, in her youth, to her husband, and in her old age, to her sons (is the duty of the woman).’
Yājñavalkya (1.85).—‘Her Father shall protect her while she is unmarried; her husband, when she has been married; her sons in her old age; in the absence of these, her relations shall protect her; the woman nowhere has independence.’
Smṛtyantara (Aparārka, p. 109).—‘When she has no relations on either side, the king is the supporter and master of the woman; he shall support her and chastise her, if she deviates from the right path.’