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:

यस्य राज्ञस्तु विषये श्रोत्रियः सीदति क्षुधा ।
तस्यापि तत् क्षुधा राष्ट्रमचिरेणैव सीदति ॥ १३४ ॥

yasya rājñastu viṣaye śrotriyaḥ sīdati kṣudhā |
tasyāpi tat kṣudhā rāṣṭramacireṇaiva sīdati || 134 ||

The kingdom of that King in whose realm the Śrotriya suffers from hunger, shall, ere long, pine with hunger.—(134)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This is the result of disobeying the injunction just mentioned above.—(134)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (on 3.44);—in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 408);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 141), which remarks that though this verse mentions the ‘Brāhmaṇa’ in general, yet from what follows in the next verse it is clear that what the text means is to speak of only the learned Brāhmaṇa.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Mahābhārata (13.61.30).—‘If in the realm of a king, an Accomplished Student suffers from hunger, that realm, along with the king, falls into adversity.’

Gautama (10.9).—‘He shall support Vedic scholars.’

Āpastamba (2.25.11).—‘In his realm no Brāhmaṇa shall suffer hunger, sickness, cold or heat,—be it through want or intentionally.’

Viṣṇu (3.79).—‘He must not suffer any Brāhmaṇa in his realm to perish from want,’

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