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 7.188
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
यतश्च भयमाशङ्केत् ततो विस्तारयेद् बलम् ।
पद्मेन चैव व्यूहेन निविशेत सदा स्वयम् ॥ १८८ ॥yataśca bhayamāśaṅket tato vistārayed balam |
padmena caiva vyūhena niviśeta sadā svayam || 188 ||From where he apprehends danger there he shall extend his forces; and he himself shall always encamp in the ‘lotus-array’—(188)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
On the road there may be certain points where there may be apprehension of molestation from persons inclined to help his-enemy; and at these points, when marching from his preceding encampment, he shall extend his forces to the extent of two miles or a little more; i.e., at these points the army is to consist of dense masses of elephants and chariots and cavalry extended forward and fully equipped with offensive and defensive weapons and supplied with large quantities of food and fodder.
The ‘lotus array’ is that disposition of the army where the master is stationed at the centre and his officers all round him in a circular form. In this array he shall himself always ‘encamp’,—i.e., march forward from a town or a village.—(188)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 402);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 400).