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 8.81
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
सत्यं साक्ष्ये ब्रुवन् साक्षी लोकान् आप्नोत्यपुष्कलान् ।
इह चानुत्तमां कीर्तिं वागेषा ब्रह्मपूजिता ॥ ८१ ॥satyaṃ sākṣye bruvan sākṣī lokān āpnotyapuṣkalān |
iha cānuttamāṃ kīrtiṃ vāgeṣā brahmapūjitā || 81 ||‘The witness, telling the truth in his evidence, attains irreproachable regions, also unsurpassable fame; such speech is honoured by Brahmā himself.—(81)’
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
From this verse onward the text lays down the manner in which the witnesses are to be exhorted.
By telling the truth, the witness attains ‘irreproachable regions,’ in the shape of Heaven and the rest, which are the source of desirable results.
Or, the term ‘l oka’ may be taken in the sense of ‘caste’; the sense in that case would he that ‘he is born in a happy future life.’
In the present life also, he obtains ‘unsurpassable fame’—renown, superior to which there is none; i.e., people bestow praise upon him.
Such—truthful—speech is honoured by Brahmā, Prajāpati, himself.—(81)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
Hopkins is again wrong in saying that “this verse is omitted by Nandana.”
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Vyavahāra, p. 75);—in Kṛtyakalpataru (33b);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, p. 53b).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 8.79-86)
See Comparative notes for Verse 8.79.