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 8.94
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
अवाक्षिरास्तमस्यन्धे किल्बिषी नरकं व्रजेत् ।
यः प्रश्नं वितथं ब्रूयात् पृष्टः सन् धर्मनिश्चये ॥ ९४ ॥avākṣirāstamasyandhe kilbiṣī narakaṃ vrajet |
yaḥ praśnaṃ vitathaṃ brūyāt pṛṣṭaḥ san dharmaniścaye || 94 ||‘Headlong, in blind darkness shall the sinner fall into hell, who, on being interrogated in the course of a judicial investigation, answers the question falsely.—(94)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
On being questioned regarding the subject-matter of the investigation, if one should state what is not true,—by that sin he falls into ‘hell’—the place of punishment—with his feet held upwards and the head hanging below—into intense darkness. In ordinary darkness, people can see something, but in the darkness referred to, nothing can be seen; hence the epithet ‘blind.’—(94)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Kṛtyakalpataru (35a);—in Aparārka (p. 674);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Vyavahāra, p. 204).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 8.89-97)
[See the texts under 79 et seq.]