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 8.122
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
एतानाहुः कौटसाक्ष्ये प्रोक्तान् दण्डान् मनीषिभिः ।
धर्मस्याव्यभिचारार्थमधर्मनियमाय च ॥ १२२ ॥etānāhuḥ kauṭasākṣye proktān daṇḍān manīṣibhiḥ |
dharmasyāvyabhicārārthamadharmaniyamāya ca || 122 ||They declare these penalties for false evidence to have been prescribed by the wise, for the purpose that justice may not fail and injustice hay be prevented.—(122)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
With a view to indicating that it is necessary to inflict the punishments, the author shows that punishment serves two purposes.
Decision taken in strict accordance with Law and Usage is ‘Justice’; and its ‘non-failing’ consists in its not being thwarted;—and for this purpose the witnesses have to be punished. Though the real purpose of all this is the finding out of what has been done and what not done; and it is this that is reiterated here (in different words).—(122)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Vyavahāra, p. 82);—in Vivādacintāmaṇi (p. 191);—in Smṛticandrikā (Vyavahāra, p. 51);—and in Kṛtyakalpataru (37b).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 8.118-123)
See Comparative notes for Verse 8.118.