Verse 8.167

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

कुटुम्बार्थेऽध्यधीनोऽपि व्यवहारं यमाचरेत् ।
स्वदेशे वा विदेशे वा तं ज्यायान्न विचालयेत् ॥ १६७ ॥

kuṭumbārthe'dhyadhīno'pi vyavahāraṃ yamācaret |
svadeśe vā videśe vā taṃ jyāyānna vicālayet || 167 ||

Should even a servant effect a transaction for the sake of the family,—the master, whether in his own country or abroad, should not repudiate it.—(167)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

To say nothing of the brother and other relatives: ‘for the sake of the family,’ if even a servant should ‘effect a transaction,’—in the form of selling clothes or such things, of contracting debts and doing other kinds of business relating to the proper looking after and cultivation of fields and barren lands,—the master of the house, whether in his own country or abroad, on coming to know of it, ‘shall not repudiate it’; i.e, without thinking over it, he should approve it as properly done. The pronouns ‘that,’ and ‘what,’ refer to what is done relating to such fields and agricultural business as may he spoilt.

Others have taken this verse as a hortatory supplement to the foregoing verse, and not as an injunction.

But this is not right; as we find no grounds for taking it as a mere hortatory supplement.

It might be argued that what has been said in verse 163, regarding the ‘transaction effected by the drunk, the insane, the servant, etc.,’ as being done by persons not master of themselves, makes it clear that the transaction effected by the servant cannot he valid.

But this must refer to the cases where the master is present on the spot, and not otherwise; as in that case the family would he in the risk of being ruined. Hence during the master’s absence, what is done by the servant by the maintenance of the family must he regarded as valid (167)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Adhyadhīnaḥ’—‘Servant’ (Medhātithi and Nārāyaṇa);—‘slave’ (Kullūka);—‘Youngest brother and one in some such position (Rāghavānanda).

This verse is quoted in Smṛtitattva (II, p. 232) as indicating the necessary character of the maintaining of the family;—in Vivādaratnākara (p. 55), which explains ‘Ādhyadhīna’ as ‘servants and others,’ and ‘jyāyān’ as ‘the master’;—in Parāśaramādhava (Vyavahāra, p. 164), to the effect that a debt cannot be repudiated if it has been contracted for the support of the family, even if it may have been contracted by a dependant without the master’s permission;—in Kṛtyakalpataru (76b), which explains ‘adhyadhīnaḥ’ as ‘the slave and the like—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 40a), which explains ‘adhyadhīnaḥ’ as ‘son, nephew, slaves and so forth.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.166-167)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.166.