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...

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

ते पृष्टास्तु यथा ब्रूयुः सीमासन्धिषु लक्षणम् ।
तत् तथा स्थापयेद् राजा धर्मेण ग्रामयोर्द्वयोः ॥ २६१ ॥

te pṛṣṭāstu yathā brūyuḥ sīmāsandhiṣu lakṣaṇam |
tat tathā sthāpayed rājā dharmeṇa grāmayordvayoḥ || 261 ||

As they, on being questioned in fairness, declare the marks of boundary-lines between two villages, even so shall the king fix it.—(261)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Construe ‘dharmeṇa,’ ‘in fairness’ with ‘pṛṣṭāḥ,’ ‘questioned.’

Sīmāsandhi’ is to be construed as an appositional compound—that ‘sandhi,’ ‘line,’ which is the ‘sīmā,’ ‘boundary.’—The ‘line’ representing the point where two villages meet, and this being what is meant by ‘boundary.’

Mark’—indicative.—(261)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 210);—and in Kṛtyakalpataru (111b).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.253-264)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.253.

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