Verse 8.376

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

ब्राह्मणीं यद्यगुप्तां तु गच्छेतां वैश्यपार्थिवौ ।
वैश्यं पञ्चशतं कुर्यात् क्षत्रियं तु सहस्रिणम् ॥ ३७६ ॥

brāhmaṇīṃ yadyaguptāṃ tu gacchetāṃ vaiśyapārthivau |
vaiśyaṃ pañcaśataṃ kuryāt kṣatriyaṃ tu sahasriṇam || 376 ||

If the Vaiśya and the Kṣatriya have intercourse with an unprotected Brāhmaṇa woman, the Vaiśya should be committed with five hundred and the Kṣatriya with one thousand.—(376)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Unprotected’—has been explained as one who has lost her chastity and has no one to look after her.

For having intercourse with such a woman, he shall ‘commit’ the Vaiśya ‘with fine hundred.’ The verb to commit is to be taken in the sense of fining, from the context; the meaning is that ‘he shall be fined live hundred.’

The term ‘pañcaśutam’ is to be expounded as ‘he who has live hundred,’—the Bahuvrīhi compound denoting possession.

The meaning is that the king should so commit him that he gets five hundred.

“Does this mean that if the man has more than five hundred, the excess shall he confiscated?”

Not so, we reply; for in that case if the man has only five hundred, then for him there would be no punishment prescribed.

“What I hen is the meaning?”

The expression ‘he shall he committed with five hundred’ means that he is to be punished with a fine consisting of five hundred. That such is the meaning is indicated by the context.

Similarly, ‘the Kṣatriya is to be committed with one thousand’;—i.e., his punishment shall consist of one thousand; and not that his property at home shall he one thousand.

The expression ‘aṅgasarvasvī’ (in verse 371) is to be explained similarly to mean that (he king shall so act that the man’s punishment consist of his limb and bis whole property.

The penalty for the Kṣatriya is severer, because it is his duty to guard people; so that if he offends, his guilt is the greater.—(376)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This vérse is quoted in Vyavahāramayūkha (p. 106);—in Mitākṣarā (2.286); where Bālambhaṭṭī adds that in ‘pañcaśatam’ we have Bahuvrīhi compound; and notes that the penalty for a Kṣatriya is double that for a Vaiśya, because it is the function of the former to protect and guard people from all kinds of harm; and that the fine of 500 prescribed for the Vaiśya is meant for that case where he does it under the impression that the woman is a Śūdra, or for that where the woman concerned is merely Brāhmaṇa by birth and is entirely devoid of all Brāhmaṇical virtues.

It is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 156a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.374-378)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.374.