Verse 8.394

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

अन्धो जडः पीठसर्पी सप्तत्या स्थविरश्च यः ।
श्रोत्रियेषूपकुर्वंश्च न दाप्याः केन चित् करम् ॥ ३९४ ॥

andho jaḍaḥ pīṭhasarpī saptatyā sthaviraśca yaḥ |
śrotriyeṣūpakurvaṃśca na dāpyāḥ kena cit karam || 394 ||

A blind man, an idiot, a cripple, an old man of seventy, and one who attends upon Vedic scholars should not be made to pay any taxes by any one.—(394)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘An old man of seventy’;—the instrumental ending in ‘saptatyā’ is on the analogy of such expressions as ‘prakṛtyā virūpuḥ.’ The man who has passed seventy years of age is so called.

One who ‘attends upon’—serves, either with personal attendance, or as a craftsman.

These men should not be made to pay any taxes,—snoh as working for the king for one day in the month, as laid down for craftsman under 7. 138;—by a king, even when his treasury has become depleted. This is what is meant by the phrase ‘by any one’— (394)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 272), which adds the following notes:—‘Pīṭhasarpī’ is the lame;—‘śrotriyeṣūpakurvan,’ he who accords to learned Brāhmaṇas grain and monetary assistance.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Āpastamba (2.26.16-17).—‘Blind, deaf and diseased persons, as also those to whom the acquisition of property is forbidden, shall be free from taxes.’