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 9.25
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
एषोदिता लोकयात्रा नित्यं स्त्रीपुंसयोः शुभा ।
प्रेत्यैह च सुखोदर्कान् प्रजाधर्मान्निबोधत ॥ २५ ॥eṣoditā lokayātrā nityaṃ strīpuṃsayoḥ śubhā |
pretyaiha ca sukhodarkān prajādharmānnibodhata || 25 ||Thus has been declared the common practice, as between husband and wife, which is always happy; now understand the laws relating to children, which are conducive to happiness here as well as after death.—(25)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Commonpractice’— ordinary usage; what has been stated here is the ‘common practice’ obtaining in the world; and when it is said that ‘women are to be guarded in such and such a manner, and not otherwise’, or ‘if women are not guarded, the progeny becomes defiled,’—it is not by way of injunction.
‘Now listen to the laws relating to children’;—i.e., to whom does the child belong?—to the owner of the seed, or to the owner of the field?
‘Udarka’ stands for ‘futurity’; and that whose ‘future is happy’ is called ‘sukhodarka’, conducive to happiness. The praise is that while all things perish in the end, these do not perish.—(25)