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 9.34
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
विशिष्टं कुत्र चिद् बीजं स्त्रीयोनिस्त्वेव कुत्र चित् ।
उभयं तु समं यत्र सा प्रसूतिः प्रशस्यते ॥ ३४ ॥viśiṣṭaṃ kutra cid bījaṃ strīyonistveva kutra cit |
ubhayaṃ tu samaṃ yatra sā prasūtiḥ praśasyate || 34 ||In some cases the seed is prominent; but in others it is the female womb; when both are equal, the offspring is highly commended.—(34)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The prominence of the seed is seen in the case of Vyāsa, Ṛṣyaṣṛṅga (Ṛṣyaśṛṅga?) and other great sages, (who, though born of low mothers, became high sages);—and that of the female womb in the case of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and other ‘kṣetraja’ sons, who, even though born of Brāhmaṇa fathers, took the caste of their mothers.
‘Where both are equal’—i.e. belonging to the same caste.
‘The offspring is highly commended;’—since in this case there is no dispute; this is what has been declared under 32 above, regarding people recognising the son as belonging to the father,—(34)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
Compare 10.72.
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 9.31-44)
See Comparative notes for Verse 9.31.