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 9.93
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
पित्रे न दद्यात्शुल्कं तु कन्यां ऋतुमतीं हरन् ।
स च स्वाम्यादतिक्रामेद् ऋतूनां प्रतिरोधनात् ॥ ९३ ॥pitre na dadyātśulkaṃ tu kanyāṃ ṛtumatīṃ haran |
sa ca svāmyādatikrāmed ṛtūnāṃ pratirodhanāt || 93 ||When a man takes away a maiden who has reached puberty, he shall pay no nuptial fee to the father,—who would fall off from his ownership by reason of thwarting her menses.—(93)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
This prohibits the payment of nuptial fees in the case of the girl who has reached puberty, and who is intended to be given away for a fee; and the reason for this is that—‘he would fall off from his ownership.’ It is only during childhood that the girl is to live under the tutilage of her father; so that when she is taken away by a man after she has reached a higher age,—the father’s ownership over her has ceased.
Even in the case of a girl who is not intended to be given away for a fee, the father’s ownership ceases,—the grounds for such cessation (i.e., the girl having reached the higher age) being equally present in her ease also.
‘Falling off’ means cessation.
‘Thwarting’—impeding its fruition in the shape of bearing children.
Some people say that this verse does not belong to Manu.—(93)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
Cf. 3, 23, 24, 51 and 52; 8.366;—9, 46, 71, 97 and 98;—11.62.
“According to some people, this verse does not form part of the text of Manu”—says Medhātithi. This is not his own opinion, as Hopkins wrongly asserts.
This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 772);—in Madanapārijāta (p. 149);—in Nirṇayasindhu (p. 223);—in Aparārka (p. 94), which explains ‘śulka’ as the price;—and in Smṛtikaumudī (p. 38).
Comparative notes by various authors
Viṣṇu (24.41).—‘A girl, whose menses begin to appear while she is living at her father’s house, before she has been betrothed to a man, has to be considered as a degraded woman; by taking her without the consent of her kinsmen, a man commits no wrong.’