Verse 9.124

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

ज्येष्ठस्तु जातो ज्येष्ठायां हरेद् वृषभषोडशाः ।
ततः स्वमातृतः शेषा भजेरन्निति धारणा ॥ १२४ ॥

jyeṣṭhastu jāto jyeṣṭhāyāṃ hared vṛṣabhaṣoḍaśāḥ |
tataḥ svamātṛtaḥ śeṣā bhajeranniti dhāraṇā || 124 ||

The elder son born of the younger wife may take (fifteen cows with) a bull as the sixteenth; the others may take shares according to the seniority of their mothers; such is the settled rule.—(124)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This verse puts forward another alternative regarding the ‘preferential share’ in the ease of sons spoken of in the preceding verses.

If the elder son is born of the younger wife, he shall take fifteen rows, and a hull as the sixteenth. That the fifteen are meant to be cows is indicated by the mention of the hull;—the hull needs the cow as its companion.

The ‘others’—the remaining sons—shall take the cows—‘according to the seniority of their mothers;’—i.e., he whose mother is senior shall take a better cow than the one that is taken by him whose mother is junior.

Or, the verse may be taken as laying down an additional ‘preferential share’ for the son born of the elder wife,—in addition to what has been laid down in the preceding verse. In this case, there would be no ‘a’ before the word ‘jyeṣṭhāyām’ (which, in the former explanation has been taken as ‘ajyeṣṭhāyām’).

It would appear to be necessary to consider what is exactly meant by the expression ‘according to the seniority of their mothers.’ But, inasmuch as the two verses (in which the phrase occurs) are purely declamatory, we make no Attempt to find out its exact meaning.

What has been said hitherto is only by way of a preface; the settled conclusion is going to be stated now (in the following verse).—(124)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Medhātithi reads ‘ajyeṣṭhāyām’ and remarks that it is another ‘special share but it adds that this may be only another special share for the son of the senior wife (the reading in this case being jyeṣṭhāyām)

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 473), which reads ‘Jyeṣṭhāyām’ and remarks that this lays down another special share for the brother who is ‘elder’ by reason of being born of the senior wife.—‘Vṛṣabhaṣoḍaśaḥ’ means ‘cows that have a bull for their sixteenth’, these cows being the animals that are most cognate to the animal mentioned, ‘bull—‘Śeṣāḥ’, the remaining brothers, by reason of the non-seniority of their mothers, should each take a bull which is not the very best.—It goes on to add that, according to the author of the Prākāśa, what is here stated by Manu is the opinion of ‘others’,—his own view being stated in the next verse, where seniority among brothers is made to rest upon the priority of their birth.—Halāyudha however explains the three verses (122-124) as follows:—When the younger brother is born of the senior and the elder from the junior wife, then the former shall have the best bull as his ‘special share’,—of the other bulls, which are not the very best, one each should be given to the other brothers, the quality of each being in accordance with the respective seniority of their mothers,—and the remainder is to be divided equally among the brothers (123);—but when the elder brother is born of the senior wife, then we have the rule laid down in 124: the cows ‘with a bull as their sixteenth’ goes to the eldest brother, and each of the other brothers receives as his ‘special share’ one bull, the quality of which is to be determined by the relative seniority of their mothers.

It is quoted in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 461).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 9.122-126)

See Comparative notes for Verses 9.122-123.