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 9.254
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
अशासंस्तस्करान् यस्तु बलिं गृह्णाति पार्थिवः ।
तस्य प्रक्षुभ्यते राष्ट्रं स्वर्गाच्च परिहीयते ॥ २५४ ॥aśāsaṃstaskarān yastu baliṃ gṛhṇāti pārthivaḥ |
tasya prakṣubhyate rāṣṭraṃ svargācca parihīyate || 254 ||If a king does not repress thieves and yet receives his taxes, his kingdom becomes perturbed and he falls off from heaven.—(254)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Repression’;—the punishment of thieves and others according to rules laid down in the Scriptures—by the inflicting of corporal and other forms of punishment;—without which the protection of the people is not possible.
Hence if the king receives taxes and yet fights shy of repressing thieves, he incurs the two dangers—in this world, trouble in his kingdom, and in the next, the loss of Heaven. It is only right that blame should attach to the King who receives taxes and yet does not repay it by service.—(254)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 294), which adds that the subject of ‘parihīyate’ is ‘rājā’, the king;—and in Vivādacintāmaṇi (Calcutta, p. 80), which says that ‘parihīyate’ is to be construed with ‘saḥ’ understood.
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 9.253-255)
See Comparative notes for Verse 9.253.