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 9.270
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
न होढेन विना चौरं घातयेद् धार्मिको नृपः ।
सहोढं सोपकरणं घातयेदविचारयन् ॥ २७० ॥na hoḍhena vinā cauraṃ ghātayed dhārmiko nṛpaḥ |
sahoḍhaṃ sopakaraṇaṃ ghātayedavicārayan || 270 ||The righteous king shall not put a thief to death unless caught with the stolen goods; when however one is caught with the stolen goods, and the implements of burglary, he may, without hesitation, put him to death.—(270)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
(verses 9.262-273)
(No Bhāṣya.)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in the Aparārka (p. 849), which explains ‘hoḍham’ as ‘stolen property—and ‘upakaraṇam’ as implements of thieving.
Comparative notes by various authors
Kātyāyana (Aparārka, p. 849).—‘Whether the man has, or has not, been found in possession of the stolen goods, if his crime has been established by evidence, he shall have his limbs cut off and then banished.’
Nārada (Theft: 8-11).—‘Those on whom the stolen goods have been seized, the King should examine, when they have been arrested on suspicion; their fear having been excited, they shall depose truthfully regarding the facts of the case. When questions are put to them their face changes colour, or the voice falters,...... when they are found to have been previously convicted of larceny, or when there is documentary evidence against them; it is by all these means that they should be convicted as thieves, and not merely by being in possession of the stolen goods.’