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 9.284
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
चिकित्सकानां सर्वेषां मिथ्याप्रचरतां दमः ।
अमानुषेषु प्रथमो मानुषेषु तु मध्यमः ॥ २८४ ॥cikitsakānāṃ sarveṣāṃ mithyāpracaratāṃ damaḥ |
amānuṣeṣu prathamo mānuṣeṣu tu madhyamaḥ || 284 ||All physicians dealing dishonestly are liable to punishment; in the case of patients other than human, the lowest, and in that of human patients, the middlemost amercement.—(284)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Physicians’— doctors.
‘Dealing dishonestly.’—The prescribing of medicines by dishonest practitioners may be done in two ways—(1) it may be due to the man being devoid of theoretical and practical knowledge entirely, or (2) to negligence or greed, even though the knowledge of the science is there.
‘In the case of patients other than human’—i.e., cows, horses, elephants, and so forth.
‘The first’—the term ‘amercement’ has to be construed here.
Similarly in the case of human patients, the ‘middlemost amercement.’
But if on account of the dishonest dealing, the patient happen to die, then severe punishment shall be inflicted.—(284)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Smṛtitattva (p. 535).
Comparative notes by various authors
Viṣṇu (5.175-177).—‘A physician who adopts a wrong method of cure in the case of a patient of high rank should pay the highest amercement;—the middle amercement in the case of an ordinary patient;—and the lowest amercement in the case of an animal.’