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...

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

बन्धनानि च सर्वाणि राजा मार्गे निवेशयेत् ।
दुःखिता यत्र दृश्येरन् विकृताः पापकारिणः ॥ २८८ ॥

bandhanāni ca sarvāṇi rājā mārge niveśayet |
duḥkhitā yatra dṛśyeran vikṛtāḥ pāpakāriṇaḥ || 288 ||

The king shall establish prisons all along the public road,—where the suffering and disfigured offenders might be seen.—(288)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The king shall ‘establish’—place—houses of incarceration on all well-known roads,—where the ‘suffering offenders might be seen;’—this implies that the position of the prisons shall be so arranged as to fall within such places as are passed by ordinary passers-by; and it follows from this that various forms of torture shall be inflicted on the prisoners.

Disfigured’—the condition of their body being altered by either total starving or reduced rations.

The rest is quite clear.—(288)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 630), which explains ‘bandhanāni’ as ‘places of imprisonment.’

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