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 10.70
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
बीजमेके प्रशंसन्ति क्षेत्रमन्ये मनीषिणः ।
बीजक्षेत्रे तथैवान्ये तत्रैयं तु व्यवस्थितिः ॥ ७० ॥bījameke praśaṃsanti kṣetramanye manīṣiṇaḥ |
bījakṣetre tathaivānye tatraiyaṃ tu vyavasthitiḥ || 70 ||Some wise men extol the seed, while others the soil; while yet others extol both the seed and the soil. The decision on this point is as follows.—(70)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
There are three theories, each being held by some sage or the other.
(1) Some people assert that the ‘seed’ is the more important factor; so that the child born to a Brāhmaṇa from a woman of the Kṣatriya or other castes, is superior to his mother’s caste.
(2) Others declare the ‘soil’ to be the more important; whence the ‘soil-born’ son belongs to the caste of the mother from whom he is born, and to whom he belongs.
(3) Others again hold that both are equally important; as declared in 69—‘as good seed sown in good soil etc, etc.’
Not satisfied with any of these views, the Author adds—‘The decision on this point is as follows;’—i. e., after full consideration the following decision has been arrived at.—(70)
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 10.66-73)