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:

कृतदारोऽपरान् दारान् भिक्षित्वा योऽधिगच्छति ।
रतिमात्रं फलं तस्य द्रव्यदातुस्तु सन्ततिः ॥ ५ ॥

kṛtadāro'parān dārān bhikṣitvā yo'dhigacchati |
ratimātraṃ phalaṃ tasya dravyadātustu santatiḥ || 5 ||

If a man, having already got a wife, weds another wife, after having begged (for the requisite wealth), sexual enjoyment is his only fruit; the issue belongs to the person who gave him the wealth.—(5)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This forbids the act of begging for the purpose of marrying more than one wife merely through lust.

Sexual enjoyment is the only fruit’—This is purely declamatory, and should not be understood in its literal sense.

Others explain the text to mean that ‘gifts for marriage shall be given to one who is going to marry for the purpose of obtaining children, and not to one who is going to do it merely through lust’;—this same idea being stated in the text in a somewhat different form—‘gifts shall be given to one who is seeking for offspring,—the person mentioned in the text is seeking sexual enjoyment, and not offspring.’

The issue belongs to the person who gave the wealth,’—and not to the man who marries.—(5)

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Āpastamba (2.10.3).—‘But if persons ask for alms for the sake of sexual gratification, that is improper; and he shall not take heed of such begging.’

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