Verse 11.9-10

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

भृत्यानामुपरोधेन यत् करोत्यौर्ध्वदेहिकम् ।
तद् भवत्यसुखौदर्कं जीवतश्च मृतस्य च ॥ ९ ॥
वृद्धौ च मातापितरौ साध्वी भार्या शिशुः सुतः ।
अप्यकार्यशतं कृत्वा भर्तव्या मनुरब्रवीत् ॥ १० ॥

bhṛtyānāmuparodhena yat karotyaurdhvadehikam |
tad bhavatyasukhaudarkaṃ jīvataśca mṛtasya ca || 9 ||
vṛddhau ca mātāpitarau sādhvī bhāryā śiśuḥ sutaḥ |
apyakāryaśataṃ kṛtvā bhartavyā manurabravīt || 10 ||

If a man does anything for his own benefit after death, to the detriment of the persons he has got to maintain,—it becomes conducive to unhappy results while he lives as also when he dies.—(9). Aged parents, well-behaved wife and infant sons have been declared by Manu to be persons that should be maintained, even by doing a hundred evil acts.—(10)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

(verses 11.9-10)

This is a deprecatory declamation in support of what has gone before.

‘Persons he has got to maintain’—already described.

‘Detriment’— depriving them of food and clothing and other necessaries.

‘For his benefit after death’—For the purpose of accomplishing for himself rewards in the other world.

‘Conducive to unhappy results’— The ‘Udarka,’ i.e., the ‘future result’ of such giving turns out to be ‘unhappy’.—(9-10).

[Verse 10 translated here has been quoted by Medhātithi in the Bhāṣya on 3.72.]

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(verse 11.9)

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 283);—and in Hemādri (Dāna p. 40).

[note: the above note either belongs to verse 8 or 9]

(verse 11.10)

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 283).

वृद्धौ च मातापितरौ साध्वी भार्या शिशुः सुतः |
अप्यकार्यशतं कृत्वा भर्तव्या मनुरब्रवीत् ||

vṛddhau ca mātāpitarau sādhvī bhāryā śiśuḥ sutaḥ |
apyakāryaśataṃ kṛtvā bhartavyā manurabravīt ||

This verse is not commented upon by the Commentators; it is quoted by Medhātithi under 2.189, and in several important Nibandhas.

It is quoted in Aparārka (p. 283);—in Mitākṣarā (1.224) to the effect that one who abandons his wife and children stands on the same footing as one who abandons his parents;—again on 2.175, as. indicating the obligatory character of the duty of maintaining one’s family-members;—the Bālambhaṭṭī adds the following notes:—‘Vṛddhau’, over 80 years old,—‘śiśuḥ’, less than 16 years old,—‘Akāryaśatam’, many such reprehensible acts as receiving improper gifts and so forth.

It is quoted in Smṛtitattva I (p. 349);—in Smṛtitattva II (p. 361) as mentioning persons who must be supported;—in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra p. 186);—and in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 384), which adds that this refers to abnormal times of distress.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 11.9-10)

Śātātapa (Aparārka, p. 283).—‘The twice-born person who, in feeding and making gifts, passes over the student near at hand destroys his family to the seventh generation.’

Bhaviṣyapurāṇa (Do.).—‘If one passes over the Brāhmaṇa near at hand,—except when he is an outcast,—and feeds one at a distance, he falls into hell.—For this reason, the wise man should never pass over his neighbours and relations, or his daughter’s son or sister’s husband, or his sister’s son specially, and other relations; he should not pass over these even if they be illiterate; passing over them, one falls into hell.’

Vyāsa (Do., p. 282).—‘What is given to one’s parents, brothers, sisters or daughters, wife or sons,—becomes an irreproachable bridge to heaven. A gift made to the father becomes a hundredfold, that to the mother a thousandfold, that to the daughter becomes endless, and what is given to the uterine brother is imperishable.’

Dakṣa (Do., p. 939).—‘The following are the persons that should be supported by rich persons:—father, mother, teacher, wife, children, a poor man seeking shelter, guest and fire; also relations that are poor, an orphan seeking shelter. He shall make presents to learned men......... The supporting of one’s dependants is the way to heaven, and the harassing of them is the way to hell.’