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 11.18
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
ब्राह्मणस्वं न हर्तव्यं क्षत्रियेण कदा चन ।
दस्युनिष्क्रिययोस्तु स्वमजीवन् हर्तुमर्हति ॥ १८ ॥brāhmaṇasvaṃ na hartavyaṃ kṣatriyeṇa kadā cana |
dasyuniṣkriyayostu svamajīvan hartumarhati || 18 ||The Kṣatriya shall never appropriate the property of a Brāhmaṇa; when starving, he may appropriate the property of the robbers and of one who neglects his duties.—(18)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘The Kṣatriya’— This is meant to include the Vaiśya and the Śūdra also.
‘Never’—i.e., not even in times of the greatest distress.
‘Robber and one who neglects his duties.’—That is, Brāhmaṇas having this character. ‘Robber’ is the thief, and ‘one who neglects his duties’ is the person who does not observe the rules governing the life-stages.—(18)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This is quoted in Aparārka (p. 938), as an exception to what has gone in the preceding two verses.