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:

संयोगं पतितैर्गत्वा परस्यैव च योषितम् ।
अपहृत्य च विप्रस्वं भवति ब्रह्मराक्षसः ॥ ६० ॥

saṃyogaṃ patitairgatvā parasyaiva ca yoṣitam |
apahṛtya ca viprasvaṃ bhavati brahmarākṣasaḥ || 60 ||

He who associates with outcasts, he who approaches the wife of another person, and he who has stolen the property of a Brāhmaṇa, become ‘Brahmarākṣasas.’—(60)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

[The Bhāṣya has nothing to say on this verse]

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāṣharamādhava (Prāyaścitta p. 492 and p. 511).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 12.60-68)

Yājñavalkya (3.211-215, 217).—‘Having approached another man’s wife, and having misappropriated the property of a Brāhmaṇa, one becomes a Brahmarākṣasa in desolate wilderness. Stealer of gems are born among the lowest castes; the stealer of perfumes, as a musk-rat, The stealer of grains becomes a rat; the stealer of a vehicle, a camel; that of fruits, a monkey; that of water, a Plava bird; that of milk, a crow; that of household requisites, the Gṛhakāri animal; that of honey, a flea; that of flesh, a vulture; that of a cow, an alligator; that of fire, a crane; that of cloth, suffers from leucoderma; that of juice, a dog; that of salt, a Cīrī bird.—Having passed through the bodies of several animals, as a consequence of their acts, men become, in course of time, born again as poor and low men devoid of all good qualities.’

Viṣṇu (44.14-44).—‘After having suffered the torments of hells, the evil-doers pass into animal bodies. Criminals of the highest degree enter the bodies of plants, one after the other. Mortal sinners enter the bodies of worms or insects; minor offenders, those of birds; animals of the fourth degree, that of aquatic animals; those who have committed crimes effecting loss of caste, enter the bodies of amphibious animals; those who have committed a crime degrading one to a mixed caste enter the bodies of deer; those who have committed a crime rendering them unfit to receive alms enter the bodies of cattle; those who have committed a crime causing defilement enter the bodies of low-caste men who may not be touched; those who have committed one of the miscellaneous crimes enter the bodies of miscellaneous wild carnivorous animals. One who has eaten the food of one whose food should not be eaten, or forbidden food, becomes a worm or insect. thief becomes a falcon. One who has appropriated a broad path, becomes an animal living in holes. The stealer of grains becomes a rat; that of copper, a Haṃsa; that of water, a water-fowl; that of honey, a gad-fly; that of milk, a crow; that of juice, a dog; that of clarified butter, an ichneumon; that of meat, a vulture; that of fat, a cormorant; that of oil, a cockroach; that of salt, a cricket; that of sour milk, a crane; that of silk, a partridge; that of linen, a frog; that of cloth, a curlew; that of cow, an iguana; that of sugar, a Vālguda; that of perfumes, a musk-rat; that of vegetable and leaves, a peacock; that of prepared grain, a boar called Śvāvidh; that of undressed grain, a porcupine; that of fire, a crane; that of household utensils, a wasp; that of dyed cloth, a Chakora bird; that of an elephant, a tortoise; that of a horse, a tiger; that of fruits or blossoms, an ape; that of women, a bear; that of a vehicle, a camel; that of cattle, a vulture. He who has taken by force any property belonging to another, or eaten food not previously presented to the gods, inevitably enters the body of some beast.’

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