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 12.71
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
वान्ताश्युल्कामुखः प्रेतो विप्रो धर्मात् स्वकाच्च्युतः ।
अमेध्यकुणपाशी च क्षत्रियः कटपूतनः ॥ ७१ ॥vāntāśyulkāmukhaḥ preto vipro dharmāt svakāccyutaḥ |
amedhyakuṇapāśī ca kṣatriyaḥ kaṭapūtanaḥ || 71 ||The Brāhmaṇa fallen off from his own duty becomes a ‘fire-mouthed’ Preta feeding on vomitings; and the Kṣatriya a ‘foul-nosed’ Preta feeding on impure substances and dead bodies.—(71)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The text proceeds to indicate the states fallen into by those who fall off from their duty.
The Preta feeds upon vomitings; and its mouth keeps flaming like a fire-brand.
‘Kuṇapa’—dead body.
‘Kūṭapūtanaḥ’—one from whose nostrils foul smell emanates.
‘Kaṭapūtanaḥ’ is another reading; ‘Kaṭapūtana’ b eing the name of a being of the ‘Piśāca’ species, who keeps hovering in cremation-grounds.—(71)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.220), in the sense that the man neglecting his duties suffers the same tortures as the Ulkāmukha and the rest.