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 12.72
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
मैत्राक्षज्योतिकः प्रेतो वैश्यो भवति पूयभुक् ।
चैलाशकश्च भवति शूद्रो धर्मात् स्वकाच्च्युतः ॥ ७२ ॥maitrākṣajyotikaḥ preto vaiśyo bhavati pūyabhuk |
cailāśakaśca bhavati śūdro dharmāt svakāccyutaḥ || 72 ||The Vaiśya, fallen from his duty, becomes the ‘Maitrākṣajyotika’ Preta feeding on pus; and the Śūdra becomes a ‘Cailāśaka’ Preta—(72)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Maitrākṣajyotika,’ like the foregoing terms, is another name for a Piśāca. Or the name may mean—“one who has light (‘jyotiḥ’) issuing from the hole (‘akṣi’) of the anus (‘maitra’).”
Others explain the term as standing for the owl; ‘maitra’ being the light of the sun, and ‘akṣajyotiḥ’ meaning visual perception; the name connoting the fact that the owl cannot see in solar light—(72)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.220) in the same sense as the above.