Verse 1.107

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

अस्मिन् धर्मेऽखिलेनोक्तौ गुणदोषौ च कर्मणाम् ।
चतुर्णामपि वर्णानामाचारश्चैव शाश्वतः ॥ १०७ ॥

asmin dharme'khilenoktau guṇadoṣau ca karmaṇām |
caturṇāmapi varṇānāmācāraścaiva śāśvataḥ || 107 ||

Herein has been expounded Dharma in its entirety: the good and bad features of actions of all the four castes; as also eternal Morality.—(107)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The Author now proceeds to describe the fact that his treatise, in regard to its subject-matter, is complete in itself, and does not stand in need of anything else.

That which is called ‘Dharma,’ ‘is expounded,’ in this Treatise, ‘in its entirety,’ wholly; that is, for acquiring the knowledge of Dharma, one need not have recourse to any other treatise. This is a hyperbolic eulogium; what is meant is only that such Dharma as is adumbrated in the Smṛtis has been expounded in its entirety in this Treatise.

‘The good and had features of actions,’—the desirable and undesirable results form the ‘good and bad features of actions’—i.e. of such actions as sacrifice and Brāhmāṇa-killing (respectively). ‘Entirety’ refers to the details relating to (1) the form of the acts, (2) their procedure, (3) their results, also (4) their relation to a particular kind of Agent, and (5) their distinction into ‘compulsory’ and ‘optional’;—it is all this that is meant by the term ‘good and bad features' ‘Dharma’ having been already mentioned in the preceding clause, the mention again of the term ‘action’ (which means the same thing) is for the purpose of filling up the verse.

‘Of all the four castes’;—this also is meant to indicate the complete charactcr of the Treatise; the meaning being that ‘whoever is entitled to the performance of Dharma can derive his knowledge of it from this Treatise’.

‘Eternal morality’—Dharma or Action, based upon, indicated by, Morality is what is called ‘Eternal Morality’ here; i.e. Right Behaviour. This we shall examine in detail under Discourse II (verse 4). ‘Eternal’—i.e. established by long-tradition, not merely set up by people of the present day.—(107).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Guṇadoṣau ca karmaṇām’—‘The desirable and undesirable results of actions’ (Medhātithi, Govindarāja, Kullūka and Nandana);—‘the prescribed acts’ (Rāghavānanda and Nārāyaṇa).