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 3.42
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
अनिन्दितैः स्त्रीविवाहैरनिन्द्या भवति प्रजा ।
निन्दितैर्निन्दिता नॄणां तस्मान्निन्द्यान् विवर्जयेत् ॥ ४२ ॥aninditaiḥ strīvivāhairanindyā bhavati prajā |
ninditairninditā nṝṇāṃ tasmānnindyān vivarjayet || 42 ||From unblamable marriages unblamable offspring is born to men; and from blameworthy marriages blameworthy child. One should therefore avoid the blamable marriages.—(42)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
This verse sums up the results of marriages briefly. Those marriages are called ‘unblamable’ which have been sanctioned by the scriptures: and the offspring—in the shape of son, etc.—born from wives wedded by those forms of marriage is ‘unblamable,’—i.e., praiseworthy.
‘From blameworthy’—i.e., prohibited—‘marriages’ is born ‘blameworthy,’ defective, child.
‘Therefore’—with the view that such children may not be born as become a source of pain, ‘one should avoid the blamable marriages’—(42)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse also is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 865);—in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 865);—in Aparārka (p. 117);—and in Hemādri (Dāna, p. 684).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 3.39-42)
See Comparative notes for Verse 3.39.