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 4.4
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
ऋतामृताभ्यां जीवेत् तु मृतेन प्रमृतेन वा ।
सत्यानृताभ्यामपि वा न श्ववृत्त्या कदा चन ॥ ४ ॥ṛtāmṛtābhyāṃ jīvet tu mṛtena pramṛtena vā |
satyānṛtābhyāmapi vā na śvavṛttyā kadā cana || 4 ||He shall live in “Truth” and “Nectar,” or by “Death” and “Super-death;” or, even by “Truth and Falsehood;” but never by the “living of the dog.”—(4)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The author now mentions the “occupations” by name; and their mere names imply the excellence of some of them; and from this it follows that one should have recourse to the deprecated ones only when the commended ones are not possible.
Of these, the “Death” and the “Super-Death” are the most deprecated; and worse than these is the “Truth and Falsehood,” as is clear from the fact that the Text says that one may live ‘even by these;’ where the term ‘even’ clearly indicates undesirability.—(4)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 309);—in Vidhānapārijāta (II. p. 246);—and the second half in Madanapārijāta (p. 216).
Comparative notes by various authors
Agnipurāṇa (100.5).—[Reproduces Manu.]
Kūrmapurāṇa (1.2.25.22).—‘The householder is of two kinds—the Sādhaka and the Non-sādhaka; for the former, teaching, officiating at sacrifices, receiving of gifts, gleaning and picking; for the Non-sādhaka householder, gleaning and picking have been declared to be the only two means of livelihood.’