Verse 4.6

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

सत्यानृतं तु वाणिज्यं तेन चैवापि जीव्यते ।
सेवा श्ववृत्तिराख्याता तस्मात् तां परिवर्जयेत् ॥ ६ ॥

satyānṛtaṃ tu vāṇijyaṃ tena caivāpi jīvyate |
sevā śvavṛttirākhyātā tasmāt tāṃ parivarjayet || 6 ||

Trade is “Truth and Falsehood;” even by that one may live. Service has been declared, to be the “living of dogs;” hence one should avoid it.—(6)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

It should not be understood that the scripture here lays down the fact of Trade being both ‘true’ and ‘false;’ it only describes the nature of the thing; and what constitutes the ‘falsehood’ of Trade is the element of avaricious grabbing involved in it.

‘May live.’—This implies that Trade may be had recourse to, only for the purposes of livelihood, never for that of accumulating wealth.

‘Service is the living of the dog.’—The dog is made to work hard, and gets little and with difficulty; so also the servant. ‘Service’ here connotes being ordered about; the servant is always commanded to do this and that work, right as well as wrong. Hence, when people serve kings with such superior kind of work as the carrying of arms and the like, these are not regarded ‘as the living of dogs,’—(6)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

The first half of this verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 309);—and the entire verse in Vidhānapārijāta (II, p. 246).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 4.5-6)

See Comparative notes for Verse 4.5.