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 4.54
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
अधस्तान्नोपदध्याच्च न चैनमभिलङ्घयेत् ।
न चैनं पादतः कुर्यान्न प्राणाबाधमाचरेत् ॥ ५४ ॥adhastānnopadadhyācca na cainamabhilaṅghayet |
na cainaṃ pādataḥ kuryānna prāṇābādhamācaret || 54 ||He shall not place fire under himself; nor shall he step over it; he shall not place it under his feet. He shall not do anything dangerous to life.—(54)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
While lying upon his head, he should not place the fire-pan underneath it. ‘Upadhāra’ means placing.
‘Stepping over’—passing along—after having jumped over it.
‘Under his feet;’—ie., he shall not place it in a place where he might put his foot upon it.
‘Anything dangerous to life’—such as too laborious work, or running with too much force, and so forth; these he should not do.—(54).
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (on 1.137);—and in Aparārka (p. 181).
Comparative notes by various authors
Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (1.16.21).—‘He shall not place the fire on the bedstead.’
Do. (1.12.6).—‘He shall not pass between the fire and the Brāhmaṇa.’
Viṣṇu (37.36).—‘He shall not cross over the fire.’
Yājñavalkya (1.137).—‘He shall not cross over the fire.’