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 4.164
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
परस्य दण्डं नोद्यच्छेत् क्रुद्धो नैनं निपातयेत् ।
अन्यत्र पुत्रात्शिष्याद् वा शिष्ट्यर्थं ताडयेत् तु तौ ॥ १६४ ॥parasya daṇḍaṃ nodyacchet kruddho nainaṃ nipātayet |
anyatra putrātśiṣyād vā śiṣṭyarthaṃ tāḍayet tu tau || 164 ||He shall not, when angry, raise the rod against another person, nor shall he let it fall; except in the case of the son or the pupil; these two he may beat with a view to correction.—(164)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Daṇḍa,’ ‘rod,’ is that whereby one is struck, ‘daṇḍyate;’ that is, the hand, the stick, the whip, the rope, the split-bamboo, and so forth.—This ‘rod’ ‘he shall not raise, when angry, against another person;’ i.e., he shall not hold it up; nor shall he let it fall down; i.e., bring it into contact with the other person’s body.
The son and the pupil one may strike with the whip, the split-bamboo, or the slap,—as is going to be mentioned under Discourse VIII,—but not with the stick. Further, these two are to be beaten, not in auger, but only with a view to correction,’—i.e., for the purpose of correcting them, if through boyishness, they happen to misbehave. And these two are to be punished lightly, as is going to be laid down under 8.299.
The ‘pupil’ is meant to exclude the male and female slaves also; the purpose served (i. e., correction) being the same in both cases—(164).
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
Cf. 8.298-299 and 4.175.
This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 231), which adds:—‘Śiṣya’ here means ‘one who has to be taught—the ‘son’ is mentioned separately with a view to emphasis;—and in support of this it quotes the rule of Viṣṇu, which is in the general form ‘Śāsyam śāset tāḍayet’.
Comparative notes by various authors
Mahābhārata (Anuśāsana, 161.38).—(Same as Manu, but reading ‘Tāḍanam smṛtam’ for ‘tāḍayettu tam’).
Viṣṇu (71.80.82).—‘He shall not raise the rod against another person;—for disciplinary purposes, he shall beat his pupil, on the back, either with a rope or a bamboo-piece.’
Yājñavalkya (1.155).—‘He shall beat his son and his pupil.’