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...

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

चराणामन्नमचरा दंष्ट्रिणामप्यदंष्ट्रिणः ।
अहस्ताश्च सहस्तानां शूराणां चैव भीरवः ॥ २९ ॥

carāṇāmannamacarā daṃṣṭriṇāmapyadaṃṣṭriṇaḥ |
ahastāśca sahastānāṃ śūrāṇāṃ caiva bhīravaḥ || 29 ||

The immobile is the food of the mobile; those devoid of fangs are the food of those endowed with fangs; those without hands are the food of those with hands; and cowards are the food of the brave.—(29).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Mobile’,—those that are capable of walking and flying and are courageous and active; e.g. the kite, the mongoose and the rest.—Of those the ‘immobile’—lethargic animals, such as the pigeon, the serpent and the like—are ‘the food.’

Similarly ‘of those endowed with fangs,’—i.e. of the lion, the tiger, etc.,—‘those devoid of fangs’—the Ruru, the Pṛṣat and the other kinds of deer—arc the ‘food.’

Those without hands, serpents, fish and the like—are the food of ‘those with hands,’—of the mongoose and the fisherman, etc.

Of the brave’—of those that are endowed with great courage—‘cowards’—those who are over-fond of life—are the food.

The meaning is that those possessed of inferior strength are killed for food—(29).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika, p. 527), which adds—the ‘cara’ are the deer and the rest,—the ‘acara’ grasses etc.,—‘damṣṭṛn’, the tiger and others, ‘adamṣṭṛn,’ the deer and the like,—‘sahasta’ are men and the like,—and ‘ahasta’ fish etc., ‘śūra’ are brave persons—and ‘bhīru’ are the timid.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Mahābhārata (12.99.15).—(Reproduces the first half of Manu.)

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