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 7.31
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
शुचिना सत्यसन्धेन यथाशास्त्रानुसारिणा ।
प्रणेतुं शक्यते दण्डः सुसहायेन धीमता ॥ ३१ ॥śucinā satyasandhena yathāśāstrānusāriṇā |
praṇetuṃ śakyate daṇḍaḥ susahāyena dhīmatā || 31 ||Punishment can be administered by one who is pube, who is true to his word, who acts according to the Law, who has good assistants and is wise.—(31)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Pure’—not covetous.
‘True to his word’—who attaches great importance to truth; who, in all his acts, places truth in the fore-front; which means that he has his senses under control; for how can there be any truthfulness in one whose senses are not subdued?
‘Who acts according to the Law’,—‘who has good assistants whose assistants are properly qualified; i.e., assisted by such assistants as are not illiterate, and who are devoted to him.
‘Wise’—intelligent;—this is the reverse of the ‘demented’ person mentioned in the preceding verse.
Thus he who is equipped with these five qualities, and free from the corresponding five contrary qualities, is the person entitled to administer punishment, and to partake of the visible (physical) and invisible (moral) results proceeding therefrom. Such is the sense of these two verses.—(31).
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
‘Satyasandhaḥ’—‘Regarding Truth as predominant’ (Medhātithi);—‘faithful to his promise’ (Govindarāja, Kullūka and Rāghavānanda).
This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 647);—and in Vivādacintāmaṇi (p. 262).
Comparative notes by various authors
Gautama (11.4).—‘The king shall be pure, of subdued senses, surrounded by companions possessing excellent qualities and by the means of upholding his rule.’
Yājñavalkya (1.310).—‘He shall appoint ministers who are intelligent, hereditarily connected, firm and pure.’
Kāmandaka (2.37).—‘inflicting extraordinarily heavy punishments, the king frightens his people; and inflicting light ones, he ceases to be feared. That king deserves praise who deals out punishment proportionate to the offence.’