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 7.90
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
न कूटैरायुधैर्हन्याद् युध्यमानो रणे रिपून् ।
न कर्णिभिर्नापि दिग्धैर्नाग्निज्वलिततेजनैः ॥ ९० ॥na kūṭairāyudhairhanyād yudhyamāno raṇe ripūn |
na karṇibhirnāpi digdhairnāgnijvalitatejanaiḥ || 90 ||While fighting his enemies in battle, he shall hot strike with concealed weapons; nor with arrows that are poisoned, or barbed, or with flaming shafts. (90)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The author proceeds to indicate such rules as appertain to superphysical results.
‘Concealed’—those that have a wooden exterior, but sharpened weapons within.
‘Barbed’—those arrows that are supplied, either at the base or in the middle of their shafts, with ear-shaped barbs, which, once they enter the flesh, can be withdrawn with difficulty ; and even when withdrawn they lascerate even those parts of the body that may not have been wounded by weapons.
‘Poisoned’—besmeared with poison.
Those whose shafts are ‘flaming’, i.e., consisting of fire. He shell not fight with such weapons.—(90)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 405), which explains ‘digdhaiḥ’ as ‘poisoned’.
Comparative notes by various authors
Baudhāyana (1.18.10).—‘He shall not strike with barbed or poisoned arrows.’
Yājñavalkya (l.323).—(Sec under 87.)