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 7.151
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
मध्यन्दिनेऽर्धरात्रे वा विश्रान्तो विगतक्लमः ।
चिन्तयेद् धर्मकामार्थान् सार्धं तैरेक एव वा ॥ १५१ ॥madhyandine'rdharātre vā viśrānto vigataklamaḥ |
cintayed dharmakāmārthān sārdhaṃ taireka eva vā || 151 ||At mid-day or at mid-night, free from fatigue and dulness, he shall deliberate on matters relating to morality, pleasure and wealth, either with them, or alone by himself;—(151)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
He shall ponder over conflicts among the demands of morality, pleasure and wealth. If any one of them were to supervene, success would follow if all the others also were to rise in proportion.—(151)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 410);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 159) as laying down the time for holding the Council;—and again on p. 317).
Comparative notes by various authors
Arthaśāstra (p. 39).—‘He shall have recourse to only such pleasure as is in consonance with spiritual and material welfare; he shall not deprive himself of pleasure entirely; or he may devote equal attention to all the three; as over-addiction to any one of them ruins the other, etc. Material Welfare is the most important, says Kauṭilya; Spiritual Welfare and Pleasure are dependent upon that.’