Verse 8.110

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

महर्षिभिश्च देवैश्च कार्यार्थं शपथाः कृताः ।
वसिष्ठश्चापि शपथं शेपे पैजवने नृपे ॥ ११० ॥

maharṣibhiśca devaiśca kāryārthaṃ śapathāḥ kṛtāḥ |
vasiṣṭhaścāpi śapathaṃ śepe paijavane nṛpe || 110 ||

By the great sages, as well as by the Gods, oaths have been taken for the purposes of a case; Vasiṣṭha even swore an oath before the King Paijavana.—(110)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This is a commendatory supplement to the foregoing injunction of having recourse to oaths.

‘By the great sages’—i.e., by the seven sages, called ‘Saptarṣi,’ and the rest;—‘oaths have been taken, for the purposes of a case,’—i.e., for the purpose of arriving at a decision regarding doubtful cases.

In this connection the story recounted by the revered Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana may be cited as an example. On one occasion when their lotuses had been stolen, the seven sages swore among themselves—‘he who has stolen your lotus shall go the way of sinners,’ and so forth.

‘By the Gods’—Indra and the rest, also; e.g., when Indra was accused in relation to Ahalyā, he swore many oaths, being afraid of being cursed.

‘Vashistha’ has been mentioned separately, for the purpose of indicating his special importance;—he also swore; the term ‘oath’ itself conveying the sense of swearing, the verb ‘swore’ should be taken in the sense of ‘took’; just as we have such expressions as ‘sacrifices a sacrifice,’ ‘nourished with self-nourishment,’—so have we also the expression ‘swore an oath.’ ‘Shepe’ is the third person singular form in the Past Perfect tense of the root ‘shap’ to swear.

Before the king Paijavanu;—Sudās, the son of Pijavana was a king; and, during his reign, on being accused by Viśvāmitra in the midst of an assembly, Vashistha was beset with anger and desire and took the oath with regard to his being a^‘demon’; in the presence of that same king he had been accused of having ‘devoured his hundred sons’ and hence being a ‘demon’; whereupon he swore—^‘may I die to-day, if I am a demon!’—this invoking of an undesirable contingency upon himself being what is called an ‘oath.’ In a case where people swear by laying their hands upon the head of their wife or children, the ‘oath’ consists in invoking evil upon these latter.—(110)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Paijavana’ is another name for king Sudās, say Nārāyāṇa and Kullūka.

For the story of the seven sages, see the Mahābhārata 13.93; 13. “See Sāyana on Ṛgveda 7.104.15, which is considered to contain the oath sworn.”—Buhler.

This verse is quoted in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 406);—and in Kṛtyakalpataru (62a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Nārada (1.243, 244).—‘Of gods and sages even, the taking of oaths is recorded. Vasiṣṭha took an oath when he was accused of having assumed the shape of an evil spirit. The seven Ṛṣis resolutely took an oath together with Indra, in order to clean themselves mutually of suspicion, when each was suspected of having stolen lotus-fibres.’

Śukranīti (4.5.461).—‘Ordeals are known as divya, divine, because they were used by the devas, gods, in the discrimination of difficult cases.’