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:

न भोक्तव्यो बलादाधिर्भुञ्जानो वृद्धिमुत्सृजेत् ।
मूल्येन तोषयेच्चैनमाधिस्तेनोऽन्यथा भवेत् ॥ १४४ ॥

na bhoktavyo balādādhirbhuñjāno vṛddhimutsṛjet |
mūlyena toṣayeccainamādhisteno'nyathā bhavet || 144 ||

The pledge shall not be used by force; using it thus, he shall renounce the interest; he shall satisfy the other party with its pr ice; otherwise he would be a stealer of the pledge.—(144)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

“It has been already declared in the preceding verse that—‘when there is a profitable pledge, etc.’—(why then should this he repeated?).”

True; but the case referred to in the preceding verse is that ‘where the using or profit is commensurate with the interest; when however the amount of interest is large, while the profit is small, if the creditor uses the pledge by force, he loses the whole amount of interest. In a case again where the pledge is in the form of land or a cow or some such thing, and the profit derived from it is not commensurate with the interest,—if the debtor does not pay the accumulated interest, and the amount of the principal also has not become doubled,—all the interest that the creditor obtains is in the form of the profit derived from the pledge; so that in this case the man’s interest is to be computed at what he has derived by way of that profit.

In a case where the pledge is in the form of clothes and other similar things, which cease to exist, by use, the creditor should ‘satisfy’ the debtor ‘with its price,’ and himself receive his interest. For, if he did not pay the price of the pledged article, ‘he would be a stealer of the pledge;’ i.e., ho should ho made to pay that penalty which he would have had to pay if he had actually stolen an article of the same kind as the pledge.

Stealer,’ ‘stēna,’ is thief.

Others explain the verse in the following manner:—In the event of forcible use, there is loss of interest; if the thing is to be used, it should be so only on payment of its proper price to the debtor; this has been thus declared—‘the creditor should be made to pay the price of the thing in gold, in a case where it is used.’

This verse refers to the case where the debtor, at the time of depositing the pledge, distinctly says—“see that my pledge is not lost,—do not use it please,—in a few days I shall redeem it,”—and yet the creditor, not minding this, does make use of the article.—(144)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Clothes etc. are meant, according to Medhātithi;—clothes, ornaments etc. according to Kullūka and Rāghavānanda;—beds and so forth, according to Nārāyaṇa, who adds that the ‘value’ stands for “the profit made by the use of the pledge”—(Buhler).

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 24), which adds the following notes:—If the creditor uses the pledge without the debtor’s permission, then he loses only a half of the interest; hut if he uses it, even though actually prohibited to do so, then he loses the whole interest;—if he does not give up the interest, then he should satisfy the pledger by paying him the price, fixed by valuation, of the use of the article pledged.

It is quoted in Vyavahāramayūkha (p. 76);—and in Kṛtyakalpataru (70a), which adds that if the thing has been only half used, and has not undergone change, then the man loses only half the amount of his interest, but if the thing becomes changed, then he loses the whole amount of the interest.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.143-144)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.143.

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