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 8.174
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
यस्त्वधर्मेण कार्याणि मोहात् कुर्यान्नराधिपः ।
अचिरात् तं दुरात्मानं वशे कुर्वन्ति शत्रवः ॥ १७४ ॥yastvadharmeṇa kāryāṇi mohāt kuryānnarādhipaḥ |
acirāt taṃ durātmānaṃ vaśe kurvanti śatravaḥ || 174 ||If an evil-minded king, through folly, deal with cases unjustly,—his enemies bring him under their control in no time.—(174)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
If the king ‘deal with eases unjustly,’ it is only ‘through folly’ that he neglects the Law; and the fruit of this transgression is that his people having become disaffected, ‘his enemies bring him under their control’;—when the people become disaffected, they become a lot of angry, greedy, frightened and ill-treated persons, and are easily won over by his enemies, who, thereupon attack him, capture him, strike at him and take away his kingdom;—this is what is meant by ‘bringing under control.’— (174)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Kṛtyakalpataru (6b);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 39a).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 8.174-175)
Yājñavalkya (1.353-354).—‘Punishment inflicted lawfully rejoices the worlds; otherwise it makes them discomforted.’