Verse 8.218

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

एष धर्मोऽखिलेनोक्तो वेतनादानकर्मणः ।
अत ऊर्ध्वं प्रवक्ष्यामि धर्मं समयभेदिनाम् ॥ २१८ ॥

eṣa dharmo'khilenokto vetanādānakarmaṇaḥ |
ata ūrdhvaṃ pravakṣyāmi dharmaṃ samayabhedinām || 218 ||

Thus has the entire law bearing upon the action of ‘Non-payment of Wages’ been explained. After this I am going to expound the law relating to Contract-breakers.—(218)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The term ‘vetanādānakarmaṇaḥ’ ‘the action of nonpayment of wages,’ only names the particular Head of Dispute; hence there is no room for any such objection as the following—“How is it that the text speaks of having dealt with the action of non-payment of wages,—when the action of payment also has been dealt with?”—Because there is nothing wrong in the naming of a subject in accordance with anything that may he related to it; and every little detail does not necessarily enter into its name, for instance, in the Agni-hotra-rites, even though libations are actually offered to both Agni and Prajāpati, it is called ‘Agnihotra,’ ‘offering to Agni’; and similarly in the case of all such names as ‘Sthūṇā,’ ‘Darśa’ and so forth?

‘Contract’ is agreement, the stipulation or promise, in the form—‘I shall certainly do such and such a thing, exactly in the manner in which you wish.’ The ‘breakers’ of this are those who go against it.

What is referred to here is what has been mentioned above (under the Heads of Dispute) as ‘Breach of Contract?’

The first half of the verse sums up the foregoing section and the latter introduces the next.—(218)