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:

श्रोत्रियः श्रोत्रियं साधुं भूतिकृत्येष्वभोजयन् ।
तदन्नं द्विगुणं दाप्यो हिरण्यं चैव माषकम् ॥ ३९३ ॥

śrotriyaḥ śrotriyaṃ sādhuṃ bhūtikṛtyeṣvabhojayan |
tadannaṃ dviguṇaṃ dāpyo hiraṇyaṃ caiva māṣakam || 393 ||

The Vedic scholar who does not entertain a worthy Vedic scholar at such auspicious rites, should be made to pay twice the quantity of that meal, and also a ‘māṣa’ of gold.—(393)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This text refers to persons who are not neighbours. The rule here laid down pertains to fellow-students.

The Vedic scholar who does not entertain a duly qualified Vedic scholar at such ‘auspicious rites’—rites performed by virtue of the possession of wealth; such for instance as the feeding of many men and so forth; or ‘rich’ may be taken as an epithet of the ‘rites’; the meaning in which case would be the rites, such as marriages and the like, which are performed on a lavish scale; where more than twenty men are fed;—if at such times, the Vedic scholar does not feed a fellow-scholar, ho should be made to offer twice the quantity of the food that would be offered at the rich rites; and one ‘māsa’ of gold shall be paid to the king as fine.—(393)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Śrotriyam’—‘Who is not a neighbour’ (Medhātithi);—‘a neighbour’ (Govindarāja, and Kullūka);—‘a resident of the same village’ (Nārāyaṇa).

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 359), which adds the explanation that the quantity of food that he might have eaten should be made to be given to the uninvited man.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.392-393)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.392.

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