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 9.57 [Duties of Women in Times of Distress (niyoga)]
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
भ्रातुर्ज्येष्ठस्य भार्या या गुरुपत्न्यनुजस्य सा ।
यवीयसस्तु या भार्या स्नुषा ज्येष्ठस्य सा स्मृता ॥ ५७ ॥bhrāturjyeṣṭhasya bhāryā yā gurupatnyanujasya sā |
yavīyasastu yā bhāryā snuṣā jyeṣṭhasya sā smṛtā || 57 ||The wife of the elder brother is, for the younger, a ‘wife of the preceptor’; and the wife of the younger brother has been declared to be a ‘daughter-in-law’ for the elder.—(57)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
These two verses (57 and 58) describe the actual state of things, for the purpose of laying down the advisability of ‘Niyoga’ or ‘appointment,’ in times of distress.
‘Elder’—one born before;—‘younger’—one born after; junior in age.—(57)