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...

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

द्वितीयमेके प्रजनं मन्यन्ते स्त्रीषु तद्विदः ।
अनिर्वृतं नियोगार्थं पश्यन्तो धर्मतस्तयोः ॥ ६१ ॥

dvitīyameke prajanaṃ manyante strīṣu tadvidaḥ |
anirvṛtaṃ niyogārthaṃ paśyanto dharmatastayoḥ || 61 ||

Some people, learned in the subject, admit, on the basis of propriety, of a second procreation on women,—perceiving, as they do, that the couple’s purpose of authorisation’ is not (otherwise) accomplished.—(61)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

A second son also should be begotten;—such is the opinion of some people.

Learned in the subject’—persons versed in the laws relating to the begetting of ‘Kṣetraja’ sons.

Perceiving that the purpose of authorisation is not accomplished’.—These people hold that the injunction, that ‘the woman on being authorised should begot a child’, is not fulfilled by the begetting of a single son.

What is the real intention of these men?

They hold that the singular number (in the word ‘son’ in the injunction ‘a son is to be begotten’) is not meant to be significant; since it is the substance that forms the more important factor, and no qualification attaches to the act, which shows that no significance can attach to the singular number; just as in the case of the word ‘cup’ (in the injunction ‘wash the cup’).

“In the case of injunctions of things not already spoken of elsewhere, even though the substance is recognised as the predominant factor, yet the significance of such specifications as those by means of number and such qualifications remains undisturbed; e.g., in such injunctions as the ‘twice-born man shall marry a woman’. Then from the indicative power of such mantra-texts as ‘Beget ten sons on this girl’, it is clear that the number one as pertaining to children is not to be observed.

“In that case the man need not rest with two sons only.” In fact it is in view of this that the text has added the term ‘second’, the use whereof lies in the precluding of the possibility of more sons than two. This same is the sense of the mantra-text also, which pertains to the ‘aurasa’ (body-born) son, the text occuring in the section on Marriage. In the present instance however, all that is intended is the exceeding of the number ‘one’; and this on the strength of the saying current, among cultured people that ‘a man with one son is as good as sonless’, or on that of the present verse containing the eulogisation of the second son.

On the basis of propriety’—i.e. on the strength of the practice of cultured people.—(61)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 700);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 225) which notes that this view has been held by some people on the ground that one son is as good as none at all.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 9.60-68)

See Comparative notes for Verse 9.60.

Other Dharmashastra Concepts:

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Discover the significance of concepts within the article: ‘Verse 9.61’. Further sources in the context of Dharmashastra might help you critically compare this page with similair documents:

Twice-born man, Aurasa son, Practices of cultured people.

Other concepts within the broader category of Hinduism context and sources.

Propriety, One son, Cultured people, Predominant factor, Important factor, Number one.
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