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 9.86
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
भर्तुः शरीरशुश्रूषां धर्मकार्यं च नैत्यकम् ।
स्वा चैव कुर्यात् सर्वेषां नास्वजातिः कथं चन ॥ ८६ ॥bhartuḥ śarīraśuśrūṣāṃ dharmakāryaṃ ca naityakam |
svā caiva kuryāt sarveṣāṃ nāsvajātiḥ kathaṃ cana || 86 ||Of all wives, the wife of the man’s own caste, and never that of a different caste, shall attend to the husband’s personal service, as also to his daily sacred rites.—(86)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Personal service’—i.e., cooking his food, making gifts on his behalf, keeping vigils for him, and so forth.
All this the wife belonging to the man’s own caste shall attend to.
There is no such restriction however regarding such service as shampooing the back and the feet, washing of the feet and so forth.
The declamatory supplement to this follows in the next verse.—(86)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 509);—in Vivādaratnākara (p. 419);—in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 198a);—and by Jīmūtavāhana (Dāyabhāga, p. 259).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 9.85-87)
See Comparative notes for Verse 9.85.