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 9.108
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
पितेव पालयेत् पूत्रान् ज्येष्ठो भ्रातॄन् यवीयसः ।
पुत्रवत्चापि वर्तेरन् ज्येष्ठे भ्रातरि धर्मतः ॥ १०८ ॥piteva pālayet pūtrān jyeṣṭho bhrātṝn yavīyasaḥ |
putravatcāpi varteran jyeṣṭhe bhrātari dharmataḥ || 108 ||The eldest brother shall support his younger brothers, just as the father supports his sons; and the younger brothers, in duty bound, shall behave towards the eldest brother, like sons.—(108)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
They should be supported like sons; but they shall not be deprived of wealth, on the ground of their being of younger age.
They also should look upon him as their father; this is what is meant by the sentence.—‘They shall behave like sons.’— (108)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 457), which adds the following explanation:—The eldest brother should take care of the younger brothers, as if he were their father, and he should not separate them;—‘putravat varteran’, they should not entertain feelings of hatred towards him;—in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (pp. 513, 656 and 691);—in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 90), as attributing the qualities of father and son to the elder and younger brothers respectively;—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra 172a).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 9.105-110)
See Comparative notes for Verse 9.105.