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:

यथैवात्मा तथा पुत्रः पुत्रेण दुहिता समा ।
तस्यामात्मनि तिष्ठन्त्यां कथमन्यो धनं हरेत् ॥ १३० ॥

yathaivātmā tathā putraḥ putreṇa duhitā samā |
tasyāmātmani tiṣṭhantyāṃ kathamanyo dhanaṃ haret || 130 ||

The son is as one’s own self, and the daughter is equal to the son; hence so long as she is there in her own real character, how can anyone else take his property?—(130)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

It has been said that the father shall declare—‘The child that is born of her shall be mine;’ and a man’? child inherits his property; so that at the time that the father dies, if the daughter has got no child, it would seem that she cannot inherit his property; it is in view of this that the present text lays down that she shall inherit it

So long as she is there in her own real character’—of being meant to provide a son.

Or, it. may mean—‘while the father’s own self is there, in the shape of the daughter.’

The daughter is equal to the son.’—Though the text uses the generic term ‘daughter,’ yet from the context it is clear that it is the ‘appointed daughter’ that is clearly meant.—(130)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 591);—in Vivādacintāmaṇi (Calcutta, p. 152), to the effect that like the son, the daughter also serves the purpose of propagating the father’s race;—in Hāralatā (p. 179);—in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (pp. 663 and 691);—in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra 203a);—and by Jīmūtavāhana (Dāyabhāga, p. 270).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Mahābhārata (13.45-11).—(Same as Manu.)

Baudhāyana (2.3-14).—‘One must know a son begotten by the husband himself on a wedded wife of equal caste to be a legitimate son of the body. They quote the following: “From the several limbs of my body art thou produced, from my heart art thou born; thou art my very self called a son; mayst thou live a hundred years.’

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