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 9.240
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
प्रायश्चित्तं तु कुर्वाणाः सर्ववर्णा यथोदितम् ।
नाङ्क्या राज्ञा ललाटे स्युर्दाप्यास्तूत्तमसाहसम् ॥ २४० ॥prāyaścittaṃ tu kurvāṇāḥ sarvavarṇā yathoditam |
nāṅkyā rājñā lalāṭe syurdāpyāstūttamasāhasam || 240 ||But men of the senior castes, who perform the expiatory penances, as prescribed, shall not be branded on the forehead by the king; they shall be made to pay the highest amercement.—(240)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Senior castes’—All castes other than Śūdras. If they perform the prescribed expiatory penances, there is to be no branding; and their punishment shall consist of the ‘highest amercement;’ that is they should be made to pay a thousand ‘paṇas.’— (240)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
‘Uttama-sāhasam’ see 8.138.
This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 635);—in Vyavahāramayūkha (p. 102);—in Mitākṣarā, (under 2.270);—and again under 3.259, to the effect that the performance of expiatory rites is necessary even when the culprit has paid a fine for his guilt (the present text exonerating the man only from branding);—in Vyavāhāra-Bālambhāṭṭī (p. 117);—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 120).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 9.235-242)
See Comparative notes for Verse 9.235.