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:

विप्रस्य त्रिषु वर्णेषु नृपतेर्वर्णयोर्द्वयोः ।
वैश्यस्य वर्णे चैकस्मिन् षडेतेऽपसदाः स्मृताः ॥ १० ॥

viprasya triṣu varṇeṣu nṛpatervarṇayordvayoḥ |
vaiśyasya varṇe caikasmin ṣaḍete'pasadāḥ smṛtāḥ || 10 ||

Children of the Brāhmaṇa from the three lower castes, of the Kṣatriya from the two lower castes, and of the Vaiśya from the one lower caste,—these six have been declared to be ‘lowborn.’—(10)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The first three quarters of this verse contain a mere reiteration of what has gone before; and the fourth serves the purpose of pointing out the meaning of the term ‘Apasada,’ ‘Lowborn’;—the meaning being that the children of the three castes born of women one, two and three degrees lower should be known as ‘low-born.’

These are called ‘low-born’ because, though they serve the purposes of the ‘son,’ they are of a lower status than the son born of a wife of the same caste.—(10)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 512), which adds that these are called ‘apasada,’ ‘base-born,’ on account of their being devoid of the pure caste of the Father,—and in Nṛsiṃhaprasadā (Saṃskāra 76a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 10.6-41)

See Comparative notes for Verse 10.6.

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