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 10.117
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
ब्राह्मणः क्षत्रियो वाऽपि वृद्धिं नैव प्रयोजयेत् ।
कामं तु खलु धर्मार्थं दद्यात् पापीयसेऽल्पिकाम् ॥ ११७ ॥brāhmaṇaḥ kṣatriyo vā'pi vṛddhiṃ naiva prayojayet |
kāmaṃ tu khalu dharmārthaṃ dadyāt pāpīyase'lpikām || 117 ||The Brāhmaṇa or the Kṣatriya must not lend money on interest; but he may advance a little to unrighteous men for sacred purposes.—(117)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘For sacred purposes’—This implies that what is here permitted refers to livelihood in abnormal times.
‘To unrighteous men’—This shows that from the righteous man no interest shall be taken.
What has been said regarding ‘Agriculture, Trade and Money-lending being equal to Teaching’ pertains to abnormal times.—(117)
Comparative notes by various authors
Vaśiṣṭha (2.40-44).—‘A Brāhmaṇa and Kṣatriya shall lend money like usurers. They quote the following—“He who, acquiring property cheap, gives it for a high price, is called a usurer and blamed among those who recite the Veda. Brahmā weighed in the scales the crime of killing a learned Brāhmaṇa against the crime of usury and the slayer of the Brāhmaṇa went upwards.”—They may lend gold, at pleasure, to a person who entirely neglects his sacred duties and is exceedingly wicked,—taking double its value on repayment,—and grain, trebling the original price.’