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 10.118
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
चतुर्थमाददानोऽपि क्षत्रियो भागमापदि ।
प्रजा रक्षन् परं शक्त्या किल्बिषात् प्रतिमुच्यते ॥ ११८ ॥caturthamādadāno'pi kṣatriyo bhāgamāpadi |
prajā rakṣan paraṃ śaktyā kilbiṣāt pratimucyate || 118 ||The Kṣatriya, who, in times of distress, takes the fourth fart, becomes freed from sin, if he protects the people to the best of his ability.—(118)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
This verse permits the King’s receiving of the fourth part (of the land-produce), instead of the sixth usually taken, when his treasury has become depleted. The rest of it is purely declamatory.
‘To the best of his ability’—This is an adverb; the meaning being to the best of his power.—(118)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 263).