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 11.21
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
न तस्मिन् धारयेद् दण्डं धार्मिकः पृथिवीपतिः ।
क्षत्रियस्य हि बालिश्याद् ब्राह्मणः सीदति क्षुधा ॥ २१ ॥na tasmin dhārayed daṇḍaṃ dhārmikaḥ pṛthivīpatiḥ |
kṣatriyasya hi bāliśyād brāhmaṇaḥ sīdati kṣudhā || 21 ||The righteous king shall inflict no punishment upon him; as it is only through the foolishness of the Kṣatriya that the Brāhmaṇa suffers from hunger.—(21)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
If a person is brought before the king charged with theft, under the circumstances above described, he shall not be punished; as it is only on account of the king’s ‘foolishness’—folly—‘that the Brāhmaṇa suffers from hunger.’
Stress is not meant to be laid on ‘hunger’ only; as both ‘hunger’ and ‘sacrificial needs’ are meant, as is clear from the context and from the implications of the declamatory passages.—(21)
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 11.19-22)
See Comparative notes for Verse 11.19.