Verse 11.63

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

सर्वाकारेष्वधीकारो महायन्त्रप्रवर्तनम् ।
हिंसौषधीनां स्त्र्याजीवोऽभिचारो मूलकर्म च ॥ ६३ ॥

sarvākāreṣvadhīkāro mahāyantrapravartanam |
hiṃsauṣadhīnāṃ stryājīvo'bhicāro mūlakarma ca || 63 ||

Superintending all mines, executing large mechanical works, destroying medicinal herbs, subsisting on women, performing malevolent rites and sorcery.—(63)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Mines’—places where gold and other precious things are obtained.

‘Superintending’—control obtained under royal commands.

‘All’—implies the inclusion of other sources of income also, e.g., control over villages and towns, investigating law-suits and administering criminal law.

Similarly ‘mechanical works’ stand for the building of bridges and embankments for regulating the flow of water; the undertaking of such works also is a minor offence.

‘Destroying’—Cutting—‘medicinal herbs’—before they are dry.

‘Subsisting on women’— That is, maintaining oneself and family on the property of women, or making a living out of prostitutes.

‘Malevolent rites’— Killing one’s enemies by curses or incantations or sacrificial rites prescribed in the Veda.

‘Sorcery.’—Using incantations for gaining control over persons.—(63)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Mahāyantrapravartanam’—‘Executing great mechanical works, e.g., constructing dams across rivers in order to stop the flow of water’ (Medhātithi, Govindarāja, Kullūka and Rāghavānanda);—‘making machines for the killing of large animals, such as boars’ (Nārāyaṇa);—‘making such machines as sugar-mills and the like’ (Nandana).

‘Stṛyājivaḥ.’—‘Subsisting on one’s wife’s earnings by making her enter service’ (Nārāyaṇa and Nandana);—‘by turning her into a harlot’ (Kullūka);—‘maintaining oneself by the separate property of his wife’ (Medhātithi);—‘living on money obtained by selling his wife’ (Rāghavānanda).—Nandana who reads ‘hiṃsrauṣadhistṛyupājīvaḥ’ (for ‘hiṃsauṣadhīnām stṛyājīvaḥ’), explains the compound as ‘subsisting either on money earned by the sale of noxious herbs, or on the earnings of one’s wife.’

This verse is quoted in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 192), which has the following notes—‘Sarvakareṣu adhīkāraḥ,’ employment in mines,—‘mahāyantrapravartanam,’ working of oil and other mills, or of machines for the sharpening of weapons and so forth,’—‘auṣadhīnām hiṃsā,’ destroying the crops,—‘stṛyājīvaḥ,’ living on the earnings of women,—‘abhicāra,’ doing of japa, homa and such acts with the motive of bringing harm to others,—‘mūlakarma,’ rites for captivating other persons and such other purposes.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 11.58-66)

See Comparative notes for Verse 11.58.