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 11.99 [Expiation for stealing Gold (suvarṇa)]
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
सुवर्णस्तेयकृद् विप्रो राजानमभिगम्य तु ।
स्वकर्म ख्यापयन् ब्रूयात्मां भवाननुशास्त्विति ॥ ९९ ॥suvarṇasteyakṛd vipro rājānamabhigamya tu |
svakarma khyāpayan brūyātmāṃ bhavānanuśāstviti || 99 ||A Brāhmaṇa who has committed the theft of gold shall go to the King, and confessing his crime, shall say ‘sire, punish me.’—(99)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
This is the expiation for stealing gold belonging to a Brāhmaṇa.
The term ‘brāhmaṇa’ is meant to include all castes; as is dear from the fact that no other expiation has been prescribed for the Kṣatriya and other castes.
‘Punish me.’—‘Inflict the proper punishment on me.’ The man shall go to the King and tell him this.
The word ‘King’ here stands for the Sovereign of the country,—but one who is of the Kṣatriya caste.—(99)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta p. 414);—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 117).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 11.99-102)
Āpastamba (1.25.10).—‘Those who have stolen gold, drunk wine or violated the Guru’s bed, but not those who have slain a Brāhmaṇa, shall eat every fourth meal-time a little food, bathe at the time of the three libations, passing the day standing and the night sitting. After the lapse of three years, they throw off their guilt.’
Viṣṇu (52.1-3).—‘He who has stolen gold must bring a club to the King, proclaiming his deed; whether the King kills him with it, or dismisses him unhurt, he becomes purified. Or in the case he did it unawares, he shall perform the Mahāvrata for twelve years.’
Yājñavalkya (3.257-258).—‘One who steals Brāhmaṇa’s gold should hand over a club to the King, proclaiming his deed; whether killed, or let off, by the King, he becomes pure, if he does not report it to the King, he shall he purified by performing the penance laid down for the drinker of wine;—or he must give away to the Brāhmaṇa his own weight in gold.’