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 11.255
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
अब्दार्धमिन्द्रमित्येतदेनस्वी सप्तकं जपेत् ।
अप्रशस्तं तु कृत्वाऽप्सु मासमासीत भैक्षभुक् ॥ २५५ ॥abdārdhamindramityetadenasvī saptakaṃ japet |
apraśastaṃ tu kṛtvā'psu māsamāsīta bhaikṣabhuk || 255 ||An offender shall recite, for half the year, the seven verses beginning with ‘Indram’; but he who has committed a reprehensible act in water shall subsist, for one month, on alms.—(255)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The verses referred to are the seven beginning with ‘Indram mitram varuṇamagnim’ (Ṛgveda, 1.106.1-7).
‘For half the year’—for six months.
‘The offender shall recite.’—Since there is no qualifying epithet, what is mentioned here should be taken as pertaining to all offences.
‘Reprehensible act.’—Sexual intercourse, or evacuation of the bowels. If one does this in water, he should subsist, for one month, on alms.—(255)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
The second half of this verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.307) as referring to cases of passing urine, semen and such things in water.