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 8.375
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
वैश्यः सर्वस्वदण्डः स्यात् संवत्सरनिरोधतः ।
सहस्रं क्षत्रियो दण्ड्यो मौण्ड्यं मूत्रेण चार्हति ॥ ३७५ ॥vaiśyaḥ sarvasvadaṇḍaḥ syāt saṃvatsaranirodhataḥ |
sahasraṃ kṣatriyo daṇḍyo mauṇḍyaṃ mūtreṇa cārhati || 375 ||The Vaiśya should be fined his entire property after a year’s imprisonment; the Kṣatriya is to be fined one thousand, and be shaved with urine.—(375)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The confiscation of his entire property is the penalty prescribed for the Vaiśya. Though all the twice-born castes are mentioned together here, yet the penalty here laid down is not meant for the case where the Vaiśya has intercourse with a woman of the same caste; it is meant for cases of intercourse with Brāhmaṇa and Kṣatriya women.
Similarly in the case of the Kṣatriya having intercourse with a Brāhmaṇa woman, the punishment consists in a fine of one thousand, and also ‘shaving with urine,’—i.e., the urine of the ass being used in place of water.
Others explain the verse as follows:—Since no other caste is mentioned, the punishment is meant for the case where the Vaiśya has intercourse with a woman of the same caste,—the additional punishment being due to his keeping her for a year. The sense is that if he keeps her for a year then his punishment shall be as here laid down.
As a matter of fact however, the former explanation appears to be more reasonable. It cannot be argued against it that—“the same punishment cannot rightly apply to cases of intercourse with equal, superior and inferior castes;” because it has been declared that ‘the wives of all castes are to be guarded with the greatest care.’—(375)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 396), which adds the following explanatory notes:—For having recourse to a guarded Brāhmaṇa woman, the Vaiśya is to be imprisoned for one year and his entire property is to be confiscated,—the Kṣatriya is to be fined 1000, and shall have his head wetted with urine and then shaved;—and in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 1009).
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 8.374-378)
See Comparative notes for Verse 8.374.