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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...

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

नष्ट� विनष्ट� कृमिभि� श्वहतं विषम� मृतम� �
हीनं पुरुषकारेण प्रदद्यात् पा� एव तु � २३� �

naṣṭa� vinaṣṭa� kṛmibhi� śhata� ṣa mṛtam |
hīna� ܰṣaṇa pradadyāt pāla eva tu || 232 ||

The keeper alone should make good what has strayed, or been destroyed by worms, or killed by dogs, or has perished in an unsafe place,—if it was left without human aid.�(232)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Strayed’—the cattle that has disappeared from sight, and one does not know where it has gone to.

Destroyed by worms�;—Worms called �ś첹� enter through the genital organs of the cow and kill it.

Killed by dogs�;—this is mentioned only by way of illustration; so that the same rule applies to the case of cattle being killed by jackals, tigers and other wild animals.

In an unsafe place�;—such as holes, pits, stony places and so forth.

All this �the keeper shall make good.’Ĕ�if it has been left without human aid.’—The ‘human aid� in such cases would consist in remaining near the cattle and lighting the stick for keeping away wolves and other animals; and when they are left without all this care. In a case where the man, himself on the point of death, is unable to scare away the tiger—or where if the cattle, running fast, happen to fall into a pit, from which it could not be turned back by the keeper, even when he would be following it,—no fault can lie with the keeper.�(232)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

ṛm�’—‘A special kind of worm called Ādz󲹰첹� (Medhātithi) ‘snakes and so forth� (Rāghavānanda).

This verse is quoted in 貹첹 (p. 773), which adds that the keeper is to make good the loss by paying the price of the animal lost;—and that �ś� of the animal here meant is its being not found, lost;—in Ѿṣa (2.164), as describing the loss of cattle through carelessness;—in վ岹ٲ첹 (p. 173), which adds the following notes:—�ṣṭ,� stolen;—�Բṣṭ,� destroyed—by whom?—�by worms�;—the ‘dog� stands for other animals also;—�ṣa,� place difficult of access; such as the hill-top and so forth;—�ܰṣaṇa,� care and means of rescue adopted by the keeper;—in վ岹Գ峾ṇi (p. 81), which has the following notes:—�ṣṭ� stolen by thieves and others,�i.e., what became lost for want proper care on the part of the keeper,—this negligence being the reason why the man should be made to make good the loss;—in ṛtⲹ첹貹ٲ (105a), which says that �ś� in �śhatam� stands for carnivorous animals in general;—and in īٰǻ岹ⲹ (Vyavahāra, 1362), which explains �ṣa� as ‘in an inaccessible place,� and �hīna� ܰṣaṇa� as ‘what has been destroyed for want of that care which was possible for man to give.�

 

Comparative notes by various authors

վṣṇ (5.138).—‘The cowherd shall make good to the owner the value of the cattle that may have perished.�

ñⲹ (2.165).—‘If a cattle is destroyed through the fault of the cowherd, he shall be fined 13½ ʲṇa and made to make good the value of the cattle to the owner.�

(6.13-15).—‘Should the cowherd neither struggle to save the cow, nor raise a cry, nor announce it to his master, he must make good the value of the cow to the owner, and pay a fine to the King. The cowherd shall make good the value of the cow that has strayed, or been destroyed by worms, or slain by dogs, or met her death by tumbling into a pit,—if he did not duly exert himself to prevent such accidents.�

󳾲ܰṇa (վ岹ٲ첹, p. 171).—‘If a cowherd who has received wages leaves the cattle in the desolate forest and roams about in the village, he should be beaten by the King. If a cow under the charge of a cowherd dies through his fault, he should be punished and made to pay a fee to the owner of the cow. If however the cow dies at the house of the owner, through disease or such causes, the owner should he punished and made to pay the wages of the cowherd.�

Ā貹ٲ (2.28.6).—‘If a herdsman who has taken cattle under his care, allows them to perish, or loses them through his negligence, he shall make them good to the owners.�

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