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 8.404
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
पण� यानं तर� दाप्यं पौरुषोऽर्धपण� तर� �
पादं पशुश्च योषित्� पादार्धं रिक्तक� पुमान् � ४०� �貹ṇa� yāna� tare dāpya� pauruṣo'rdha貹ṇa� tare |
pāda� paśuśca yoṣitca pādārdha� riktaka� pumān || 404 ||At a ferry-crossing, a cart shall be made to pay one ‘貹ṇa�; one man’s burden half a ‘貹ṇa,� an animal and a woman a quarter ‘貹ṇa,� and an unloaded man one half of a quarter.�(404)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
At a river-crossing, a �cart’—a conveyance, in the form of a chariot and other things,—should pay one �貹ṇa.� This is the king’s tax to be paid by all carts that come in loaded with commodities and go out again after having delivered these commodities, for bringing in another supply.
�One man’s burden’—when one man’s load of commodities is brought in, the duty payable is half-貹ṇa.
�Animal’� bullock, buffalo and the like;—as also a �woman’—should pay a quarter-貹ṇa.
�The unloaded man,’� who is carrying no load, should be made to pay half of the quarter-貹ṇa. A small toll is levied from the unburdened man, since he can cross the river by himself, and hence the help accorded to him is comparatively small. While a woman, who is unable to cross by herself, is made to pay more.
�On a ferry-crossing’� for the purposes of crossing.�(404)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in īٰǻ岹ⲹ (Rājanīti, p, 270), which adds the following notes:—This rule applies to the case of unladen carts;—an empty cart, for crossing a ferry, should be made to pay one 貹ṇa;—a man with load, one-half of a 貹ṇa, cattle and women, a quarter 貹ṇa and a man without load the eighth part of a 貹ṇa.
It is quoted in 貹첹 (p. 834), which adds the following explanatory notes:—The 쾱 and such conveyances, for crossing a ferry, should be made to pay one 貹ṇa,—a man should pay one-half of a 貹ṇa,—cattle and woman should pay a quarter 貹ṇa,—as also a man, with only his two hands, i.e., without any load.
It is quoted in վ岹ٲ첹 (p. 640), which adds that �Բ� here stands for the empty chariot, and so forth;—�貹ܰṣa��, load carried by one man,—��, the eighth part of a 貹ṇa.
It is quoted in Ѿṣa (2.263), where ṭṭī has the following notes:—An empty cart should pay a 貹ṇa,—a man with a load, one-half of a 貹ṇa,—cattle and woman (with the exception of those specified below in 407) a quarter 貹ṇa; and a man without load, the eighth part of a 貹ṇa. It adds that this refers to river-crossings; the rates for sea-voyages are different.
Comparative notes by various authors
(verses 8.404-406)
ղśṣṭ (19.21, վ岹ٲ첹, p. 639).—‘The toll for crossing a river whose width is within an arrow-reach is 8 ṣa; for crossing a river whose width is more than an arrow-reach is a quarter of a Kārṣā貹ṇa; and that for crossing a river in which there is scanty water, it is one ṣa; it is to be one and a half times these in the case of women...... If a man swims a river-crossing, he should he made to pay a sum hundred times of the toll.�