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Mahānirvāṇa Tantra cover

॥ श्री ॥tantraFor reading

Mahānirvāṇa Tantra 11.71

Traditional

Ullāsas
14
Verses
2517
Minutes
1258
Level
advanced

Ullāsa 11 · Verse 71

मनुष्यवधे दण्डविधिःThe punishment of homicide

Verse 71

यो हन्ति ज्ञानतो मर्त्यं मानवः क्रूरचेष्टितः । वधस्तस्य विधातव्यः सर्वथा धरणीभृता ॥ ७१ ॥

yō hanti jñānatō martyaṁ mānavaḥ krūracēṣṭitaḥ | vadhastasya vidhātavyaḥ sarvathā dharaṇībhṛtā || 71 ||

Translation

The man of cruel conduct who knowingly kills a human being: on him the king is to impose death in every way.

Word by word

yaḥ
(yaḥ) who
hanti
kills
jñānataḥ
(jñānataḥ) knowingly
martyaṁ
a human being
mānavaḥ
(mānavaḥ) the man
krūra
cruel
cēṣṭitaḥ
(ceṣṭitaḥ) of conduct
vadhaḥ
(vadhaḥ) death
tasya
on him
vidhātavyaḥ
(vidhātavyaḥ) is to be imposed
sarvathā
in every way
dharaṇībhṛtā
by the king

Meaning

Murder is punished by death. These are the penalties of the Tantra's own ideal kingdom, given as the text states them; they describe its teaching, not any present law.

Commentary

Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated

And then, asked by Pārvatī how release comes, he answers "yaḥ" and the rest. The man of cruel conduct who knowingly kills a human being: by the king (dharaṇībhṛt) death is to be imposed on him in every way. Only thus is he purified, not otherwise: that is the sense.