दायभागकथनम्The law of inheritance
Verse 1
श्रीसदाशिव उवाच । भूयस्ते कथयाम्याद्ये व्यवहारान् सनातनान् । यान् रक्षन् प्रविदन्राजा स्वच्छन्दं पालयेत् प्रजाः ॥ १ ॥
śrīsadāśiva uvāca | bhūyastē kathayāmyādyē vyavahārān sanātanān | yān rakṣan pravidanrājā svacchandaṁ pālayēt prajāḥ || 1 ||
Translation
Śrī Sadāśiva said: O Ādyā, I shall tell you once more the everlasting rules of conduct; a king who keeps them and knows them well may rule his subjects at ease.
Word by word
- bhūyaḥ
- (bhūyaḥ) once more
- tē
- to you
- kathayāmi
- I tell
- ādyē
- O Ādyā
- vyavahārān
- the rules of conduct
- sanātanān
- everlasting
- yān
- which
- rakṣan
- keeping
- pravidan
- knowing well
- rājā
- a king
- svacchandaṁ
- at ease
- pālayēt
- may rule
- prajāḥ
- (prajāḥ) his subjects
Meaning
With the eleventh chapter the Tantra set out the king's punishments; now Sadāśiva turns to vyavahāra, the law that governs dealings between people, above all property and its passing from the dead to the living. The commentary calls him "supremely compassionate, wishing the good of the world": the law is given so that a king who guards it and understands it can protect his people freely, without constant strife. The chapter that follows is a whole code of inheritance and property. These are the rules 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
Oṁ, salutation to Brahman. Now Mahādeva, supremely compassionate, wishing the good of the world, begins to tell Pārvatī once more the everlasting rules of conduct (vyavahāra), with "bhūyaḥ" and the rest. O Ādyā, to you, or before you, I tell once more (bhūyaḥ, punaḥ) those everlasting (sanātana, śāśvata) rules of conduct; guarding (rakṣan), keeping, and knowing (pravidan) them well, a king may protect his subjects at ease (svacchandam, freely).