दायभागकथनम्The law of inheritance
Verse 13
यथा स्वकृतपापेन निरयं यान्ति मानवाः । ऋणेनापि तथा बद्धः स्वयमेव न चापरः ॥ १३ ॥
yathā svakṛtapāpēna nirayaṁ yānti mānavāḥ | ṛṇēnāpi tathā baddhaḥ svayamēva na cāparaḥ || 13 ||
Translation
As men go to hell through the sins they themselves have done, so by a debt too the one who incurred it is bound, and no one else.
Word by word
- yathā
- as
- sva
- by themselves
- kṛta
- done
- pāpēna
- through the sin
- nirayaṁ
- to hell
- yānti
- go
- mānavāḥ
- (mānavāḥ) men
- ṛṇēna
- by a debt
- api
- too
- tathā
- so
- baddhaḥ
- (baddhaḥ) bound
- svayam
- (svayam) oneself
- ēva
- alone
- na
- not
- ca
- and
- aparaḥ
- (aparaḥ) another
Meaning
A debt binds the debtor, as a sin binds the sinner: it does not pass as a personal burden to anyone else. The commentary takes it as said of a debt left unpaid: the fault is the debtor's own. Together with verses 11-12 this means the heirs pay from the estate, not from their own goods.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
With an example he says that, when a debt is not paid off, the fault falls on the one who took the debt himself, with "yathā" and the rest. As men go to hell (niraya, naraka) through the sin they themselves have done, so by a debt too a man is bound himself alone; no other, no one else, is bound.