दायभागकथनम्The law of inheritance
Verse 2
नियमेन विना राज्ञो मानवा धनलोलुपाः । मिथस्ते विवदिष्यन्ति गुरुस्वजनबन्धुभिः ॥ २ ॥
niyamēna vinā rājñō mānavā dhanalōlupāḥ | mithastē vivadiṣyanti gurusvajanabandhubhiḥ || 2 ||
Translation
Without a rule laid down by the king, men greedy for wealth will quarrel among themselves, with their elders, their own people and their kin.
Word by word
- niyamēna
- a rule
- vinā
- without
- rājñaḥ
- (rājñaḥ) of the king
- mānavāḥ
- (mānavāḥ) men
- dhana
- for wealth
- lōlupāḥ
- (lolupāḥ) greedy
- mithaḥ
- (mithaḥ) among themselves
- tē
- they
- vivadiṣyanti
- will quarrel
- guru
- with elders
- svajana
- their own people
- bandhubhiḥ
- (bandhubhiḥ) and kin
Meaning
Verses 2-4 give the reason for law, read by the commentary as one passage: where no rule settles who owns what, greed for property sets men against one another, even against those they should honour most.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
He lays down the rule (niyama) in three verses, beginning "niyamena" and ending "śubhān narāḥ". O Devī, because without the king's rule men greedy for wealth (dhanalolupa), eager for property and its objects, will quarrel with one another, with their elders, their own people and their kin; then, in the absence of rule, seeking their own gain, wanting wealth, they will kill one another for the sake of wealth, and with the wish to seize (jihīrṣā, the desire to take away wealth) and with violence they will become the abode of sin. Therefore for the good of those men I set down, I establish, a rule agreeable to dharma; resting on that rule men will not fall away (bhraśyeyuḥ, patita) from what is good. In "vyatighnanti" the present stands for the future, by the rule that the present may be used for what is near to the present.