Verse 9.258

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

उत्कोचकाश्चोपधिका वञ्चकाः कितवास्तथा ।
मङ्गलादेशवृत्ताश्च भद्राश्चैक्षणिकैः सह ॥ २५८ ॥

utkocakāścopadhikā vañcakāḥ kitavāstathā |
maṅgalādeśavṛttāśca bhadrāścaikṣaṇikaiḥ saha || 258 ||

Those who take bribes, dissemblers, cheats and gamblers, fortune-tellers and palmists.—(258)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Those who are addicted to taking bribes for doing some work for people, at the royal Court or with ministers etc.

‘Dissemblers.’—efficient in the art of dissembling; saying one thing and doing another; openly professing love and secretly doing injury. These persons do not always accept anything; they simply win the confidence of men by means of such tricks as—having come to know that a certain business of the man is going to succeed, they go to them and say ‘I am going to do this work for you.’ They also make use of threats sometimes.

‘Gamblers’—who carry on gambling as a means of adding to their income.

‘Cheats’—those who mislead people; having promised to do a certain work, they do not do it; and having approached the people of the village, they adopt various methods to cheat them out of their properly. To this class belong the persons who are known as ‘Śivamādhavas’; they make Śiva or Viṣṇu the means of living.

‘Fortune-tellers’—astrologers and foretellers;—or persons who approach rich men with such words as ‘for your sake I shall win the favour of Durgā or Sūrya or such other gods and goddesses,’ and making a living by it. Or, the term may stand for those who make a living by pronouncing the auspicious formula ‘May this be so.’

‘Palmists’— who read the character of men from their palms.—(258)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Aupadhikāḥ’.—‘Deceitful persons, who say one thing and do another’ (Medhātithi);—‘those who extort money by threats’ (Kullūka and Rāghavānanda);—‘those who cheat by using false weights and measures’ (Nārāyaṇa and Nandana).

‘Vañcakāḥ.’—‘Cheats, those who promise to do some thing but don’t do it’ (Medhātithi);—‘those who pretend to change base metals into precious ones’ (Rāghavānanda and Kullūka);—‘men who take money under false pretences’ (Nārāyaṇa).

‘Maṅgalādeśavṛttāḥ’.—‘Astrologers and others who prescribe auspicious rites etc.’ (Medhātithi, Kullūka and Rāghavānanda);—‘men who live by reciting auspicious hymns’ (Nārāyaṇa);—“those who pronounce the auspicious formula ‘be it so’.” (‘others’ in Medhātithi.)

‘Bhadrāprekṣaṇikāḥ’.—‘Palmists who always praise the fortunes of others’ (Medhātithi);—Nārāyaṇa, reading ‘bhadrāścekṣaṇikāḥ’, explains ‘bhadrāḥ’ as ‘persons who tempt women’, and ‘īkṣanikāḥ’ as actors and the rest;—Kullūka and Rāghavānanda and Nandana adopt the same reading and explain ‘bhadrāḥ’ as ‘hyprocritical men who pose as pious men and cheat people’ and ‘īkṣaṇika’ as palmists.

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 291), which adds the following explanations:—‘Aikṣaṇika’ (which is its reading for ‘īkṣanika’), is that fortune-teller who makes money by making false agreeable predictions.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 9.256-260)

See Comparative notes for Verse 9.256.