Research Article No.1994

Written  by London swaminathan

Date 14^th July 2015

Time uploaded in London: 19-43

“Judges shall discharge their duties objectively and impartially so that they may earn the trust and affection of people.” (Arthasastra 3-20-24)

“ A king who observes his duty of protecting his people justly and according to law will go to heaven, whereas one who does not protect them or inflicts unjust punishments will not.” (Arthasastra 3-1-41)

“It is the power of punishment alone, when exercised impartially in proportion to the guilt, and irrespective of whether the person punished is the king’s son or an enemy, that protects this world and the next.” (Arthasastra 3-1-42)

Greek View

Lawyers = Robbers (Thief)

Doctors =  Yama Dharma (Executioner)

I gave fifteen interesting anecdotes about doctors and lawyers yesterday to illustrate the western view of these professionals. Diogenes, the Greek philosopher, who lived 2300 years ago, called the lawyer a thief and a physician an executioner. Today, even Indians say this. But 2000 years ago, Hindus, unlike Greeks, had very high respect for  these professions. Here are some quotes about the lawyers and physicians:-

Earlier in my posts I quoted  the Rudra (Yajur Veda) mantra where Lord Shiva is called a doctor (Bhishak). He is a doctor to our physical illness and mental illness.

Popular Sanskrit proverb says

Vaidye grhaste mriyate kathannu

Whence death when the doctor is at home?

But it is true that there are sayings against inexperienced doctors and doctors running late:–

Anubhava rahito vaidyo loke nihanti praaninah praanaan

An inexperienced physician snuffs out the life of the living

Siirse sarpah desaantare vaidyah

The serpent dangles over the head and the doctor is miles away

Both in Tamil and Sanskrit we have a proverb

Hatvaa nrnaam sahasram pascaat vaidyo bhavet siddhah

It is only after finishing off a thousand that a doctor becomes proficient.

The hidden meaning is that doctors too learn by mistakes.

Kautilya’s Arthashastra

India was the most civilized country and the richest country in the world  2000 years ago. I have given enough proof for these in my 1800 articles so far. In all the fields that we know of, India stood first, whether it is environmental science or consumer protection, etymology or grammar, aeronautical engineering or nuclear physics.

Kautilya (Chanakya), who lived 2300 years ago, wrote the first economic treatise. It gives a list of punishments and fines for all the mistakes or errors or blunders committed by various workers or professionals:

“Physicians shall inform the authorities before undertaking any treatment which may involve danger to the life of the patient. If, as a result of the treatment, the patient dies or physically deformed, the doctor shall be punished (Arthasastra 4-1-56)

Doctors not giving prior information about treatment involving danger to life with the consequence of physical deformity = same punishment as for causing similar injury”.

Only after patients sued the hospitals or the doctors claiming millions in damages, the consumer/patient protection rules came into Western countries. Nowadays they inform the patient about the risks involved in a treatment and then get the signature of the patient in a consent form. Kautilya thought about it 2300 years ago!

Because of these strict rules, the standard of physicians was very high. They were treated like angels.

“Any doctor who is called to a house to treat a severely wounded person or one suffering from unwholesome food or drink shall report the fact to the ‘gopa’ and the ‘sthanika’. If he does not report, he will be charged” – Arthasastra 2-36-10

Gopa and sthanika were like supervising officers.

Judiciary

There are clear guidelines to judges about testimony of witnesses and punishments in 3-11 (Chanakya’s Arthasastra)

Manu says

“A king who wishes to hear legal cases should enter the court-room modestly with priests and counsellors who know how to counsel” (Manu smrti 8-1)

There are 18 causes of legal action. When the king could not sit in the court he must ask a priest to sit there with three judges.

A man who gives false evidence is an offender.

How to find an offender?

“The king or judge should discover the inner emotion of men from the outward signs, by their voice, colour, involuntary movements, and facial expressions, by their gaze and their gestures.

The inner mind and heart is grasped by facial expressions, involuntary movements, gait, gesture, speech, and changes in the eye and the mouth.” (Manu 8—25/26)

This shows that there was no lawyer in those days. But the ministers or judges used various methods to find the true criminal.

Chapter eight of Manu Smrti gives lot of information about the judicial procedures. They were very careful not to punish the innocent.

“Neither the king nor even one of his men should start a law suit himself, nor ever swallow up a case brought by anyone else.

Just as a hunter traces the track of a wild animal by the drops of blood, even so the king should trace the track of justice by inference.

When he is engaged in a legal proceeding, he should examine the truth, the object of the dispute, himself, the witnesses, the time and place, and the form of the case.”  (Manu. 8-44/46)

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