Written by London swaminathan

swami_48@yahoo.com

Date: 24 May 2019
British Summer Time uploaded in London – 18-53

Post No. 6437

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LAWS OF THEFT –MANU SMRTI 8^TH CAPTER FINITO

Let us continue with eighth chapter and finish it today.

Bullet points

1.Good or Bad whatever the people do one sixth come to the king. See 8-304

2.King who takes taxes without giving protection and who is atheist go to hell. 8-307 and 8-309

3.The king who forgives infants and elderly people go to heaven. See 8-313

4.Who blames who for blunders . see 8-317

5.Gem Thieves must be given death sentence.

6.Manu is very strict with Brahmins. Since they know all the rules, they get more punishments than Vaisyas, Kshatrias and Shudras. See 8-336 to 8-338

THE NUMBERS TALLY WITH INDUS WEIGHTS AND OLD INDIAN RUPEE PAISE SYSTEM!!!

((Harappa Weights. A statistical analysis of commonly found Indus weights, which seem to be in the ratio, 3000:1600: 300: 200: 150: 60: 32: 16: 8: 4: 2: 1. The base is 0.89 gm as the lowest weight, which is the smallest amongst the commonly found weights.))

(Old Indian Rupee is qual to 192 paisa = 2, 4, 8, 16 annas= 16X12= 192 paisa; i.e 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 192 paisa)’

7.Brahmins have to carry weapons for self protection- see 8-348 to 8-350

8. You can even kill a Brahmin if he tries to kill you 8-351

9. Punishment for  Adultery – 8-359; throw her to dogs-8-371

10.Killing a brahmin is the biggest sin

11.No tax for blind, idiots and 70 year old people 8-394

12. Price Fixing every fortnight – 8-402 , 8-403

13. Seven Kinds of Slaves (Servants)- See 8-415

14. Free Travel for Pregnant Women and ascetics – See 8-407

Xxxx

Now read the original slokas…………………

Now read the original slokas…………………

8-301. Thus the whole law of assault (and hurt) has been declared completely; I will now explain the rules for the decision in cases)of theft.

302. Let the king exert himself to the utmost to punish thieves; for, if he punishes thieves, his fame grows and his kingdom prospers.

303. That king, indeed, is ever worthy of honour who ensures the safety of his subjects; for the sacrificial session (sattra, which he, as it were, performs thereby ever grows in length, the safety of his subjects representing the sacrificial fee.

ONE SIXTH OF GOOD OR BAD COMES TO THE KING

8-304. A king who duly protects his subjects receives from each and all the sixth part of their spiritual merit; if he does not protect them, the sixth part of their demerit also will fall on him.

305. Whatever merit a man gains by reading the Veda, by sacrificing, by charitable gifts, (or by) worshipping Gurus and gods, the king obtains a sixth part of that in consequence of his duly protecting (his kingdom).

306. A king who protects the created beings in accordance with the sacred law and smites those worthy of corporal punishment, daily offers as it were sacrifices at which hundred thousands are given as fees.

307. A king who does not afford protection, yet takes his share in kind, his taxes, tolls and duties, daily presents and fines, will after death soon sink into hell.

308. They declare that a king who affords no protection, yet receives the sixth part of the produce, takes upon himself all the foulness of his whole people.

ATHEISTS GO TO HELL

309. Know that a king who heeds not the rules of the law, who is an atheist, and rapacious, who does not protect his subjects, but devours them, will sink low after death.

310. Let him carefully restrain the wicked by three methods,- by imprisonment by putting them in fetters, and by various kinds o) corporal punishments.

311. For by punishing the wicked and by favouring the virtuous, kings are constantly sanctified, just as twice-born men by sacrifices.

FORGIVE INFANTS AND ELDERLY

8-312. A king who desires his own welfare must always forgive litigants, infants, aged and sick men, who inveigh against him.

8-313. He who, being abused by men in pain, pardons them, will in reward of that act be exalted in heaven; but he who, proud of his kingly state, forgives them not, will for that reason sink into hell.

314. A thief shall, running, approach the king, with flying hair, confessing that theft and saying, ‘Thus have I done, punish me;’

315. And the thief must carry on his shoulder a pestle, or a club of Khadira wood, or a spear sharp at both ends, or an iron staff.

316. Whether he be punished or pardoned, the thief is freed from the guilt of theft; but the king, if he punishes not, takes upon himself the guilt of the thief.

WHO BLAMES WHO?

8-317. The killer of a learned Brahmana  (or embryo) throws his guilt on him who eats his food, an adulterous wife on her negligent husband, a sinning) pupil or sacrificer on their negligent teacher or priest, a thief on the king(who pardons him.

318. But men who have committed crimes and have been punished by the king, go to heaven, being pure like those who performed meritorious deeds.

319. He who steals the rope or the water-pot from a well, or damages a hut where water is distributed, shall pay one masha as a fine and restore the article abstracted or damaged in its proper place.

SEVERE PUNISHMENT

8-320. On him who steals more than ten kumbhas of grain corporal punishment shall be inflicted; in other cases he shall be fined eleven times as much, and shall pay to the owner the value of his property.

321. So shall corporal punishment be inflicted for stealing more than a hundred (palas) of articles sold by the weight, (i.e.) of gold, silver, and so forth, and of most excellent clothes.

322. For (stealing) more than fifty (paNas) it is enacted that the hands (of the offender) shall be cut off; but in other cases, let him inflict a fine of eleven times the value.

DEATH SENTENCE TO GEM THIEFS

8-323. For stealing men of noble family and especially women and the most precious gems, the offender deserves corporal or capital punishment.

324. For stealing large animals, weapons, or medicines, let the king fix a punishment, after considering the time and the purpose for which they were destined.

325. For stealing cows belonging to Brahmanas, piercing the nostrils of a barren cow, and for stealing other cattle (belonging to Brahmanas, the offender) shall forthwith lose half his feet.

326.(For stealing thread, cotton, drugs causing fermentation, cow dung, molasses, sour milk, sweet milk, butter-milk, water, or grass,

327. Vessels made of bamboo or other cane, salt of various kinds, earthen vessels, earth and ashes,

328. Fish, birds, oil, clarified butter, meat, honey, and other things that come from beasts,

329. Or other things of a similar kind, spirituous liquor, boiled rice, and every kind of cooked food, the fine shall be twice the value of the stolen article.

FIVE KRISHNALAS

8-330. For flowers, green corn, shrubs, creepers, trees, and other unhusked grain the fine shall be five krishnalas.

331. For husked grain, vegetables, roots, and fruit the fine (shall be) one hundred (panas) if there is no connexion (between the owner and the thief), fifty (panas) if such a connexion exists.

ROBBERY AND THEFT

8-332. An offence (of this description), which is committed in the presence (of the owner) and with violence, will be robbery; if (it is committed) in his absence, it will be theft; likewise if (the possession of) anything is denied after it has been taken.

333. On that man who may steal any of the above-mentioned articles, when they are prepared for use, let the king inflict the first or lowest amercement; likewise on him who may steal a sacred fire out of the room in which it is kept.

334. With whatever limb a thief in any way commits (an offence) against men, even of that the king shall deprive him in order to prevent a repetition of the crime.

8-335. Neither a father, nor a teacher, nor a friend, nor a mother, nor a wife, nor a son, nor a domestic priest must be left unpunished by a king, if they do not keep within their duty.

BRAHMINS MUST BE PUNISHED MORE SEVERELY THAN SHUDRAS

8-336. Where another common man would be fined one karshapana, the king shall be fined one thousand; that is the settled rule.

337. In a case of theft the guilt of a Sudra shall be eightfold, that of a Vaisya sixteen fold, that of a Kshatriya two-and-thirtyfold,

338. That of a Brahmana sixty-fourfold, or quite a hundredfold, or even twice four-and-sixtyfold; each of them knowing the nature of the offence.

339. The taking of roots and of fruit from trees, of wood for a (sacrificial) fire, and of grass for feeding cows, Manu has declared to be no theft.

340. A Brahmana, seeking to obtain property from a man who took what was not given to him, either by sacrificing for him or by teaching him, is even like a thief.

341. A twice-born man, who is travelling and whose provisions are exhausted, shall not be fined, if he takes two stalks of sugar-cane or two esculent roots from the field of another man.

342. He who ties up unbound or sets free tied up (cattle of other men), he who takes a slave, a horse, or a carriage will have incurred the guilt of a thief.

343. A king who punishes thieves according to these rules, will gain fame in this world and after death unsurpassable bliss.

PUNISH THE VIOLENT CRIMINALS

8-344. A king who desires to gain the throne of Indra and imperishable eternal fame, shall not, even for a moment, neglect (to punish) the man who commits violence.

345. He who commits violence must be considered as the worst offender, (more wicked) than a defamer, than a thief, and than he who injures (another) with a staff.

346. But that king who pardons the perpetrator of violence quickly perishes and incurs hatred.

347. Neither for friendship’s sake, nor for the sake of great lucre, must a king let go perpetrators of violence, who cause terror to all creatures.

BRAHMINS MAY CARRY ARMS

348. Twice-born men may take up arms when they are hindered in the fulfilment of their duties, when destruction threatens the twice-born castes varna in evil times,

8-349. In their own defence, in a strife for the fees of officiating priests, and in order to protect women and Brahmanas; he who under such circumstances kills in the cause of right, commits no sin.

350. One may slay without hesitation an assassin who approaches (with murderous intent), whether he be one’s teacher, a child or an aged man, or a Brahmana deeply versed in the Vedas.

KILLING ASSASSINS IS OK.

351. By killing an assassin the slayer incurs no guilt, whether he does it publicly or secretly; in that case fury recoils upon fury.

ADULTERY

8-352. Men who commit adultery with the wives of others, the king shall cause to be marked by punishments which cause terror, and afterwards banish.

353. For by adultery is caused a mixture of the castes varna among men; thence follows sin, which cuts up even the roots and causes the destruction of everything.

354. A man formerly accused of (such) offences, who secretly converses with another man’s wife, shall pay the first or lowest amercement.

355. But a man, not before accused, who (thus) speaks with (a woman) for some (reasonable) cause, shall not incur any guilt, since in him there is no transgression.

356. He who addresses the wife of another man at a Tirtha, outside the village, in a forest, or at the confluence of rivers, suffer the punishment for adulterous acts (samgrahana).

357. Offering presents to a woman, romping with her, touching her ornaments and dress, sitting with her on a bed, all these acts are considered adulterous acts (samgrahana).

358. If one touches a woman in a place which ought)not to be touched or allows oneself to be touched in such a spot, all such acts done with mutual consent are declared to be adulterous (samgrahana).

359. A man who is not a Brahmana ought to suffer death for adultery (samgrahana); for the wives of all the four castes even must always be carefully guarded.

360. Mendicants, bards, men who have performed the initiatory ceremony of a Vedic sacrifice, and artisans are not prohibited from speaking to married women.

361. Let no man converse with the wives of others after he has been forbidden (to do so); but he who converses with them, in spite of a prohibition, shall be fined one suvarna.

362. This rule does not apply to the wives of actors and singers, nor of those who live on the intrigues of their own wives; for such men send their wives to others or, concealing themselves, allow them to hold criminal intercourse.

363. Yet he who secretly converses with such women, or with female slaves kept by one master, and with female ascetics, shall be compelled to pay a small fine.

364. He who violates an unwilling maiden shall instantly suffer corporal punishment; but a man who enjoys a willing maiden shall not suffer corporal punishment, if (his caste be) the same (as hers).

365. From a maiden who makes advances to a man of)high cast), he shall not take any fine; but her, who courts a man of low caste, let him force to live confined in her house.

366. A man of low caste who makes love to a maiden of the highest (caste) shall suffer corporal punishment; he who addresses a maiden on equal caste shall pay the nuptial fee, if her father desires it.

367. But if any man through insolence forcibly contaminates a maiden, two of his fingers shall be instantly cut off, and he shall pay a fine of six hundred panas.

368. A man (of) equal (caste) who defiles a willing maiden shall not suffer the amputation of his fingers, but shall pay a fine of two hundred panas in order to deter him from a repetition (of the offence).

369. A damsel who pollutes another damsel must be fined two hundred panas, pay the double of her nuptial fee, and receive ten lashes with a rod.

DONKEY RIDE; THROW HER TO DOGS

8-370. But a woman who pollutes a damsel shall instantly have her head)shaved or two fingers cut off, and be made to ride (hrough the town on a donkey.

371. If a wife, proud of the greatness of her relatives or her own)excellence, violates the duty which she owes to her lord, the king shall cause her to be devoured by dogs in a place frequented by many.

372. Let him cause the male offender to be burnt on a red-hot iron bed; they shall put logs under it, Until the sinner is burned to death.

373. On a man (once) convicted, who is (again) accused within a year, a double fine (must be inflicted); even thus (must the fine be doubled) for (repeated) intercourse with a Vratya and a Candali.

374. A Sudra who has intercourse with a woman of a twice-born caste (varna), guarded or unguarded, (shall be punished in the following manner): if she was unguarded, he loses the part (offending) and all his property; if she was guarded, everything even his life.

375. (For intercourse with a guarded Brahmana a Vaisya shall forfeit all his property after imprisonment for a year; a Kshatriya shall be fined one thousand (panas) and be shaved with the urine (of an ass).

376. If a Vaisya or a Kshatriya has connexion with an unguarded Brahmana, let him fine the Vaisya five hundred (panas) and the Kshatriya one thousand.

377. But even these two, if they offend with a Brahmani (not only) guarded (but the wife of an eminent man), shall be punished like a Sudra or be burnt in a fire of dry grass.

378. A Brahmana who carnally knows a guarded Brahmani against her will, shall be fined one thousand (panas); but he shall be made to pay five hundred, if he had connexion with a willing one.

379. Tonsure (of the head) is ordained for a Brahmana (instead of) capital punishment; but (men of) other castes shall suffer capital punishment.

380. Let him never slay a Brahmana, though he have committed all possible crimes; let him banish such an offender, leaving all his property to him and his body unhurt.

KILLING BRAHMINS

8-381. No greater crime is known on earth than slaying a Brahmana; a king, therefore, must not even conceive in his mind the thought of killing a Brahmana.

382. If a Vaisya approaches a guarded female of the Kshatriya caste, or a Kshatriya a (guarded) Vaisya woman, they both deserve the same punishment as in the case of an unguarded Brahmana female.

383. A Brahmana shall be compelled to pay a fine of one thousand (panas) if he has intercourse with guarded (females of) those two (castes); for (offending with) a (guarded) Sudra female a fine of one thousand (panas shall be inflicted) on a Kshatriya or a Vaisya.

384. For (intercourse with) an unguarded Kshatriya a fine of five hundred (panas shall fall) on a Vaisya; but (for the same offence) a Kshatriya shall be shaved with the urine (of a donkey) or (pay) the same fine.

385. A Brahmana who approaches unguarded females (of the) Kshatriya or Vaisya (castes), or a Sudra female, shall be fined five hundred (panas); but (for intercourse with) a female (of the) lowest (castes), one thousand.

386. That king in whose town lives no thief, no adulterer, no defamer, no man guilty of violence, and no committer of assaults, attains the world of Sakra (Indra).

387. The suppression of those five in his dominions secures to a king paramount sovereignty among his peers and fame in the world.

388. A sacrificer who forsakes an officiating priest, and an officiating priest who forsakes a sacrificer, (each being) able to perform his work and not contaminated (by grievous crimes), must each be fined one hundred (panas).

389. Neither a mother, nor a father, nor a wife, nor a son shall be cast off; he who casts them off, unless guilty of a crime causing loss of caste, shall be fined six hundred (panas).

BRAHMINs FIGHTING

390. If twice-born men dispute among each other concerning the duty of the orders, a king who desires his own welfare should not (hastily) decide (what is) the law.

391. Having shown them due honor, he should, with (the assistance of) Brahmanas, first soothe them by gentle (speech) and afterwards teach them their duty.

392. A Brahmana who does not invite his next neighbour and his neighbour next but one, (though) both (he) worthy (of the honour), to a festival at which twenty Brahmanas are entertained, is liable to a fine of one masha.

393. A Srotriya (Vedic Pundit)who does not entertain a virtuous Srotriya at auspicious festive rites, shall be made to pay him twice (the value of) the meal and a masha of gold (as a fine to the king).

NO TAX FOR 70 YEAR OLDS

394. A blind man, an idiot, a cripple who moves with the help of a board, a man full seventy years old, and he who confers benefits on Srotriyas, shall not be compelled by any king to pay a tax.

395. Let the king always treat kindly a Srotriya, a sick or distressed man, an infant and an aged or indigent man, a man of high birth, and an honourable man (Arya).

Washerman, Weaver

396. A washerman shall wash the clothes of his employers gently on a smooth board of Salmali wood he shall not return the clothes of one person for those (of another), nor allow anybody but the owner to wear them.

397. A weaver (who has received) ten palas (of thread), shall return (cloth weighing) one pala more; he who acts differently shall be compelled to pay a fine of twelve (panas).

398. Let the king take one-twentieth of that (amount) which men, well acquainted with the settlement of tolls and duties (and) skilful in (estimating the value of) all kinds of merchandise, may fix as the value for each saleable commodity.

399. Let the king confiscate the whole property of (a trader) who out of greed exports goods of which the king has a monopoly or (the export of which is) forbidden.

400. He who avoids a custom-house (or a toll), he who buys or sells at an improper time, or he who makes a false statement in enumerating (his goods), shall be fined eight times (the amount of duty) which he tried to evade.

401. Let (the king) fix (the rates for) the purchase and sale of all marketable goods, having (duly) considered whence they come, whither they go, how long they have been kept, the (probable) profit and the (probable) outlay.

PRICE FIXING

8-402. Once in five nights, or at the close of each fortnight, let the king publicly settle the prices for the merchants.

403. All weights and measures must be duly marked, and once in six months let him re-examine them.

404. At a ferry an (empty) cart shall be made to pay one pana, a man’s (load) half a pana, an animal and a woman one quarter of a (pana), an unloaded man one-half of a quarter.

405. Carts laden with vessels full of merchandise shall be made to pay toll at a ferry according to the value of the goods, empty vessels and men without luggage some trifle.

406. For a long passage the boat-hire must be proportioned to the places and times; know that this rule refers to passages along the banks of rivers; at sea there is no settled freight.

407. But a woman who has been pregnant two months or more, an ascetic, a hermit in the forest, and Brahmanas who are students of the Veda, shall not be made to pay toll at a ferry.

408. Whatever may be damaged in a boat by the fault of the boatmen, that shall be made good by the boatmen collectively, each paying his share.

409. This decision in suits (brought) by passengers (holds good only) in case the boatmen are culpably negligent on the water; in the case of (an accident) caused by (the will of) the gods, no fine can be (inflicted on them).

410. The king should order a Vaisya to trade, to lend money, to cultivate the land, or to tend cattle, and a Sudra to serve the twice-born castes

411. Some wealth Brahmana shall compassionately support both a Kshatriya and a Vaisya, if they are distressed for a livelihood, employing them on work which is suitable for their castes.

412. But a Brahmana who, because he is powerful, out of greed makes initiated men of the twice-born castes against their will do the work of slaves, shall be fined by the king six hundred panas).

413. But a Sudra, whether bought or unbought, he may compel to do servile work; for he was created by the Self-existent Svayambhu to be the slave of a Brahmana.

414. A Sudra, though emancipated by his master, is not released from servitude; since that is innate in him, who can set him free from it?

SEVEN KINDS OF SLAVES

415. There are slaves of seven kinds, (viz.) he who is made a captive under a standard, he who serves for his daily food, he who is born in the house, he who is bought and he who is given, he who is inherited from ancestors, and he who is enslaved by way of punishment.

416. A wife, a son, and a slave, these three are declared to have no property; the wealth which they earn is (acquired) for him to whom they belong.

417. A Brahmana may confidently seize the goods of (his) Sudra (slave); for, as that (slave) can have no property, his master may take his possessions.

418. (The king) should carefully compel Vaisyas and Sudra to perform the work (prescribed) for them; for if these two (castes) swerved from their duties, they would throw this (whole) world into confusion.

419. Let him daily look after the completion of his undertakings, his beasts of burden, and carriages, (the collection of) his revenues and the disbursements, his mines and his treasury.

420. A king who thus brings to a conclusion. all the legal business enumerated above, and removes all sin, reaches the highest state of bliss.

–SUBHAM–