India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s2.8

c12.s2.8

CRIMINAL LAW—Crime was called *sāhasikya* (I.3.32). Various forms of crime are referred to, *e.g.* theft (*steya*, V.1. 125), robbery (*luṇṭāka*, III.2.155) and way-laying (*paripanthaṁ cha tishṭhati*, IV.4.36). The word *aikāgārika* means a thief, who waits for an opportunity to enter a house when lonely. Buddhist texts use the term in a different sense, *i.e.*, a monk who begged his food from one house only. In the *Majjhima Nikāya* Gautama describes himself as an *ekāgārika*, *dvyāgārika* and *saptāgārika* (Mahāsīhanāda Suttanta).