The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.512

v3.c20.512

¹ This is an extreme example of the practice of *dharna*, so common at one time in India that it was found necessary to make it an offence under the Penal Code. The aggrieved person sits at the door of his enemy and threatens to starve himself to death, in the belief, common to both, that his enemy will be held responsible for his death and thus become the object of divine wrath. By the Brāhmanical law the slaying of a Brāhman involves an infinitely greater degree of guilt than any other crime, and it is difficult to persuade a Brāhman that his person is not more sacred than that of other men. Lord Macaulay's description, in his essay on Warren Hastings, of the scene at the execution of Nanda Kumār is, like much else in his historical writings, pure fiction, but it was certainly only by slow degrees that Hindus learned the principles of a law which is the same for the Brāhman as for the outcaste.