The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c23.22

v1.c23.22

Another method of exacting justice, used generally in the case of debt, was called 'the custom' (Manu, VIII, 49) and consisted in what is now known as *dharṇa*. The guilty man (debtor) is besieged in his own house by his opponent, who fasts on him till the guilty one yields or the accuser dies. This method of punishing an injurer is well known in the epics, where fasting to death against a person is an approved form of retaliation. The one who has committed the offence (or owes the money) usually yields in order to prevent the ghost of the dying creditor from injuring him.