The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c23.23

v1.c23.23

The punishment for murder, as already noticed (*v. sup.* p. 242), is at first a compensation paid to the relatives or the king (perhaps both) and later paid to the priests. The compensation is reckoned at a hundred cows (with a bull). This is in the case of a man; in the case of a woman, the punishment is no more than if a slave is killed. Manu treats the compensation as a penance (paid to a priest) instead of a 'royal right,' as in the earlier Sūtra period. The custom of appraising death at so much a head for which compensation is exacted existed into modern times and is mentioned by Tod in his *Annals of Rajasthan*¹.