The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c26.163

v1.c26.163

The laws, Nearchus said, were preserved by oral tradition, not in books⁹—a statement only relatively true. According to Megasthenes many of them were sufficiently severe. A man convicted of giving false witness suffered mutilation. In the case of bodily harm being inflicted, not only was the principle of an eye for an eye observed, but the hand was cut off as well. To cause a craftsman the loss of his eye or hand was an offence punished by death¹.