Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c13.s1.22

v1.c13.s1.22

As regards the authorities which are to guide the judges who constitute a law-court, we have the following in Gautama: "His (i.e. the king's) administration of justice (shall be regulated by) the Veda, the Institutes of the Sacred Law, the Aṅgas and the Purāṇas".⁶ Vishnu enumerates the qualifications of a judge thus: "Let the king appoint as judges men of good families, for whom the ceremonies (of initiation and so forth) have been performed, and who are eager in keeping religious vows, impartial towards friend and foe, and not likely to be corrupted by litigants either by (ministering to their) lustful desires or by (stimulating them to) wrath or by (exciting their) avarice or by other (such practices)".¹ The lawgivers have also set down rules governing the qualifications of witnesses.²