Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c13.s1.27

v1.c13.s1.27

From classical theory we may now turn to the Vijayanagara conception of *daṇḍa* as recorded by Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya the Great in his *Āmuktamālyada*. The rough sketch of the classical theory of *daṇḍa* given above enables us to understand that, among other things, the ancients insisted on the institution of punishment for the welfare of society: that its importance was such that they surrounded it with the divinity which was always associated with the person of a monarch; that they enacted that the king or his councillors, while executing it, should be guided by considerations of the nature and time of the crime committed, and the ability of the guilty man to bear punishment; that the ruler should consult a body of learned Brahmans; and that the people were allowed the right of making a direct appeal to the king.