Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c13.s1.31

v1.c13.s1.31

To the classical idea of balancing punishment with mercy, Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya adds a clause which was to some extent an advance on the ancient theory of daṇḍa. The lawgivers opine that the time and place where the offence was committed together with the nature of the culprit are to be taken into consideration; the Vijayanagara monarch declares that the criminal should be given the chance of appealing thrice to the king. "In the matter of people sentenced to death give them the chance to appeal thrice (for mercy)". But this leniency is not to be shown to those who plot against the State. The ruler continues: "But in the case of those people whose escape might bring calamity to yourself immediate execution is advisable".³ In the matter of administering justice and of executing the royal decree, he shows that he is not unacquainted with human nature. "If a king were to propitiate his guards with presents and hands over to them for custody a thief whose guilt has been proved without immediate punishment and if when he escapes, the guards bring before the king another in his place and punish him, as the story of the stout merchant on the spear, will not the king's infamy increase?".⁴ If this may be taken to be a defect in Vijayanagara system of administering justice, because it admits the possibility of the State officers being corrupted by outside agencies, it may also be interpreted to mean that the rulers were prepared to meet such a contingency in order to maintain law and order in the land.