Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c13.s1.8

v1.c13.s1.8

But Manu does not advocate indiscriminate or untimely punishment: "If (punishment) is properly inflicted after (due) consideration, it makes all people happy; but inflicted without consideration, it destroys everything".⁴ "Having fully considered the time and the place (of the offence) the strength and the knowledge (of the offender) let him justly inflict that (punishment) on men who act unjustly".⁵ Manu, therefore, conceives of daṇḍa as the motive force which keeps the different classes of society in perfect order, and invests it with an antiquity and importance which make it an inevitable attribute to the rājadharma.⁶