State and Government in Ancient India c19.s1.41

c19.s1.41

When deciding upon punishment, the judge was to take into consideration the nature of the crime, the motive of the accused, his age and status in society. In ancient India punishments often differed with the caste of the accused ; lighter punishments were recommended to Brāhmaṇas and Kshtriyas. In early times the wergeld for the murder of a Brāhmaṇa was a thousand cows, for that of a Kshatriya 500 cows, for that of a Vaiśya 100 cows and for that of a Śūdra only ten cows. In later times fines often varied with the caste of the offenders. This is no doubt a regrettable feature of our jurisprudence. Our jurists recognised that the sin of a Brāhmaṇa would be a hundredfold that of a Śūdra for the same offence. His punishment also should then have been more severe instead of being lighter. We should however not forget that all over the world till the last century, the privileged classes like the nobles and bishops did enjoy similar preferential treatment. Our estimation of our culture would however have been higher, if we could have risen above the prejudices of the times and shown impartiality in the award of punishments.