Public Administration in Ancient India c15.18

c15.18

³ "The King should appoint as judges persons who are well versed in the Vedas and the other branches of learning, who are acquainted with the Sacred Law, and who are truthful and impartial towards friends and foes." Yājnavalkya, II. 2-3. Cf. Brihaspati, I. 29-30, and Sukranīti, IV. 5, 14. Nārada says: "He is called a (Prāḍvivāka or) chief judge who—fully acquainted with the eighteen titles (of law) and with the eight thousand subdivisions thereof, skilled in logic and other branches of science, and thoroughly versed in revealed and traditional lore—investigates the law relative to the case in hand by putting questions (prat) and passing a decision (vivecayati) according to what was heard or understood by him." Quotations from Nārada, I. 1-2. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXXIII.