Public Administration in Ancient India c15.2

c15.2

¹ Prof. Macdonell says: "(In the early Vedic Age) there is no trace of an organised criminal justice vested either in the King or in the people. There still seems to have prevailed the system of wergeld (Vaira), which indicates that criminal justice seems to have remained in the hands of those who were wronged. In the Sūtras, on the other hand, the King's peace is recognised as infringed, a penalty being paid to him, or according to the Brahminical text-books, to the Brahmins. It may, therefore, reasonably be conjectured that the royal power of jurisdiction steadily increased; the references in the Satapatha-Brāhmana to the King as wielding punishment (Daṇḍa) confirm this supposition." Vedic Index, I. pp. 391-392. He adds that there is very little recorded as to civil law or procedure in early Vedic literature.